At Pippa-s Paddock, we love all animals. It is a hard life in the mountains of Sicily and many animals get themselves into all sorts of troubles. We have been saving animals of all shapes and sizes since we arrived here in 2006.
We manage to rehome most of them, once we are convinced of the suitability of the new potential owners. Some we never find a home for, and they up being residents at the Paddock !!
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Pepita. Mark found Pepita whilst out riding with a guest, in drizzling rain, one day. Pepita was so tiny and had such an odd yelp that we couldn’t tell what animal it was. It was clear that it was in need of help. She was put in Mark’s waistcoat pocket and zipped up, nice and cosy till we got home. So young she didn’t know how to eat or even drink it was a chore to get her to survive. But the little one was a brave and determined soul and survive she di. Today she joins in all the rides and runs as fast the horses at full gallop !!!
Bandida (Bandy). Named by Raz for her “mask”, it was Raz who found her on the side of the road and starving to death. She was around 2 months old and very scared. At around 8 months old she still displays signs of starvation fears and gobbles up food like there is going to be none soon. Slowly she is getting better. She has a lovely gentle character and plays with Grigia, the little kitten for hours.
Nelson. Nelson was found by Pippa and Mark one spring evening at dusk. Driving home through country lanes, Mark realised that what looked like a little stone on the road might be a living creature and steered to pass with wheels on either side of the object. the object turned out to be a very young kitten completely blind and abandoned by his mother. Fighting liek a true monster and showing strength disproportionate to his minuscle size, the kitten was brought home and, on vet’s advice, had the worse of the 2 eyes amputated. This gave him back vision in the other eye. Today, Nelson is cat king of the territory and his one eye doesn-t seem to impair him in any way…
Grigia. This little kitten was abandoned in our car park. We suspect it came form a good home and the owners knew we would take care of it, for Grigia never feared humans and is happy to stay in someone-s arms all day. She rarely goes out and is not a true “country” cat at all…