Introducing Ginger, our Rescue Norwegian Forest Cat

Ginger will be popping up a lot in my blog and photos as she is a large part of my life. In our house, her needs always come first. If she wants a cuddle, I will stop everything to make her happy.

As my cat features quite a lot in my camera gallery, I thought I’d introduce her. She is the boss in our house and literally does make our house a home.

Since leaving home, I’d always wanted a cat but being in rented flats etc it wasn’t suitable. When we got our own place it needed a lot of work on it so we had to wait a few years.

We live on a busy main road so needed to have a cat that couldn’t go outside. An indoor cat was up for rehoming at the local RSPCA but as we had children under 5 we weren’t allowed to adopt. So I started to look on the internet and found that there were rescues for particular breeds.

I’ve always had a thing for long haired cats so I applied to go on the rehoming list for rescue Maine Coons and Norwegian forest cats. Back then, they put me on an email list so I got details of any cats that needed rehoming and what the cats were used to so could find a similar home.

We had to wait a while for ones that had always been kept inside and were used to children. We applied for several but didn’t get short listed as obviously these were popular cats.

We finally got our cat in August 2009. The cat was older, had always been an indoor cat and was used to children. My husband drove the 4 hour journey to the other side of Milton Keynes to collect her.

Ginger is now 17 and still very playful. She has had bouts of cystitis over the years, but otherwise been in good health. She is slowing down a bit now, especially on stairs. (Ginger can still climb the bunk bed ladders though!) She is definitely the boss and will bite my husband to say she is hungry.

At the beginning she wasn't too keen on one of our children (who was only a baby at the time) so stayed away from her. It has been lovely seeing how they have bonded over the years and grown up together. She liked the two year old at the time and would often give his forehead a lick when he was sat on the floor reading.

We have been very lucky in the fact that she hasn’t shown any interest in going outside. She has a very lazy nature; even playing, she will often just move a paw. She is not often interested in our rodents (they are in cat proof homes) and loves nothing better than sitting in the sun.

One thing I hadn't anticipated was the amount of fur she moults all year round. The carpet is like velcro for her fur!

A weird quirk is that she likes plastic and will sit on a new plastic bag. We recently got a new shower curtain that appeals to her so we often find her sat on the side of the bath next it.

Even though she often wants feeding at 5.30am, and often has fur ball sick, we all love her to pieces and wouldn’t be without her.

In this house, cat fur is a condiment.

It is called FURniture for a reason.

A cat makes a house a home.

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