Gizmo's Story

Gizmo did not have the best start in life. She was essentially used as a kitten machine having her third and final litter just one day after her 2nd birthday (she had her spey surgery as soon as she was healthy enough). Gizmo came to me a skeleton of a cat with this huge pregnancy belly, honestly I didn't think any of the kittens would have survived, I was worried Gizmo wouldn't survive. But she surprised everyone when 4 days after arriving with me she gave birth to 5 healthy baby boys!

In her previous home Gizmo had never known love, she had never been shown kindness and she was understandably nervous of people, but despite this lack of trust we bonded quickly, she gave birth to her boys while laying next to me becuase she wouldn't settle until I was with her. As her babies grew and she started putting on weight and realising what it is to be loved she really started coming out of her shell. Watching her confidence grow as the weeks went by and seeing her get so healthy made my heart sing. When I gave her her first cat toy, she looked at it with no idea what she was meant to do with it, so watching her play with toys for the first time was something incredibly special.

Gizmo was special for so many reasons; her resiliance, her determination, her ability to trust a stranger despite what people had done to her in the past, but it wasn't only those things. Gizmo came to me in an extremely low point of my life, I was struggling with every day life and I was severely depressed, I had no drive to do anything, to talk to anyone or even get out of bed. And then Gizmo came.

She gave me something to focus on, she kept my mind busy and she showed me uncondional love. Having Gizmo come to me when she did is the reason I made it out of that low point. She survived almost 2 years of torture, hunger and abuse and still she chose to trust me. She would sleep next to me at first, but after a few months I became the Gizmo bed and she slept on me almost every night and would greet me every morning with the cutest meows and gremlin sounding purrs (hence the name).

We were initially going to keep her (and 3 out of the 5 of her sons becuase we're soppy and couldn't part with them, the other 2 live next door, oopsy) inside and have them as indoor cats and build them a catio, but Giz had spent almost 2 years of her life as an outdoor cat and she was hating being inside, so reluctantly we let them out. She'd go on her adventures but she'd always pop back home for a snack and some cuddles before going off out again, which is exactly what she did on the 13th of June 2025.

Gizmo had just come home and got some cuddles from my mum and not even 10 minutes later our neighbour was at our front door telling us Gizmo had been hit by a car and had died. The driver that hit her never stopped, never bothered to see if she was okay, or to try locate her owner. Instead it was a different motorist who found my beautiful girl lifeless in the road. My neighbour just happened to be passing on her way home when she saw someone holding Gizmo, she put Giz in her car and brought her home to us.

Gizmo meant the world to my family, she never failed to make us smile, she always made us laugh when she'd chirp at the birds on the roof or fell asleep in the most uncomfortable looking positions. She was family. She was taken from us by someone who was driving too fast and breaking the 20mph speed limit and they didn't even have the decency to stop.

I owe Gizmo so much, she got me out of the lowest point in my life and it breaks my heart that hers was cut so short by an inconsiderate driver who treated a tiny village road as their personal race track despite the very obvious 20mph signs, mountain sized speed humps and primary school.

I will never be able to give her her life back, but I owe it to her to do everything I can to make sure no one else has to lose a family member becuase of dangeous drivers.

Gizmo was so loved by so many, not just myself and my family, but members of the community who would see her out on her adventures too. She leaves behind 3 beautiful boys, one of which looks exactly like her just a boy and more fluffy, and a family that adored her.

I started Project Gizmo to try and impliment real change in my village in hopes that no one else has to lose a loved one, becuase with the speed and volume of traffic its only a matter of time before it's a child getting hit.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and thank you for being here. If you'd like to show your support follow the Project Gizmo socials, links are at both the top and bottom of the page.

Much love,
Beth