20 Cats

My wife and I are a “Trapping Post”, a volunteer arm of No More Homeless Pets in Utah. We issue vouchers and loan traps to people who need to spay or neuter a feral.

Last week we made an appointment with a lady who came by to get a voucher and trap. My wife had told her over the phone that we have 20 cats.

When she came inside, she immediately remarked that our house didn’t smell at all. In fact, she said, it smelled and looked great. She was surprised.

Yeah, that’s my first impression: When someone says they have an abnormal amount of cats (whatever that is) the first thing I think of is smell and mess.

Not all of those 20 are inside cats. In fact, “only” 7 are (they come and go). We have 4 litter boxes inside and they get scooped twice daily. The house gets vacuumed thoroughly regularly.

Just because we have 20 cats doesn’t mean we live like a family from Deliverance.

Callie

Sigh. How many calico cats do you know named Callie?

My wife’s daughter lives on a farm in a rural community in the county. She gave us a call one day and said she’d caught a feral kitten that had been limping around for about 2 weeks. She had taken the kitten to the vet on her way to work and asked us if we’d check it out and make a decision on what to do.

Wifey was tied up so I went to the vet to have a look. She was huddled in the back of the cage, nothing moving but her eyes as only a feral can do. I reached in and just about lost my hand. The vet speculated that  she’d been hit by a car.

He said we had two options:  Euthanasia or amputation. I refuse to put an animal down because it’s “too expensive” to do otherwise, so I told the vet to do his best. That was November 6th, 2001.

We brought Callie home a few days later. Her front left leg was gone. It turns out she had been shot. Entry wound was the shoulder, deflecting down and out the leg. I’d really like to meet the person that did that and properly thank them.

We left her in the pet taxi and put it face-to-face with another open pet taxi, her litter box in one end and some food and water in the other end. After a while we separated the two and she ventured out, limping around the basement TV room. I spend a fair amount of time on the computer in that room. She would tentatively approach and I’d let my hand hang down so she could sniff. I guess you could say that in those days we, well, bonded. She’s now considered my kitty.

You should see her run across the back lawn! She can even climb one of the trees we have. You would never know that she was once a firecracker of a feral. She is one the nicest cats we have.

We have no photos of Tinker Bell. She was Daisy’s daughter and Arlene’s sister. She had long hair and was all white. Beautiful and sweet.

Just prior to our wedding the next-door neighbor came home from the grocery store. They left their trunk open while unloading groceries and as far as we can tell she jumped in. They didn’t notice her when they closed the trunk. Shortly after that, they traveled about 8 miles to the other side of the county and opened the trunk. Of course, Tinker Bell bailed out and ran off.

We finally put the pieces together and went looking for her. Someone from that area said that they thought there as a dead white cat on the highway and it had been removed. We never found her.

Tragic is what comes to mind.

Arlene

Arlene is Daisy’s daughter. This is the only photo we have of her.

Daisy’s other children that survived (Thackery Binx and Tinker Bell) all became loving and affectionate pets. Not so Arlene. She remained distant and feral until she died. Occasionally and under the right circumstances she could be petted, but only rarely. She almost never left her mother’s side. After her mother’s disappearance she seemed even more lost and aloof.

One time we managed to nab her and stuff her into a pet taxi and take her to the vet for shots and a checkup. That was probably 5 or 6 years ago when she was 9 or 10 years old.

Two years ago she became lethargic and wouldn’t eat. When she was so sick we could get hands on her we took her to the vet. She had advanced diabetes and was for all pratical purposes untreatable. Through tears and whispered farewells we said our goodbyes as she went to sleep.

We will always miss her.

Daisy

Now for a trip down memory lane. This is Daisy. She first showed up here in November of 1994. My wife could tell she had had kittens so she started feeding her. She promptly relocated her 5 kittens to here. One black one just disappeared. Abigail, colored like her mother,  didn’t make it through the winter. That left Thackery Binx, Tinker Bell and Arlene. Thackery is still around. More on them later.

Daisy was just an absolute sweetheart. She and what was left of her brood were here when I arrived in 1997. She was one of those cats that you instantly loved because her disposition dictated it. Her and Arlene were inseparable and so close.

She disappeared suddenly in 2005 and we never saw her again. The prevailing theory is she jumped the fence into the field behind us and the neighbor’s dog nailed her. I went looking for fur, blood, anything that would tell us what happened. Nothing. She was and is still sorely missed.