A house is not a home without a cat!

On Monday, we picked up the latest edition to our household, Pippa! Pippa is twelve months old and was being fostered by a lovely lady in Butler, about forty-five minutes away from where we are living in Midland. Darrell and I have always had cats, ever since we got together nearly twenty-eight years ago, so it was only fitting that we should include another one in our life together, here in Western Australia. Ideally, we would have brought our Spanish cats with us in 2018, but at a cost of $10,000 each, to transport them to the other side of the World, it would have been far too expensive for us at the time. After moving into Mathoura Street, it is time to once again have a cat we can spoil and look after; Neither Darrell nor I have children and Pippa will be our baby, as all our other cats were before her.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Pippa has Hyperreflexia, a congenital birth defect. She was found dumped shortly after giving birth to a litter of kittens; from what I am told, it seems her condition may have been the reason for her abandonment. To be honest, most of the time you don't even notice she has a disability, and she has no problems coping with it herself. The only noticeable trait, is the significant dip between her shoulder blades and back, which make her look unique and slightly different from the norm. The reason we adopted Pippa, was because of her birth defect; it doesn't matter to us at all, what she looks like!

We arrived in Butler, to be greeted by Kerrie, foster Mother to many cats; she was a delight, spending time with us, talking about Pippa and introducing us to her other brood. Pippa was rather nervous and scared, and although she spent most of the time hiding, there were a brief few minutes, when she came and sat next to us on the sofa, as we continued to chat with Kerrie. She told us how affectionate Miss Pippi was, and the story of her rescue, several days after her newly born kittens were saved. It seems Pippa suffered trauma early on in her life, and it will be a challenge helping her adjust to a more normal existence. Having had rescue cats before, we are well aware of the difficulties ahead, but the rewards at the end are worth it. We hope to give Pippa the life she deserves.

Kerrie assumed Pippa would be living with her indefinitely, due to the nature of her disability; it seems people only want the perfect pet, but for us, it was about giving a good and loving home to a cat who needs it more than most. We are able to devote the time and effort to helping Pippa adapt to her new life, hopefully reducing the stress she obviously feels around other people. To see an animal so traumatised is heartbreaking, and we can only imagine the difficulties she went through before Kerrie took her in.

It seems the hyperreflexia Pippa suffers with causes no immediate pain, in fact she manages perfectly well with it, but in the future that may change. She may well suffer with arthritis as she gets older, like all of us, and may require extra care at that point. For now, she is able to enjoy a happy and healthy life, and we intend to spoil her rotten.

Currently, she still spends most of her time under the bed in the spare room. It is taking a while for her to get used to her surroundings. She is however getting far more daring and venturing out when she sees fit, just to let us know she is still there. In fact, she is probably the most affectionate cat I have ever known, and she loves being around me and Darrell. The empty villa we are living in, is a bit of a problem; the echo throughout can be rather disconcerting for Miss Pippi and once the house is suitably furnished and lived in, I am sure that will change.

Darrell and I have had a busy week and just haven't stopped working, so finding time to do anything else has been a bit difficult. We are progressing slowly at Mathoura Street nevertheless, and we now have most of the basics in place. Personally I am looking for retro, antique, bespoke pieces of furniture and art. I am not a 'live, love, laugh' kind of guy, and do not want to furnish my house with the usual Ikea cheap furniture - to Darrell's consternation.

With the front lounge more or less complete, we are turning our attention to other parts of the house. Today Darrell picked up a retro 1960s sideboard, which goes wonderfully in the family room, and tomorrow I am going to Guildford to buy a dressing table for the bedroom. Like the lounge, I want traditional furniture in the bedroom, not cheap flat pack alternatives. I suppose that's the British in me; I love homes with character and despite living in a 1990's build, I am determined to furnish it in individual style. The sideboard is certainly a statement piece and highly fashionable at the moment. Finding suitable 1960s accessories will be a bit of a challenge, but I have a good idea where to start.

Our new house is certainly starting to feel like a home now, especially with Pippa firmly in our life. It will be a slow process getting everything just as we would like it, but Rome wasn't built in a day and I don't have an endless supply of money. This has been an extremely expensive time for us and our anxiety levels are riding high. One has to remember we were travelling across the World just a few short months ago, and now we are back on the property ladder, working every hour that God sends and settling down in a way we haven't since we lived in Spain seven years ago.

It does feel good to be focused again and working towards goals. Yes, we are spending money, but we are also making a home in Australia. I have lost count of the number of restarts we have had, and this is the final one on that list. Only time will tell whether we made the right move down under, or another blunder on a long list of failures. Until then, we will continue rebuilding our life in Darrell's native home, surrounded by family, navigating new unchartered waters, in a country as far removed from the UK as you could get; whatever happens, at least we have tried to live the dream!