Oliver was born about 1996 in south London. At the age of just a few weeks both him and his sister Lottie were abandoned in a Wendy House (a sort of plastic outdoor tent in the shape of a house which children play in). Fortunately somebody found them and called Celia Hammondwho rescues cats locally. She knew exactly who would be the right people to adopt them. They were only three weeks old, eyes not open; Oliver was weak and Lottie had enteritis and was so dehydrated that the Vetinary Surgeon had to inject water under her skin to rehydrate her. For two weeks their new parents had to give Lottie special medication and 5ml of special milk solution (with a syringe) every hour night and day; and they were warned not to expect Lottie to pull through. Both kittens could sit on one hand and could barely walk and were so beautiful there are no words to describe them; it was unthinkable that they would not make it. By this time they had their names. At first they were wrongly sexed because they were so young and Oliver started life as Olivia.
They both survived and grew into two delightful and affectionate cats, repaying all the effort their parents put in a million times over. At first Oliver was a Mackerel Tabby but his colouration has changed over the years.
Oliver has always had mouth and tooth problems and two years ago he had to have all but his canine teeth removed and has interferon every morning, and special mouth wash twice a day, to hold the disease at bay.
Recently he was losing weight and was off of his food so it was off to the Vet again who gave him a full blood screening and found that his thyroid was giving problems. He is now on two thyroid tablets a day as well. If that doesn’t control the problem he may need an operation.
His daddy works from an office at home and Oliver likes nothing better than to sleep on the laser printer, inkjet or scanner; all of which he manages to operate at some time or other. His other joy is watching the aquarium screen saver and will sit and watch the fish for hours.
He’s a great cat for company and likes to be with his staff and supervise. He cannot eat dry food and to help him with his medication (which he takes in his food) he gets all sorts of lovely tinned food, and every Sunday the four cats share a small tin of Tuna which keeps their coats shiny.
Oliver is very intelligent and has been known to tell his daddy when a delivery man was at the door.
Oliver lives in London, in a house with a garden, with his mummy, daddy, full sister Lottie, step-sister Felicity and step-brother Sam.
Oliver was beginning to lose weight again despite being on his thyroid pills and a further set of blood screenings showed that the pills were not working and his liver and kidneys were being affected so, at the end of February, he had most of his thyroid removed: it was very enlarged and had a big cyst on it. He is currently recuperating well, the operation wound has healed well and he is concentrating on growing back the stripes which the vet shaved off. The operation appears to have been a success and Oliver is much brighter and more active.
