ON THE INSIDE

It was late March of 2011. I ran out of bird food and decided it was too late in the season to buy more, so I threw out some dry cat food. The birds seemed to enjoy it, but a gray kitten had discovered this freebe and was scratching away for a meal. Of course I started feeding this adorable little crature and for some reason, wishful thinking, I assumed it was a male. Until I noticed the growing girth. A few weeks later, Gray went on hiatus and when she returned she was neat and trim. I have no idea where she deposited her kittens or even if she was caring for them. Four times a day, on schedule, Gray returned for her meals, which were now greatly enhanced by more nutritious offerings. She was now feeding her young. We maintained our four meals a day routine for a time and then I noticed she again was with litter. Once again her meals were enhanced while I tried to find a way to trap her and get her to an agency that takes care of cats in distress. This was not an easy proposition. They are engulfed with calls for rescue. One day I went to the door to give her lunch and almost tripped over three beautiful kittens. I don't know how she got them there. I know her hang-out was quite a distance from my home. My daughter has "Cat" connections and after two weeks under my care, we carted them off to a town some eighty miles distant where we knew they had a great chance to find homes, via a great gal who owned an organic pet food store and took in strays until she could find homes for them. During this interim, Gray was hanging around the house, perhaps trying to catch a glimpse of her kittens. One of her new habits was to jump onto the window sill outside and do some cat to cat interaction with my eight year old male cat, Bianco. I was still in earnest to capture her and get her veterinary service. I couldn't bring her in the house, not knowing if she had a communicable disease that my two cats might contract. Arrangements were made. Gray was trapped, taken to the clinic, received shots and was spayed and returned to me so that I could take her in and give her a home. She had had only negative experiences. I vowed to make her life better. Today, she sits on that same windowsill, on the inside.