Best Friends

Over the years, we have rescued many animals, including horses, ponies, and donkeys. This is Ziggy the cat and his best friend, Zara. Ziggy’s story is a harrowing one; he had a very difficult start to life.

We found him as a tiny kitten, shivering and lying next to his deceased mother under a shed. He was emaciated and infested with worms. He nearly died due to a severe infection that he had upon arrival. For several weeks, it was touch and go, relying on antibiotics to help him recover.

Thankfully, Ziggy made a full recovery. However, being feral and wild, it took him a long time to trust us. Gradually, he transformed into an absolute sweetheart who loves cuddles and attention, although he remains nervous around strangers.

His growing trust in us was partly due to the confidence provided by our older German Shepherd, Storm, who sadly passed away a few years ago. Because of Storm's reassurance, Ziggy immediately bonded with Zara when she arrived, although she didn’t feel the same way at first. 😳😬

This led to a few broken ornaments and some wild chases around the living room until Zara learned to love him, along with our other rescue cats. ❤️

Zara was adopted from a local rescue centre as an older puppy. Her previous rehoming did not go well because she had numerous issues. Tragically, Zara was brutalised by her last owner during her early life. As a result, she is partially blind, which our vets suspect is due to blunt force trauma to her head. She has also recovered from a broken nose, among other horrors she endured before coming to us.

Zara suffers from PTSD, which is understandable given her past. While she has made great strides in enjoying a better life with us, her history sometimes causes her to react with fear. Ongoing care and mindfulness are essential in helping her cope with everything she has been through.

Most days, she does incredibly well, but occasionally she reverts to the terrified state she was in when she first arrived, trembling in fear. We have noticed this particularly when she is around larger teenage boys, leading us to believe that someone of that description may have caused her harm in the past.

Thankfully, all that suffering is behind Ziggy, Zara, and the other animals at our small sanctuary. They now enjoy a happy life with us, receiving care and plenty of love. We often get asked how people can donate to support animals like Ziggy and Zara. Interestingly, we usually say that we don’t need your donations – LOL.

This is because we have developed our own strategy to fund our centre. We hand-make our Rope Tack items and other horse-friendly products, which we sell to help support our animals, including Ziggy and Zara. If you’d like to support us, please browse our website. Everything you purchase directly supports our animal care efforts: https://www.naturalhorse.co.nz/horsemanship-gear.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all our customers for the support you've shown us throughout 2022. Without you, none of this would be possible.

NaturalHorseNZ.