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Tissues may be required: Cats Protection animation “Kozal’s Christmas” pulls at the heart strings

By John Freeman on December 22, 2017

Art by Rus Hudda. Image: Cats Protection

“Kozal’s Christmas” is a smashing little animation in aid of Cats Protection with art by Rus Hudda, telling the true life story of Kozal, a 16-year-old ginger cat, who arrived at Cats Protection’s National Cat Adoption Centre in Sussex and waited seven months to be homed.

Overlooked by prospective owners, after seeing Kozal featured in a local newspaper, Jill Cash and her husband decided to visit the centre before offering him a home.

“We adopted Kozal because he has that forlorn look on his face and we just wanted to give him a warm safe place to spend his OAP years” says Jill.

The real-lfe Kozal. Image: Cats Protecttion

“He settled in right away and made himself at home.” Says Kim. “He loves to sit in front of our French doors and watch the birds. He is a real feisty character and we are starting to recognise the different miaows he gives us.”

The animation focuses on Kozal’s time in the centre, showing him becoming more dejected as he is overlooked in favour of other cats.

There is a happy ending however – Kozal soon lands himself a home with a kind individual, much like his namesake.

The animation was the work of comics artist and animator Rus Hudda, creator of the diary comic Eat, Sleep and Sniff, who does quite a lot of work for Cats Protection, with music by Dan Millidge, who recently provided music for the animations used for this year’s Bafta Children’s Awards and whose work has featured on Nature’s Weirdest Events, Location, Location, Location, and Countryfile.

The Sound Design is by James Locke-Hart, an award-winning, Brighton-based sound designer and music composer.

“It’s a moving piece taking inspiration from a real life story,” says James. *Tissues may be required.”

Cats Protection are thrilled to see that Kozal is settled and happy in his new home in time for Christmas too. As National Cat Adoption Centre Deputy Manager, Tania Marsh, says: “Our staff and volunteers work hard to make every cat’s time with us as comfortable and happy as possible but it’s no substitute for a real home.”

Web Links: Cats Protection

• If you’d like to find a cat in your area, find out here on the Cats Protection web site | Follow Cats Protecttion on Twitter @CatsProtection

“Kozal’s Christmas”: The Animation Team

• You find out more about Rus’ work and buy his books Eat, Sleep Sniff and Life (drawings) with Cats on his web site | Follow Rus on Twitter @eatsleepsniff | Instagram | Facebook

• Dan Millidge is at www.danmillidge.co.uk | Follow Dan on Twitter @danmillidge | YouTube

• James Locke-Hart is online at www.jameslockehart.com | Follow James on Twitter @jameslockehart

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.