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| Little visitor to our meadow. |
Living on the edge of the forest brings with it many
surprises each day; most of them are of the “good” in nature though. Like the many people that live in the world,
the woods too have many creatures, all being different and with their own
individual personalities. One day you
might see an opossum walking by on its way to some unknown destination, while
yet even during the same day, a deer will be seen investigating the fallen bird feed
on the ground near our home.
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| Kelly |
Most early mornings during the warm months (7 months of the
year), Anne and I can be found sitting on our porch early in the day drinking coffee. The sun is just getting
up, yet while our children are still dreaming in their beds. We enjoy this time together in the still of
the morning, it is during these moments that we reconnect, relax and talk about
our lives. But, there are other times
that the forest presents us with a surprise that is unexpected. One such day while sitting on our porch, a
half grown feline began to meow in front of us.
It was obviously hungry, and we could see that it had not eaten in quite
awhile by the ribs that were showing on its sides. This little surprise walked up to us and
began to meow profusely, and I could see that Anne was feeling sorry for
it. I too have a soft spot for such
animals that have lost their way.
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| Efforts to insure each cat gets enough food. |
During the course of the summer we get many predators
wandering our meadow in search of rodents that live in the heavy grass. On this day though we could see that this
little calico was not having much luck in filling its stomach. Without saying a word to Anne, I went over
and left it some cat food on the driveway.
This was a prelude for this little feline in becoming a part of our
family. Toby our other cat too was a
stray and came to join our home when it accepted the scraps that we set out for
it.
Once shortly after Toby adopted “us”, a friend (Dave) was
feeding her outside when we were gone on a trip. We intended for Toby to be an outside cat,
but then again like most cats, she had other intentions when the cold weather
came. She tried to get through Dave’s
legs when he entered our house to check on the heat and water inside. Dave later called us and asked if Toby had
become an indoor cat. We had said, “No,
she was an outside cat.” He then asked
us, “Does she know that?” He then told
us what Toby was trying to do, and said, “You had better tell her that she is
an outside cat since Toby is repeatedly trying to get through my legs when I
enter your house!” Toby eventually won
out and we inherited an indoor/outdoor cat.
We soon came to realize that she had been left or got lost from some
other family. This was easily deduced
when discovering that she had been neutered already. Kelly as well was neutered and so we realized
that she was in the same situation.
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| Each child does a project before bed while daddy or mommy reads a bedtime story. Toby guards the children against ferocious hummingbirds at the flowers nearby |
Back to Kelly. As the
days went by, Kelly would spend more and more time outdoors and less time with
our family. It became a struggle to keep
her in when leaving or entering the house knowing that she would try to wiggle
through our legs to get outside. We
continually had to treat her for ticks; and in that battle alone it was a real
challenge. We loved this little kitty,
but soon realized that its draw to the wild was stronger than her desire to
stay with our family. One day, Kelly did
not return to the house, we looked for her for several days. We thought perhaps that she was hit by a
passing car or attacked by a night predator.
In an effort not to alarm our children, I secretly went out driving around
looking for her, but to no avail. After
several days, we resigned ourselves to the fact that she was indeed gone. Anne and I tried not to say anything to the
children, knowing that they were very close to this little kitty. We had hoped that over time, Will and Abby
might see Kelly’s disappearance as the way of nature, but sadness could be seen
in their eyes as they glanced down at her dish.
Soon afterwards, it was time for our yearly vacation in the South. We left with instructions for our friend to
let Kelly in if she showed up. We
received no phone call, so we assumed that she was lost to us. Then one day I received a call from our vet
that a cat who looked like Kelly was brought in with small
injuries by a gentleman. The vet is our friend and was
kind enough to call us all the way down to Florida. I knew at that point that it was time to find
another home for this little kitty. He
said that one of the employees there was taking care of it and had fallen in
love with her, and perhaps would adopt it as an indoor kitty at her residence. Kelly, in the ways of providence was to get
another chance at having someone to love her and to take care of her. Our children accepted our decision to have
Kelly adopted, and we told them that she would receive a kind and loving
owner. It was hard for them to let her
go, but they knew in their hearts that it was for the best. On the one hand, we could not guarantee her
safety in the future, or for that matter, ours.
A kitty that is constantly in the wild can pick up many things and bring
them into the home, things that are not conducive the health of a family. Kelly would now be an indoor cat that would be
treated well and have many good years ahead of her.
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| Toby inspects Abby's project. |
Toby, on the other hand now finds herself once again being a
one-house cat with her monarchy intact. When
Kelly arrived, she became the dominant cat and took over Toby’s regular haunts,
both indoors and out. Toby then became
reclusive and visibly sad. She stayed to
herself and basically let Kelly take over her world. Toby now finds that she does not have to
compete for our son’s legs to lie next to at night, or Anne’s lap to sit in
while she sews or works on her computer. She now does not have to share cat food with
another feline or for that matter, the litter box. For Toby, she is happy to have a house and
nearby forest to herself. She goes out
for short times each day and then returns thankful to be let inside and have a
family that greets her with love and hugs.
Toby now talks to us continually and we listen to all that she has to
say. Abby and Will are good
interpreters for her, and they let us know what is going on with Toby and what
it is that she wants. Kelly too is being loved in another home, a place that offers her security, food and warmth.
