In October 2023, Our Special Friends (OSF) received a call from ‘Martha’ who had been admitted to a mental health unit and was worried that there was no-one to care for her two cats. She had had the cats, a two-year-old brother and sister pair, since they were six months old. Having already had her two young children taken away from her, the cats were very important to Martha and she was concerned as they had already been without care for 24 hours.
Martha had only moved to the area two months previously and had no local family or friends who could help. She did not know how long she would be staying in hospital, and as the cats had not been vaccinated, they could not go into a cattery. Martha had been in hospital previously when she had been able to leave the ward to care for the cats herself. However, due to her deteriorating mental health, the hospital staff could no longer allow this.
Our Special Friends quickly stepped in and sent a call out to our volunteers for help. We arranged a rota of two volunteers to visit, with occasional visits from OSF staff to fill any gaps. Martha had provided the keysafe code to us, illustrating a high level of trust and allowing us to easily provide in-situ pet care. We set up a WhatsApp group so Martha could be kept updated with news and photographs of the cats, which she found very reassuring. She was also able to order food and cat litter online when OSF notified her that supplies were getting low, giving her an important connection to her pets’ care.
A month later, Martha was well enough to be escorted home to care for the cats herself. Unfortunately, a few weeks later there was a crisis and Martha had to be readmitted to hospital, so OSF stepped in again to provide in-situ care for the cats. During this time, Martha sent a WhatsApp message saying she had made the difficult decision to rehome the cats as she wasn’t going to be returning home. Given Martha’s evident love for her cats, this caused immediate concern to OSF. We contacted the hospital, who said she was in the process of being discharged and was expected back later to collect her belongings. Further contact with Martha indicated she was at risk of suicide but her whereabouts were unknown. We continued to liaise with Martha and the hospital and thankfully she was located and returned to hospital. Her fear of discharge and being without her children had precipitated Martha’s suicide plan, but after four days more in hospital she had improved sufficiently to be discharged home. While we hope Martha will continue to recover, she knows Our Special Friends will always support her and her cats if she needs it.
Martha told us “[Our Special Friends] stepped up to help immediately as soon as the help was required, even last minute/on the day, they communicated extremely well with me via calls and messages, but also respected my privacy and the sensitive nature of my illness … The volunteers have been extremely kind and compassionate with regards to my situation and health and have even raised the alarm on occasion when I needed more professional support.
[Our Special Friends] were so very proactive with their support. Because my health was changeable and unpredictable, I was concerned that I may have had to find a new home for my two cats. However, due to the support from OSF, I felt reassured that the cats were being very well cared for over the periods that I was away.
My relationship with my cats is stronger than ever now and I am so very grateful that OSF were there to help look after them when I was unable to … I have remained out of hospital for a month and a half now, so I am excited at the prospect of being able to return to work very soon; fingers crossed … [the cats] are both very well and happy and still loving me being home and I’m loving spending time with them too.”
