Unlikely Addition
…to the family!
You thought I was adding on to the house, didn’t you? 🙂
This is Maya. (Madison named her, she’s been studying Mayan civilization.) She WAS a stray.
She showed up one night last week skin and bones. I think she was eating a dead squirrel (no idea if she killed it or it fell out of a tree and broke it’s neck. Unlikely.) I took Brody out and he went crazy barking into the bushes. It was about 10:00pm and I was freaked that it was a mountain lion or something that was about to jump out and eat me!
Brody disappeared and came back out with a tiny dead animal in his mouth. I about threw up! Then I heard the mewing and I immediately thought he’d just killed a kitten and there were more back there crying. I yelled at Brody and sent him to “time out”…and then I think I did throw up. Then I called for Wes to come take care of the dead animal because I couldn’t do it. He discovered that it was a squirel and for some reason that made me feel better.
Anyway…long story short. We fed her some milk, because that’s all we had at 10 pm and went to bed. She was still there in the morning so we gave her some more milk (and then went to the pet store for some cat food which she practically inhaled.)
I spent about 20 minutes introducing Brody to her. It involved a LOT of barking and “time out”. Finally, he stopped barking and went to sniffing. She rubbed her head under his neck, he licked her ear…and the rest is history!
I think they really like each other. Brody runs to find her first thing EVERY TIME I open the door to let him out! They follow each other around. She follows us when I walk him around the yard. They sit together and hang out on the porch. It’s the dang’dest thing!
We took her to the Vet and they checked her over, and treated her. She has a BB above her shoulder. (Which makes me cry!) She’s scheduled to “get fixed” tomorrow so I guess we’re keeping her (if only for a while).
The sad thing is she has to stay outside because Wes and I are both VERY allergic. We got her a house/post/climbing thingy that is on the front porch and food and water dishes that she eagerly runs to when I come out in the morning. I can tell she wants to come inside as she looks in longingly when the door is open. I feel so bad when I bring Brody in and she has to stay out. She lays down on our door mat.
I’ll probably have to find her a home with a family that will love her and let her INTO their home. She is too cuddly, tame and tolerant to be an outside cat.
We’re going to love her as long as she’s in our “family”!
It makes me sad to ask but…anyone in the Knoxville area want to adopt a cat? We’ll all miss but it’s probably best.
I have 10 rescued cats and I’m allergic (asthma too) to cats but seem do do ok with it (lying here this morning with 3 on my bed). I’ve been rescuing and have re-homed some for 30 years. I would find a cat rescue in your area of you’re not going to keep her. She’s obviously not ferall, was owned and discarded/dumped or she lost her way in the neighborhood and can’t find her way back home. And obviously a cat hater shot her to get her out of their yard. I grew up with dogs, not cats, and didn’t like them until one found me, a little 4-mo old Black kitten 30 years ago. It was 20 degrees outside and I didn’t think twice about rescuing her. My love affair with cats started then. I had a Husky that lived outside in a kennel too (will not have a strictly outsude dig shain either!). My husband and I fortunately love animals, hubby and I both do. Bless you for taking her to the vet and having her checked out AND fixed! IMHO from experience, this is not the type of cat to be living strictly outdoors as she’s too socialized. She definitely wants to be in a furrever home. Find a cat rescue, ask around. A kill-shelter is not where I’d take her though. She’s a beauty and I love her name! If I wasn’t in AK I’d help you find her a home!
Maya is a beautiful girl. I am so glad she found your family, with that BB in her there is no telling what she has been through. I believe strays come to us from the Lord to test our generosity(that’s just me)I hope you can find her a home where she will be able to be indoors. I grew up with cats and I am a cat lover. Good luck!
This absolutely melts my heart that you are taking such good care of her even though you may not be able to keep her. There needs to be more people like you out there that see the need of a loving, sweet little kitty instead of just thinking they are a nuisance. Bravo to you and your family!
Aww, what a sweet story! And she is just beautiful.
Now I’m not supposed to say this because I’m a big rescue advocate, but. .
there are so many cats in shelters everywhere. More cats than there are homes. If you don’t have a lot of luck finding her an indoor home, you could always get her a nice little house with a heated outdoor bed if you wanted to keep her as an outdoor cat. The key would be to make sure she got a ton of love despite being kept outside the main home.
I say this because so many people are anti-outdoor pets. Yet I’ve seen many cases where people who have indoor pets neglect their pets terribly. Of course, there’s many more outdoor pets who suffer even more.
Anyway, just thinking out loud. 🙂
can she use your screen in porch? my cousin has strays that have become pets she opened her s-in-porch up to feed em and put a kitty box out there and they come and go as they please…..you could try that….she’s a lucky girl to have come upon you and your family, people with hearts…most would have kicked her took her up the road and dropped her off or maybe even shot her….so much meaness in this world that when i read a story like this makes me smile……