SacPaws.com

     I remember being at a party one evening several years back and instead of enjoying the drinks and the company, I was more concerned with this mommy cat that had two or three kittens with her.  I first saw her peeking her head through a broken fence.  I called out to her and timidly she approached but didn’t allow herself to get too close.  The poor cat was thin and was looking for some food.  When I saw the kittens that were hanging back behind the broken fence panel, my heart went from cracking to shatter and melting.  I went numb when I saw the mother drinking from a filthy puddle in the parking lot; her kittens cautiously joined her thinking that she had found something worth eating. 

      I didn’t think of where the cat had come from because it was obvious that someone had once owned her and tossed her away probably because she was pregnant.  Luckily, I carried some cat some food in the trunk of my car.  Not many people I knew at the time, or even now for that matter carry cat kibble in their car.  I placed the food as far away from the parking lot and from people.  Once I backed away the mother and her kittens approached the food and eagerly ate.

      I didn’t want to leave that evening and it wasn’t because I was having a good time.  Eventually the cats ate all the food and returned to whatever was beyond the broken fence that they had come from.  I carried the cat food in my car because I had discovered a cat running around in the parking lot of the Cinedome Theaters on Greenback Lane.  I would go to a movie each Friday afternoon and feed that cat underneath a large tree.  Never did find out what happened to that cat before the theaters were revamped.

      I suppose at that point my eyes were opened to the world of neglected that was happening around me.  And with my eyes ‘opened’, I noticed that there were a lot of abandoned or feral felines in the apartment complex that I lived in back in 2000 through 2001.

      I recall that there were a couple of cats that just simply showed up at the front door of my home.  Of course as I would open the door or approach one from afar the cat would either run off or wait for me to place the food on the ground and move away.  I remember there was one white cat that showed up each evening and just wait for me to place the food outside the door on a regular basis.  One night I opened the door as I was about to go out for the evening and this cat was sitting there, waiting.  I quickly went inside to get the small bowl of kibble and come back out and set the food down.  The cat was comfortable enough to eat near me and allow me to watch him or her eat.  Well, on this particular night I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was another cat, a small one but a companion to my regular.  Or so I thought.  This other visitor at the top of the stairs turned out to be an opossum that had been tagging along for some food.

      Imagine my surprise as I turned to look at this cat saying, “Oh, you brought a friend with you?” and I see this opossum, drooling and looking up at me.  Yeah, I fell backward a little and cringed.  The poor opossum was now offended or scared by my reaction and walked down the stairs like a slinky and waited for me to move away.  

    Yes, I talk to the cats, whether they are feral, my friends or my own, who doesn’t?  The problem would be if the cats were talking back to me and I understood what they were saying. 

     Anyway, this being my first blog/post, I just wanted to introduce myself with the start of my adventures and how I got into what I do now with rescuing cats.