Family pawtrait: Nic Healey with cats Lola and Salem.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Stray cat Salem was a regular visitor to Nic Healey’s back deck at his old house in Dubbo, yelling and peeing everywhere until Mr Healey eventually caved in and fed him.
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While Salem would just pop by for a bite to eat every now and then, Lola moved in as a permanent resident to the household.
Lola was a rescue cat, and by all accounts had seemed to have been through a pretty tough decade or so before becoming part of the Healey house.
Resting mean face: Lola is a 16-year-old domestic long hair or Persian, nobody knows.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“My view is, with (Lola being) a 16-year-old, my job is to give her a very nice last few years, or however long she’s got, hopefully a few years, and I could tell she’d been through a lot,” Mr Healey said.
“I wasn’t ready for two cats, but one day Salem arrived and had a big chunk taken out of him, just where his tail meets his back, he had a big, open and quite bloody wound.
“We made the decision that he was going to stay the night, we took him to the vet next day, found out he hadn’t been microchipped or desexed, he was just as far as we could tell a full-on stray, and so then a week later he’d had both of those things done, and was living with me.”
Picture purrfect: Salem is a three-year-old domestic short hair.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Mr Healey moved to Shepparton more than three months ago to become the ABC Shepparton breakfast show host and made the decision to convert Salem into an indoor cat.
“We don’t know the area, and there’s also incredible birdlife here, so I decided as a responsible pet owner he was going to be an indoor-only cat,” he said.
Mr Healey said it was a big adjustment for Salem, being a stray cat who was bit more free range.
Out on the town: Mr Healey taking Salem for a walk.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“The way we’ve tried to make that work is he gets walks, we pop him in a harness and he goes out for a walk every day,” he said.
“I will give a shout out to our neighbours.
“I live in a fantastic street where everyone has been unbelievably peaceful and kind.
“I have been made to feel so welcome since I’ve got here, and being the weirdo with the cat on the leash and nobody giving me a hard time, that’s part of that warm welcome.“
Mr Healey said the only reason adopting Salem wasn’t an automatic decision was because of Lola and her age, being much older than Salem.
Best friends: Mr Healey with Lola.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“She’s been through a bit, but she’s a tough one and is surviving really well,” he said.
“It’s not that they don’t get on, it’s that she (Lola) wants to lie on a couch and have a big nap, and he’s (Salem) young enough he still wants to play.
“He’ll go over and give her a smack on the head to see if she’ll get up and have a bit of a dance around with him or she’ll decide she’s had enough of him and will smack him around completely.
“Lola has what could be charitably described as a resting mean face, she always looks like she’s in a bit of a foul mood but she’s not.
“She has a reputation for being a bit of a sourpuss.
“Salem is just a really good-natured, gentle boy.
In charge: Salem showing off one of his favourite spots.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
“He is just the biggest softie, he wants to be touched and see people, and he gets incredibly lonely when he isn’t around other individuals.”
Mr Healey said it was important to get stray cats off the street, as they were a danger to native wildlife.
“On the other hand it’s just a kindness thing, they are beautiful creatures who deserve a happy, well-fed life,” he said.
Mr Healey said he encouraged people to challenge their perceptions of stray and rescue animals.
“Every animal is an individual, but if you’re not giving them a chance they’ll never be able to prove they will be great animals at home,” he said.
“Go to the shelter, talk to the people, find a way to get them off the street, because they have been so full of love, it’s just been a beautiful experience.”
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