Feral Baby No. 1

This is Mommakitty's story and I wish she could tell it because if cats could talk...this feline Lady would have a story to tell. I only know the part of her life that I've been involved. She's a true survivor and I love and respect her to the max...

I honestly can't remember what year it was that I first laid eyes on Mommakitty. I can only guess that it was the winter of 1990. It was a cold and cloudy winter day when I looked out the window of the office where I work and saw a tiny black kitten running across the parking lot. I went out and tried to coax it toward me, but the little thing just took off and jumped down into a storm drain. For several days, I thought about that little kitty and watched for it, but never saw it again. I guess I figured someone had managed to capture the little thing or maybe it had just run off to parts unknown.

Here again...I have to guess as to the period of time that passed before I saw Mommakitty again. Amazing though it may seem. It must have been two or three years later. I would guess it was the end of 1992. Suddenly one day, I looked out that same window and there walking across the parking lot was this full grown black cat. I can't tell you how shocked I was to realize that it had to be the very same cat I had seen as such a tiny kitten almost three years previous. That's when I decided I had to take responsibility for this cat. I immediately started leaving food and water out every night as I left work for home. Every morning, the food was gone and I knew this kitty was living nearby and coming to eat every night. Little did I know...she was living right in that very same storm drain I saw her run in to several years before. Not only that, but she was not alone. She apparently had had kittens and now there was at least one more full grown black cat and another I never really got a good look at. Could have been the father of her kitty. After a few months of feeding the kitties, I decided it was time to try and trap them and take them to my Vet. to see if he could find a home for them. I went to the local animal shelter, borrowed a humane trap and set it out. Someone else in the center where I work called me one Saturday morning and told me there was a kitty in the trap. I was so excited...I phoned my Vet. to tell them I might be on my way with a feral cat and was informed that more than likely, the cat would have to be put to sleep because it was too wild to try to tame. Well, I set out for the shopping center full of doubts and wanting no part of being responsible for this cat's demise. By the time I got there, I didn't know what I was going to do. I picked up the trap...headed for the car as the terrified kitty ran back and forth inside the trap and suddenly I stopped! I couldn't do it! I turned right around and put the trap down, opened the trap door and told that terrified creature to take off!!!

For the next year, I continued to put out food and water everyday. Other people did, too. I guess people shopping at the center had seen Mommakitty and I began to notice food on other little concrete medians and even a catnip mouse at Christmas time. It was also about this time that I realized there was a kitten living in the storm drain with Mommakitty. The other kitties I had seen before had apparently moved on. I was beginning to worry about this precious little one and knew I had to do something. And, it was just after that Christmas that Dr. Doug Sanders opened his new Animal Clinic in our shopping center. He came to our office to introduce himself and I latched on to his arm and dragged him out to the storm drain to see where Momma & kitty were living and to show him the little box with a blanket in it that we had placed there for warmth and some comfort. I let him know I had no intentions of trapping and euthanizing these kitties, but also had no way to take them in myself. Dr. Sanders said, "Well, we're just gonna have to trap these kitties, spay and vaccinate them and let them back out here." I almost hugged him then and there! Finally, someone who was willing to respect Mommakitty's years of survival. Someone who didn't want to play God with the lives of these little troopers!

I almost forgot! There was one other cat. "Papakitty" we called him and he was the first cat I caught in the trap. Dr. Sanders neutered him, vaccinated him, tested him for Feline Leukemia and Aids(negative on both) and we set him free. Then I caught the kitten. She was spayed, vaccinated and tested(again negative) but, this time we didn't set her free. One of the other people leaving food for the kitties had taken quite an interest in the kitten and when I told Dottie we had the kitten at the Animal Clinic, she came to see her. Dottie was really torn as to whether or not she should take the kitten away from Mommakitty, but Dr. Sanders and I convinced her it would be best for the darling little kitty to have a chance at a better life. We really didn't know how tame she was, but what a surprise when I came to see her one day and approached the cage talking sweetly to her and without hesitation, she came over to the cage door and began to rub up against it and purr. I opened the door, reached in and took her in my arms and she took right to me. She wasn't a bit scared. I have to admit...I wanted her for myself, but Dottie got her and she's one little pampered puss these days. And, quite a beautiful cat! As you can see...

It took several weeks before I was able to catch Mommakitty. She's a sly little dickens! But, once caught...she too was spayed, vaccinated, tested(same results) and released to rejoin "Pappakitty". Unfortunately, Pappakitty didn't hang around much longer and Mommakitty was left alone for about a year. Then, just about a year ago...we realized that she not only had a new buddy, but had relocated to a much safer area behind the shopping center. Her best buddy is "Brotherkitty" named that because we thought he might be from one of her previous litters and would be Sunny's brother. We've since learned that he was already neutered and probably dumped somewhere around the shopping center. But, now Mommakitty has a companion in life and they are crazy about each other. Be sure and take a moment to read Brotherkitty's story, too!

But, for now...Mommakitty is happy, fat and still won't let me near her! I love her so much and will continue to care for her and feed her everyday. They have a large cat carrier(without a cage door on it) hidden in some huge photenia shrubs for shelter. I've rigged it so rain can't get in and their food is served in another smaller cat carrier(without the cage door, also)to keep their food dry. We've had to deal with a possum and raccoon in the past few months, but they seem to have moved on. I'm known by many around the shopping center and Texas Instruments facility(that's where the huge shrubs are)as the crazy catlady, but I've received nothing but praise and help from these people and a lot of them geniunely care about my feral babies. I just recently got a call from the landscaping contractor for TI and he just wanted to let me know that the kitties are welcome to stay where they are and his men are under strict orders to leave them and their habitat alone. I also have a Policeman keeping his eye on the kitties. Though I worry everyday that something bad might happen to Mommakitty and Brotherkitty, I realize it's the very best that I can do for them. And, hopefully God is watching over them, too.