Content warning
This story deals with a true account of animal neglect and contains some distressing images.
Molly loves to be involved
Adventurous Molly loves exploring and hanging out with her humans. She just has to be involved in whatever they’re doing. It’s a far cry from how she was when we found her.
When RSPCA Deputy Chief Inspector Rachael Hurst was called out to check on Molly, she knew straight away that something was wrong.
Molly’s face and ears were covered in scabs. Her scratching had caused open wounds. She was also missing part of her tail from an untreated injury. We found out she had never been to a vet, so we rushed her for treatment.
Despite the pain she was in, she was very friendly – rubbing up against staff during her examination at the vet’s.
The vet told us she’d been left to suffer for weeks.
When I saw her photo, it was love at first sight. And when we went to visit her, she was as lovely as I had hoped.
“She had two raw rings around her eyes – they took time to heal.”
For six months, caring staff at RSPCA Felledge Animal Centre helped Molly recover. Every day they would soothe her itchy skin with cream and medication.
“She was full of scabs, her coat was dull and greasy and she had a lot of sore red skin around her eyes,” says cattery supervisor Michelle Robinson. “We were using Vaseline to soothe that, every day. She was a high-maintenance girl!”
Molly’s condition was finally being properly managed, perhaps for the first time in her life. While she hid at first, her confident personality soon came out.
“She’d greet everybody – all our volunteers loved her,” says Michelle. “Sometimes she was a little crackerpot – doing zoomies around the cattery. But she’d also snuggle up to us. She was such a lap cat.”
Once her skin healed, Molly was finally able to go to her loving new home.
before
Molly’s face was itchy and raw. She was in obvious pain and had self-inflicted wounds from constant scratching.
after
Molly’s fur has nearly all grown back and her sparky personality is intact. She’s always making her new owner smile with her lively antics.
“She’s brought a whole extra dimension of joy into my life”
Molly was matched with her new owner Amanda, who loved the sound of an affectionate older cat.
“Within five minutes she was exploring every corner of the house – getting cobwebs all over her whiskers,” says Amanda.
“She’s hilarious,” she says. “She just doesn’t stop! She runs everywhere – as if for the joy of it.”
Now Molly can spend every day adventuring and climbing trees, before snuggling up with her family. “She’s so lovely, and so happy in herself,” Amanda tells us. “I couldn’t ask for a better cat.”
Last year, on Christmas Day alone, we took 769 welfare calls – more than one a minute*. We're one of only a few charities that can rescue, rehabilitate and rehome animals like Molly. But we can’t do it alone: we rely on donations from people like you. Together, we can save lives.
*RSPCA’s cruelty line. Based on line opening hours.
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Meet some of the animals who got a second chance. From Fendi, who has somewhere safe to sleep at last, to siblings Dante and Beatrice, who love snuggling on the sofa.
