A woman who rescued a cat from a life of hardship living feral has shared footage of the moment her feline friend appeared to finally let her guard down.
Merel Poots is a Dutch DJ who has lived on the Spanish island of Ibiza for 13 years now. During that time, she has witnessed firsthand the huge stray and feral cat problem the island has.
It is a problem that the helpers at Care 4 Cats, a neuter-led rescue service set up to address Ibiza’s large feral and stray cat population, know only too well. They have neutered over 20,000 cats in the last 18 years in an attempt to curb numbers. “Our work is vital because one un-neutered female can be responsible for the births of more than 420,000 cats in 7 years,” the rescuers say on their website.
Some of these cats are born wild, some are unneutered and stray from home, while others are cruelly abandoned by people departing the island, come the end of the summer.
For a time, Poots fostered and helped rehome cats. “I’ve loved animals since I was a kid,” she told Newsweek. “Animals in need just kept finding me, so I started taking them in, setting them up for a better life off the streets and into loving families.”
Poots has stopped doing that now, though, having taken on five cats herself. However, that all changed the day she met the stray she would eventually christen Rosie Fur-a**, in tribute to the actress Rosie Perez.
“I came home from a weekend away and spotted this tiny cat in my garden which is fully fenced and almost impossible to get in or out of,” Poots said.
She said she isn’t quite sure how Rosie got in there, but she could tell she wasn’t happy about it. “She was feral, hissing, afraid and hiding,” she said. “She either climbed my fence out of sheer panic or someone tossed her over the fence.”
Poots could tell from Rosie’s appearance that she was in dire need of a little love and care, though. What followed was a tense standoff, with Rosie spending the next four days “hiding behind plant pots and under a tarp.”
Eventually, Poots decided to take things into her own hands. “I chased her into my house and into a bathroom that I set up for her, and that’s where the socialization started,” she said.
It was a process that required patience. Poots would sit with Rosie and pet her, initially using a stick to maintain distance. In time, she began to talk to her new feline friend and then finally came the biggest breakthrough of all: she was allowed to touch her.
Rosie the rescued feral cat puts a paw on a hand. The feline doesn’t go in for big cuddles just yet.
TikTok/@djblckbrd
In time, Rosie’s appearance began to change, too. “She grew; her fur started to change, and this scrawny little kitten turned into a gorgeous, long-haired cat,” Poots said.
She added that Rosie trusts only her and her partner, and shows of affection are limited. “She doesn’t want to be held or picked up, but she loves holding hand and lying at a safe distance,” Poots said.
Footage of one of those affectionate moments was shared to her TikTok account @djblckbrd where Rosie can be seen allowing Poots to cuddle her paw. All of this is a fairly recent development.
“She’s been with us for two years. After about a year, she started coming a bit closer. It’s only in the last couple of months that she started putting her paws out for us to hold,” Poots said.
It may only be the smallest of cuddles, a tiny moment of affection, but that first time Rosie did it was so special and so important to Poots.
“It’s magic when a cat suddenly trusts. She is now coming a tiny bit closer and walks over me sometimes,” Poots said. “She loves being a pet, so I have hoped that some day I can pick her up and hold her.”
For now, though, Poots is happy to enjoy a few paw squeezes and hopes those watching her videos also take home another important message: “adopt, don’t shop.”
