The woman's side of the story

This is the delightful animal who made us think more about what was happening to animals. Some are abandoned when people move on, and we found out about the lack of animal shelters who were non-kill.

Most shelters want to help, but when they are overfull they cannot take anymore animals in. The Sanctuary called; Freedom Farm Animals, is the one who phoned us back and came out of their way to help us, when we needed help for an abandoned cat. Freedom Farm, hereon called FFA have many volunteer foster homes for various needy animals. They are looked over by a vet, spayed and stay in these private homes until a permanent home is found. No healthy animals are EVER put down.

PetSmart in Madison, TN., help FFA out, by having the animals up for adoption in their store, on Saturday morning at 10.30am. I must say here that PetSmart is a wonderful store all around, as well as being so good in their concern for animals. To help them in return it would be good to purchase all your pet needs there.

Back to the cat cause. We accidentally came upon Kat when she startled us by jumping in and out of holes we had dug to plant trees in. At that time she was afraid of us, and we noticed later, she was also afraid of anyone who came near her. For some reason Kat hung around us a bit from afar, but she took any food we offered. It was still very warm being the end of September, and after feeding Kat real delicious cat food, she came to rely on it each day.

When I tentatively stroked her neck, she turned around quickly and held my finger in her mouth, but very gently. I waited until she let go, but was worried that she did that to warn me she didn't want me to stroke her. I found out later from Dixie, the FFA volunteer that it was a cat, 'love bite.' How sweet! But, sadly I worried she might give me a real bite the next time, and only gave Kat some quick, careful petting.

Eventually, Kat became so keen in coming up to us and pushing against our legs, that it was hard to walk around her. We found by placing her bowl of food on top of the rails of the deck, she jumped up there sooner and so we did not have to trip over her in her excitement. We also noticed that Kat affectionately rubbed her head, or shall we say butted her head against us. She was very strong, and hubby Rocky and I, not being used to cats, found it so endearing. Neither of us were the right people to be with a cat, as Rocky was allergic and I had a bad experience with a wild cat I used to feed many years ago. This made me very apprehensive, but we were still fascinated by this amazingly beautiful, half Siamese cat with the very crossed eyes.

After a good few weeks of feeding Kat, she came right up to us each time she saw us, and not only for her food, but for pure affection. It was a bit of a worry to get get back in our front door, as Kat would dive at our legs and seemingly swipe us. She would hang on and as soon as she let go we would dive in and close the door. I actually had some holes left in my calves when it happened to me!

We only realised later that she did not want us to go in and leave her alone. Getting back into the house was a learned skill. We kept our tiny Pom, Seva away or in her mesh bag, just in case Kat frightened or attacked her. Our Seva had not met many other animals, and is wary to go close to anything larger than herself. We were wary of Kat also, as just one swipe with those strong paws, or a bite could take our Seva's head off, or an eye out.

We turned a travel cage into a homely weatherproofed bed for Kat to sleep in at nights. She loved the furry sweaters I put in there for her and although we knew she would need a real home soon, we loved seeing her out there lying on the deck stretching in the sun. The weather started to change, and as Kat had put weight on, we imagined she may be pregnant. This meant, if we could not find her a home soon, we would have to make her somewhere comfortable to stay in the utility room, and I would have to go in and out of there, not Rocky, due to his cat allergy. This would have been quite a worry, as we had had no luck finding Kat a home, let alone her with the added kittens!

As the days grew colder, we were unable to find any shelter we would feel sure, would not put Kat down. Most did not phone us back. One night, there was a horrible hissing and strange type of scream outside on our deck. We looked out to see Kat in mid-air, and another even bigger, black cat battling with her! I banged on the windows and the cats separated, with the stranger cat staring at me. I banged the window again and shouted at it. The cat then ran off, and Kat seemed okay as she walked back around. But, that night I felt worried in case Kat had been injured without us knowing about it.

The next morning Rocky, after going out to feed her, (we did this twice daily) noticed that Kat was limping. One paw was held in the air, and it looked very swollen. We had already put the mesh fence up around the opening at the top of the deck, and so we knew that no raccoon or bad alley cat would sneak up and attack her while she was in this weakened state, and or, asleep in her outside bed. We hoped that Kat would stay on our deck until she was healed, but she still managed to wander off by jumping on top of the rails and walking down to the ground. I suppose she had to go to the toilet. We would not have minded hosing down the deck if she wanted to stay there.

We felt so bad, and Kat did not want us to investigate the hurt paw. We also did not want to frighten her, so we waited to see if she would feel better. The day after, Kat still held her paw in the air, but did not seem to be in pain, and she still ate very well, also enjoying her milk. Rocky crumbled up Arnica tablets in her meals to help her heal, as this works so well with humans and is good for healing in animals also. Once, Rocky even squeezed off a shot of hydrogen peroxide straight on the injured paw. Kat had bitten the top part and made it sore, in her angst. Kat shot off and seemed to cover yards without touching the ground! We hoped she would not be too scared to come back for her food, but it was okay, she did not lose her trust in us.

But, Kat was strong and soon walked very well on three legs. If this continued, we would have had to take her to the vet somehow. We were not sure how we would have got her there though, due to us not knowing how to handle a cat and Rocky being allergic.

After a few days, we phoned some no-kill shelters and it was Freedom Farm who responded and came straight out to us. Kudos to them! Two very kind ladies, who totally reassured us that Kat would be looked after, taken to the vet and kept at home until they found her a permanent one. Dixie, one of the ladies in particular, took to Kat immediately, and said she would keep us informed.

Although Kat had been living outside and I was a bit too nervous to stroke Kat as much as I would have liked to, so I felt such a loss. Kat had greeted us each time we went out to the car, or came back in. She was so happy to see us, purring madly and this even after she had eaten! I even became used to preparing her meals, it had become a habit! I knew we would miss Kat much more than we had imagined.

Although I had a little cry when Dixie took Kat to the car, accompanied by Rocky, I could see Dixie talking to her which
helped me feel better. The other lady Marcia, attempted to comfort me as I could not help the tears from flowing. We would not see those lovely crossed eyes waiting for us again. Both Rocky and I were so relieved Kat would be safe and comfy indoors, hopefully soon, with people who would really appreciate such a loving sweetie. Thankfully, I can say Kat did not put up any fight, on being taken away, but was very loving towards her rescuers!

And so began our thoughts on actually trying to do something positive to help. We are busy with various projects, which need finishing within the next 6 months at least. But, we hope to perform and help out with fund-raising whenever possible. We also want to bring the plight of abandoned animals and that of animals treated cruelly, to the public. Most would not imagine how cruel some humans can be towards those who have no voice to cry out with, or at least, no way to complain. But, those of us who care, must do anything we can to make our fellow beings feel loved and be happy.