Jedi The Warrior

I brought my house about 7 years ago and there seemed to be a lot of strays around. There were always kittens so I started working with a rescue group and I would live trap the kittens, then socialize them. The rescue would then take them, get them vet checked and adopt them out.

A couple of years ago in the month of July there were kittens next door at a house that had been empty for a while. Out by the garage there were kittens that appeared to be around 5 weeks old. I contact the rescue group and let them know about the kittens. There were four of them. There was a yellow kitten, a calico kitten, a tortoiseshell and a black kitten.

I went and got my live trap and set it up near the garage and baited it with canned cat food. Within 24 hours I had rounded up all the kittens. They were scared and wild.

I place them in a large wire dog create with food, water, litter box and a place to hide. During the day I would work with them and get them use to be handled. It took a couple of weeks for 3 of them to turn around. The little black one refused to be handled. Did not want to be touched. He would flatten his ears, and growl and try to hide. I gave him special attention and he would just flatten out and lay his ears back. No matter what I did he just would not come around. In another week the other three kittens were ready to go to rescue. When I talked to Chris who handled the kittens for the rescue group I told her that I was holding one of them back as I could not get him to come around. After I took the other kittens to Chris, I thought the black one would begin to come around. Another week went by and no luck, so a friend suggested, why don’t you just give him the run of the house with the older cats. So I did as she suggested.

After about 2 weeks I finally had a little success and I was able to communicate with him and get him to respond. He even attempted to play.

I started calling him Jedi. As the days went by he starting being a normal kitten, he was still a little unsure and would run if he was startled but he was doing good.

It has now been two years and as you most likely guessed Jedi stayed and become part of my family. He really turned out to be a sweet kitten and its been a joy seeing him grow up. We bonded and he adopted me.

Jedi is 2 and half years old now. He loves attention, he will talk to me and sometimes sleep on the pillow next to me. When I go to the back door to let the dogs out he will jump up on the end of the counter and rub his head on the door and me to be petted.

He still has some feral ways to him and does not like to be cuddled or if I moved wrong he will run. He has come a long ways and he developed into a beautiful cat. I had him neutered and he has never been outside. Below is a photo that I took in December of 2009.

My name is Elizabeth

I have worked with animals and rescue cats for many years. Many have come and gone in my life. Every once in a while there is that special one who captures your heart right away. On this occasion it was a cat named Elizabeth!!

I received a call from a fellow cat rescue friend for a cat that needed a foster home. They had calico that needed to be fostered and all the other homes were full. I know you already have several cats of your own but this little girl really needs a place to stay for a while. Can you foster her? I thought a minute and asked for how long? Just long enough for another foster home to become available.
I said OK and set up a time to go pick her up.

Little did I know, this sweet little girl had a special magic about her that would totally capture my heart. I pulled into the driveway of my friends home and we talked for a while. She then took me to meet Elizabeth.

Elizabeth sat in a corner of a small kennel with her head down. I said she looks sad, My friend called to her and Elizabeth lifted her head and our eyes met. I felt an energy leave her and go directly to my heart. She was remarkably beautiful. Makes me wonder how such a lovely creature could end up on the streets and in need of a home.

I took a closer look at her and said she does not look to be a Calico, my friend responded I’m not sure, that is what they told me. She had beautiful blue eyes and was mostly whites with some patches of different shades of brown. I said you know I have seen this type of cat before and I think they call them a Snowshoe Siamese.

I went out to my car to get the cat carrier I had brought with me. My friend had took Elizabeth from her holding kennel and placed her in the cat carrier. I then left and went home with my temporary foster.

As the days went by, Elizabeth did more that capture my heart she over took it with her loving sweet personality. She followed me around like a dog and slept with me under the covers. I did some research online and discovered I was right. She was a Snowshoe Siamese. As I did more research I found out Snowshoes are generally affectionate and sweet-tempered, yet very mellow. They enjoy the company of humans and being petted. Snowshoes are very social and docile, and show great devotion and love towards their owners. Well, that is true, Elizabeth sure showed me great devotion. As I got to know this sweet little girl I knew she was not going to be a foster anymore, she was going to be part of my family. Did I need her, no, but she had captured my heart.

We have really bonded and she has made herself right at home. She thinks she is the Cat’s Meow! The photo to the right is where she climbed up the step ladder when I was redoing my bathroom. She still sleeps with me at night and is always there to greet me when I come home.

Mr. Stray (AKA Happy Cat)

Happy Cat came into my life about 9 years ago. I lived in a small town that if you blinked you would drive right through it. I had an apartment on the upper floor above a computer store. On either side of the computer store there were two bars. Sometimes on a summer evening I would come down the stairs and sit in the door way to the entrance of my apartment. I would watch the people walk by as they left one bar and walked into another.

