Babe and Victoria Wundram: Furry Friends Fur-Ever

“I’ve had cats in the past and my last cat, Ramone, died in October, 2025,” Victoria says. “He was sick for a long time with diabetes and failing organs. A feral tabby rescue on Maui, and a wonderful cat, he moved back with us to the mainland in 2021. He first helped my husband in his fight against cancer and then became my comfort companion when my husband passed away. It was very hard to lose him.

“My sister, Annie Kiely, a volunteer at Furry Friends, saw Babe (then called Furrah Rocher), told me about her, and I visited the shelter to see her. A new resident, who still needed spaying and vaccines, I committed immediately but waited until after her medical appointments, and adopted her shortly after Christmas.

“The first few days were difficult for Babe. She had some pain from her surgery and didn’t feel well after all of the vaccines. I took her to the vet who checked her incision and found it was slightly infected. She was given antibiotics and dressed in an orange ‘hot dog’ suit to protect the incision. Several days passed before she felt better, stopped hiding under the sofa and, thankfully, found her appetite.

“Now she’s very confident and very active. She runs up and down the stairs faster than any cat I’ve known, follows me everywhere, sleeps at the foot of my bed, competes with me for the best chair in the family room and relishes the competition! She not only likes having her treats on her own mini-chaise lounge or in her Starry Night scratcher seat, she knows a lot of words including ‘fireplace,’ and loves sitting by the fire. 
“Although she has sharp teeth, she knows to be careful, and bites only very gently. She loves playing with her fishing pole with a furry tail on the end. If she needs to take a break during the day, she retreats to the soft carrier I keep in the family room with the flap door unzipped.

“What’s interesting is her response to my whistling. I found that if I want her to come from anywhere in the house, calling her name works well enough, but whistling ‘Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee’ makes her run to me at break neck speed!

“A very vocal kitty, Babe doesn’t meow softly, she ‘makes announcements’ and sometimes ‘demands.’ Not one to spend much time just cuddling, she enjoys having her face and head massaged and tolerates kisses on the forehead. She likes being brushed until the moment she doesn’t! She’s become more receptive to petting the older she grows, but she lets me know when it’s enough. She’s very soft, so she’s impossible to resist.

“I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to love a new cat after losing Ramone, but Babe has stolen my heart.” 

______________________________________________________

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA.