Both Monty and Zambia Princess Soda-Pop started out on the “wrong side of the tracks”, but with a bit of a leg-up from Jane and David Burren, these two kitties are lapping up the good life.

When and where did you first meet Monty and Zambia?
Jane: David and I had just moved into our current house with our then cats Georgie and Four Paws (yes, really!) And for ages we were getting regular visits from this poor, battered stray that came looking for a feed every night around 10. Time passed, Georgie and Four Paws died within months of each other and our stray friend got into a particularly vicious fight that left us thinking he shouldn’t be left to fend for himself any longer.
David: We did everything we could to find his previous owners. We letterboxed, chased up lost cat reports, phoned local clinics, the council and the RSPCA.

And what cinched it?
Jane: To be honest, I was nowhere near ready for another cat after the deaths of Georgie and Four Paws, but I can’t leave a cat in need and with so many kittens around, I knew sending him to the RSPCA or the Cat Protection Society would be a death sentence. It can be almost impossible to re-house an adult male cat. In the end there was nothing else I could do but adopt him.
David: So we did and we called him Monty.

Was it hard for him to adapt?
Jane: He adapted surprisingly quickly actually, especially since he was now confined to our property with a combination of Catmax and Affordable Cat Fencing.
David: Yep. Gradually his calloused paws softened and, sad to say, so did his rock hard set of muscles.

And Zambia? Where did she spring from?
Jane: Well, we decided that what Monty needed to keep him happy and active was a companion. Enter Zambia Princess Soda Pop! She’d been the last of a litter to be rescued from a local car park and had been staying at our local vet clinic (Ashburton Vet Clinic) in their cat adoption program.

How would you describe Monty’s and Zambia’s personality?
David: Monty’s placid. As a friend of ours says, he has a “nice aura”. Living with Monty is very calming. He makes you feel better just by being around. He’s independent but he also loves it when we’re home.
Jane: Whereas Zambia is a different kind of cat altogether! We often describe her as having the memory of a goldfish! (Laughs). She’s skittish and easily distracted with a flighty kind of nature. She certainly has her own unique little personality.

What are their favourite foods?
David: Monty loves tuna juice! He even likes the juice of the lemongrass and pepper flavoured tuna!
Jane: But because Monty’s on his calorie controlled diet he gets four small meals a day. One day that’s four meals of the Royal Canin Obesity diet, the alternate days it’s three meals of that plus a skinless chicken drumstick for dinner.
David: Zambia gets these little expensive tins of fish — Fancy Feast Royale, and the like. No Home Brand stuff for this little Princess! But because she’s had Gingivitis (because she’s ginger!) she mostly gets the Royal Canin Dental diet dry food.

What’s been the most difficult time you’ve had to go through with them?
Jane: Oddly, having had cats with thyroid problems, diabetes, rare kidney conditions and cancer, the most traumatic thing to date has been making the decision to adopt Monty. I actually sobbed when I took him to the vets for desexing and said “I don’t want another cat!” Fortunately, we have a loooong and very good association with our vet!
David: With Zambia, little things like personal grooming were a bit of a challenge — we thought for a while we’d have to also add “Stinky” to her names! Happily, Monty decided to teach her a few life skills which means that she’s now capable of washing her own bottom and he doesn’t have to!

What do you love most about Monty and Zambia?
Jane: I love that Monty runs to see me when I get home and comes to sleep with me on weekend afternoons. And I do love Zambia’s curly tail. I also love that she adores Monty.
David: Monty’s very protective of Zambia. When we first got Monty, he was quite upset with us. I think he thought we didn’t love him anymore but we made sure that he felt very much loved. He got over it. It took about three days.
Jane: Monty even runs to Zambia’s rescue when she’s in trouble! I think the last time he did that was when she tried to climb into the dishwasher.

From your own personal experience, what advice would you give to anyone with cats?
Jane: We think that it’s really important to reduce the environmental impact of owning cats, so we hung the garden with netting.
David: Which has been fantastic. We don’t have to worry what the cats are getting up to and we’re protecting the local wildlife from the cats. I meet a lot of bird people in my field of work and they say “You’ve got cats?!” But when I tell them about the fencing, the netting and the precautions that we take, they tend to calm down.
Jane: ..But the netting also means that we’re protecting our cats from fighting with other cats, from dogs, from cars… A lot of people think that cats are indestructible. They think that if they’re hungry they’ll catch a bird, if they get into a fight, they’ll heal up. But in fact cats are quite fragile.
David: Our feeling is that if you bring someone into your family, then you should take the best care of them that you can.
Jane: We wouldn’t want our kids playing on the road, so we don’t let our furry children play on the road either!

I know that this is almost a silly question, but how else to do you add value to Monty’s and Zambia’s lives?
David: They have “His and Hers” igloos…
Jane: And we’ve also stationed a dog bed over the central heating vent in the kitchen.
David: Monty and Zambia are generally regarded by friends as being the most spoiled cats in existence!
Jane: It’s true! In fact when we rang the vet to say that we’d take Zambia she said she’d go and tell Zambia that she’d “hit the Jackpot”!

What makes Monty special?
David: Monty has great problem solving skills. Having been a stray, he’s never really adjusted to regular mealtimes and so he likes to forage. We’ve had to child-proof the pantry; otherwise Monty would help himself to bread (which both he and Zambia love, actually).
Jane: We also had to put an extra hook on a sliding door that Monty could rattle the latch open on. He’d first head through to the other part of the house where my sister’s cat Pippy lives, eat Pippy’s food and then go and intimidate Pippy!

And Zambia?
David: Zambia is gob-smackingly strange to be honest. We joke that she has an autism spectrum disorder because her interactions with us are quite different from any other cats we’ve known!
Jane: She doesn’t naturally make eye contact or conduct regular conversations. But we love her, and are fiercely protective of her, for all that.

A Bit About Adopting a Stray
Adopting a stray cat is one of the most rewarding things you can do — strays tend to be more independent than house-bred cats and will respond to your kindness with fierce loyalty and devotion. The three main challenges with adopting a stray are health, toilet training, and keeping moggs entertained enough to stop straying again! Lucky for Monty, he found new “parents” who had the patience, creativity and love to make the transition from street-wise fighting-tom to home-loving family man.

About David and Jane Burren
Environmental photographer David Burren is a leading specialist in the modification of digital cameras to support Infra-red photography. He also produced “Portraits of Henry”, a publication that uses photographs to illustrate the life of a local Elephant Seal.

Freelance writer Jane Burren has had over ten years experience as a professional writer. She specialises in corporate communications and marketing and has written a number of articles for both international and national magazines on cat’s health and safety.

The two have been married for 13 and half years. Together and separately they pursue their interests in wildlife and nature, traveling to the remotest areas of the earth and volunteering for environmental causes.