Written by Elanza Kloppers, Volunteer of Harties Feral Cat Rescue
Professional photography by Blue Lace Photography
Meet Odin – in his previous life, we called him Ginger Biscuit.
The dark-ginger tabby’s journey with us began back in April 2022, when we found him at a feral colony in Hartbeespoort. He was only about 14 weeks old at the time and it was very clear that he wasn’t part of the existing feral colony. Somebody had obviously dumped him there, probably in the hopes that he’d just become part of the ferals in the area.
His eye couldn’t be saved
When we found the little lad, he was scared and unsure of himself. But our main concern was his severely injured, infected eye. We have no idea what happened, but it had been in a bad way for a long time and, by the time we found him, the eye couldn’t be saved.
Our vets took good care of him until he was ready for his big procedure, which would turn him into a little one-eyed bandit. Ginger Biscuit recovered quickly, regained his confidence and blossomed into a beautiful boy.
Finding a loving family
We knew that finding a home for him would be a challenge, but we hoped a loving family would fall in love with him, irrespective of his appearance. And that’s exactly what happened.
Udisha and Marco had shown interest in another little special-needs girl called Mienkie, a beautiful kitten who’d been born without eyes. At the time, she already had a home lined up, so we asked them if they’d consider our little Ginger Biscuit. They took one look at him and knew he was THE ONE.
Ginger Biscuit became Odin, and his brand-new chapter in life started. He now has a sibling named Saigon and they’re best of friends.
Odin is adored by his new parents and, as you can tell by the photos, he’s living his best life for sure.
We want to thank Udisha and Marco for not only adopting, but for adopting a special-needs kitty. We’re so grateful to you both. Have a happy-ever-after, Odin, you deserve this!
If you want to give one of our beautiful kittens or adult cats a home, please reach out to us; we have so many hoping and waiting to be chosen. Email adopt@hartiesferalcats.co.za.
Udisha Chathuri and Marco Vatta, Odin’s new owners, share...
Udisha saw a post on Facebook by Harties Feral Cat Rescue of Mienkie, a special-needs kitten who has no eyes. We thought we could give her a good life as we have immense patience, love, and care for animals and considered it a wonderful opportunity to provide a loving home to a special-needs kitten. We did some research on caring for a blind kitten and how to go about integrating her with our male cat, Saigon, whom we took in as a kitten from the Vietnamese Embassy in Pretoria.
We were incredibly excited about the possibility of welcoming a new kitten into our home and for Saigon to have a feline friend, but when we enquired about Mienkie with Joanne of Harties Feral Cat Rescue, she informed us that there were potential homes already under review for Mienkie. (Mienkie was subsequently adopted by a suitable person who has experience in caring for a blind pet on the 22nd of April 2022.)
Joanne promised to let us know if another special-needs kitten needed a home. Lo and behold, seven days later, we received a message from Joanne that a ginger boy was available for adoption. Ginger Biscuit, as he was known then, had been dumped at a feral colony in Hartbeespoort. Sadly, his right eye had to be removed due to a very serious injury.
When we saw a photo of Ginger Biscuit, we immediately fell in love with him and, without hesitation, informed Joanne that we’d be delighted to welcome him into our home. Prior to meeting him, he underwent surgery to have his injured eye removed, whilst also being neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped.
On the 7th of May 2023, we drove through to Hartbeespoort to collect our new family member. From the minute he arrived at our home, he settled in, played, and enjoyed all the love given to him. We decided to change his name to Odin, as we thought it appropriate considering that in heroic literature, Odin was a Norse god (or Allfather) who sacrificed his eye for wisdom.
Saigon was initially reluctant to show brotherly love to the new addition to our family, but all it took was one moment when Odin had had enough of Saigon’s grumpiness and went all in for a playful jump onto Saigon’s back. It was as if this immediate, inseparable bond was formed. We recall them playing throughout the night from that moment.
Our boys have their own couch that they’ve claimed as their throne, which doubles as a convenient scratch post. We never imagined that an inseparable bond would form between Saigon and Odin, to the extent that when we gave Odin his first bath (who proceeded to cry), Saigon came to the rescue and kept smacking us to stop what we were doing to his little brother.
The cutest thing Odin does is to make a little peep sound, stand on his hind legs and stretch upwards with his front legs, only for one of us to pick him up and hug him. Odin has brought an insurmountable amount of joy to the whole family and is always ready to give and receive love.
About Harties Feral Cat Rescue
Harties Feral Cat Rescue was founded to help the feral cats of the Hartebeespoort area, in Gauteng Province. They focus on TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) programmes and education to make a difference to these animals. You can read about them and how you can help in our article here.
