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| Goldie is the Great Escape Artist. She was, in fact, trapped not once, not twice, not even three times - but FOUR separate times. By three different rescuers. She got away every time - once, right out the back door of the vet's office. She was first caught in a colony clean-up I was helping with; a lady had a stray/feral colony in her backyard that was getting out of control (about 40 cats at the time I showed up). I agreed to take all the mothers and kittens from the colony so she could work on trapping/nutering without worrying about catching a mom or kitten in error. Problem - we caught all 11 kittens easily, but only caughe one mom - Goldie. Luckilly, Goldie was the Queen of queens, happily nursing all 11 kittens (I had to bottle-suppliment, but at least all the kits were getting some mother's milk with the natural antibodies they need). She was also loving and caring of all the kits, even though only three were actually hers. They all grew up to be well-adjusted tikes rather than the neurotic cats that can come from being weaned far too young. Goldie was such a good mom she over-nursed and started to develop sores on her teats. Didn't stop her from wanting to do it, though - we had to separte her completely to keep her from trying. At first we just kept her out of the bathroom 'nursery,' but she would dig at the bathroom door for hours trying to get in, so we transferred her to a different foster home to heal so we could spay her. She escaped out the bathroom window. To my amusement, someone else in that apartment building caught her, only to have her escape out the front door later. A third time I got a call from my vet's office telling me someone else had caught Goldie and brought her in (her 'cauliflower' ears and coloring, plus incredibly docile and affectionate personality make her a very distinct cat), only to break out the back door as they prepped her for surgery. Finally, almost two years after the first time we caught her, my landlady trapped her and her very large trio of kittens. I got her to the vet overnight and they didn't even put her in a waiting cage - we dind't want to risk her making a break for it again! Once fixed, her Runaway Mom syndrome seemed to dissipate and she settled down into the household. The children in my apartment building were completely enamored, visiting almost daily and one hoped to talk her parents into letting her keep Goldie (she got a bird instead). Goldie did eventually find a wonderful home with an English-born homicide detective in New Jersey. Given her checkered past, I find that amusingly fitting. |