I had befriended a stray cat. He would come and sit by me for a while and then he would leave and go on his way. I called him Mr. Stray, I guessed him to be around
2 years old, maybe a little younger. I always made sure there was food out so he could eat.

One chilly October evening I heard a cat crying at my apartment door. I looked around and my guys were all with me. Not sure why a cat was at my door. So I went to see who was there. When I opened my door to my surprise Mr. Stray was there. He had never done that before. I did not even know he would climb the stairs. I opened the door and said hi Mr. Stray, He looked at me, I asked would you like to come in. He walked in and he never left.

He was not afraid of the dogs, he made himself right at home. It was like he knew winter was coming and he wanted a home.

As I got to know him better, he was such a happy cat and had such a nice personality. So I started calling him Happy Cat. I’m guessing he is somewhere around 10 years old and still just as sweet as ever.

Mary the miracle kitten

A woman walked into my office late on a Friday afternoon. She said I was told you helped and worked with strays. I said yes I do. She said I have a kitten outside that was caught in a car fan. I do not know where to take her as I need to leave for an out of town appointment.  She said I did try animal control but they were closed for the weekend. I said I will take her and see what I can do.

The lady went out to her car and brought a box in, inside was the smallest tiny black kitten that appeared to be only 5 weeks old. She appeared to be feisty, I picked her up and then saw where she had indeed encountered a car fan. Her front leg appeared to be broken, her back foot had some torn skin and one toe was a mess. One of her ears also had been cut and was missing the tip. The lady asked will she be OK, I said I’m not sure but I will do what I can to save her.

Here it was close to 5:00 pm on a Friday night and my main vet was closed.  I took her upstairs to my apartment and went to work on fixing her up. I called a friend to help. We cleaned up her cuts and set her leg using a Popsicle stick. I then placed her in a small animal cage with a heating pad, food and water.

It was touch and go for three weeks, she did not do much, although I was able to get her to eat. I kept her cuts cleaned and made sure her splint on her leg was stable. After about a month she showed really good improvement. I had been calling her Miracle as it was a miracle that she survived the car fan.

With the daily care I had given her she had captured my heart, so I said little miracle you are going to stay with me. As she grow the feisty attitude I first noticed started to show even more. She was her own cat. She became very independent and soon was scampering all around the house. She really did not care to be cuddled very much, she just wanted to do her own things.

Today Miracle is 9 years old and still as feisty as ever. I now have shortened her name to just Mary, but many times I call her Mary B short for Mary Bitch. She has a sweet personality on her own terms. One minute she is sweet and lovey dovey and the next thing you know she is flattening her ears and growling at you. She is a good cat just very indepndent.

Cow Cat

Cow Cat was a stray. It was rumored that he had stayed at a house on the next block over with many other cats. The man who had been taking care of them had died. My neighbor and myself always put food out to feed the strays that came around. Cow Cat had been name by my neighbor’s nephew who was around 5 years old. He said the kitty looked a like cow.

Cow Cat and a couple of other strays stayed at a house next door that was abandoned. In early March of 2009 that house was torn down. Cow Cat adopted my pouch as his home. He was dirty and he was a fighter.

I took it upon myself to call my vet and make an appoinment to have him neutered. I live trapped him and took him into the vets. I warned the vet he was a stray and had hardly been handled.

Cow Cat did not care for his trip to the vet and terrorized the vet and vet techs. The morning of his surgery the vet tech opened the door to his cage and before she could shut it Cow Cat had leaped up and flew over the door and landed on the floor. The vet tech tried to stop him, but he swiped at her with his paw and torn her scrubs. The vet came in at that time. He too tried to corner him and Cow Cat latched onto his shoe and would not let go. They managed to get him under control.

When I called to see how he was doing the vet told me that is a crazy cat. I told him “I said he was a stay and not use to being handled”. Later that afternoon I went and picked him up. He was still groggy but he knew who I was and I saw relief in his eyes.

I took him home back to his little bed on my pouch. As the days and months went by Cow Cat changed. He no longer wanted to fight, he kept himself clean and was not roaming the neighborhood. He kinda adopted me and would follow me everywhere I would go in the yard. He gained weight and really started to look good. He still had some of his battle scares along with his torn ear but was still a pretty cat.

I can pet him, but he does not really let me pick him up. If I move wrong he runs but not far. The other day he actully came into the house for the first time and stayed in the bottom shelf of a china cabinet for a couple of hours. I’m still working with him to hopefully make him a house cat. He has a little ways to go, but he has also come a long way from the fighting tom he use to be.