Marquesy or Kwassie has a very complex personality – this is due to her origin story. Dr. Francoisné worked with a lot of feral cat colonies during her time at the government. On sterilization days, she and her team often did between 10-40 cat sterilizations in one day. On one of these days, there was a female cat that was quite far along in her pregnancy. Usually, if you take puppies/kittens out a day or two early, they don’t survive. However, she felt this kitten she was taking out had a fighting chance. After quite a gooey CPR session, the tiny kitten began breathing, and she decided to bottle-raise her for her friend who recently lost her own cat.
About three days before the young kitten was due at her new family, a feral cat broke into Dr. Francoisné’s house and tried to strangle the baby. Luckily, her Greyhound, Zoey, came to the rescue and chased the cat away. When Dr. Francoisné found the kitten, she was blue and wheezing. She did not think the kitten would survive the night.
The next morning, Kwassie was still alive and fighting, but she was paralyzed in her front legs and blind. She had gusto for life and drank her entire morning bottle. Although her adoption day was delayed, Dr. Francoisné decided to give her a chance. After about a week of intensive care, therapy, and pain meds, it was clear that Kwassie was going to make a full recovery. She then went to her new family and lived with them for about three years.
At the end of 2023, her parents decided to emigrate to Australia, and they could not take her with them – that’s how she ended up back with Dr. Francoisné, who promptly employed her as head of critter control at Kanonkop Dierekliniek!