by Charity Wells

Created on: June 12, 2008

Eight years ago we moved into a moble home park. My neighbor in front of me always complained of a ferral cat under her home. I watched for a few weeks and never saw a cat. I would put food out, but still never saw anything. My children would keep a look out for it so we could try to catch it.

A few weeks later I opened the door and there it was. A beautiful, long haired calico. I ran inside my home to grab some food. When I got to the door she was gone. I put the food on my door step. Every day for a week we feed her this way.

Six months later as I walked out to throw the trash out,the cat ran in my house. I quickly threw out the trash. I do not think it made it in the can. I was so excited. But now I had to find where the cat was hiding in my house. It took me about an hour to find her. I finally got her out with some food. She went into the kitchen, there I had a better look at her. She was so skinny, her fur was falling out in places, & she was starving. To top it off, she was nursing. So now I had to see if I could get to her babies under my neighbor's home.
I had no idea how many she had, or how old they could be. I also had no clue where they were under there. I saw an opening at the front of her home, so I started there. I put the flashlight under there but saw nothing. I was afraid to let the mamma cat out , I might not get her again. On the other hand I feared for her babies. What do I do?
I put a cage and some can food in it and I waited. Two hours later an orange and white one came out. Before thinking I grabbed it. I was scratched. But I held on, ran to my home, opened the bathroom door and put it in there. I ran back outside....slowly, now bleeding slightly! As I got to the corner where I saw the first one...there was another. I grabbed it and repeated the same actions. Got scratched and bit, ran home and put it in the bathroom.
An hour later, still bleeding, I saw the the third kitten. I tried to grab it but it got away. So a few more hours later......it came back out. I grabbed it, ran home.
As I opened the door to the bathroom I had a good look at the babies. There was 1 orange and white-male, 1 black and white- male and 1 one small female calico(just like mommy).
And yes, that was all the kittens. They were old enough to be found homes. I did keep them for two weeks to get them use to people. It was not easy. Between all the scratching and bit marks and the hiding we finally did it. The baby calico was a little harder.
We put them in a box and walked the neighborhood. I found a home for the baby calico within minutes. The black and white got out of the box and we could not find him. The orange and white found a home at my husband's work place. They had a few cats already and a dog. They said he could keep the rats out since the factory was in the middle of the woods.
A hours later my Dad found the little black and white up in his car. It did take his life. We buried him that day. We cried!
The momma cat....We named Sophie. We could not touch her for a year. She would not let us. A year after that she started jumping in my lap. Two years after that she started sleeping in my bed. For the first four years she never came out of my room. She was terrified of everything.
That was in 1999 when we found her. Now in 2008 she is still a big part of the family. I love her very much. She is a homebody. She does not like to go outside.
Oh and by the way...six months after we found homes for the babies, I had Sophie spayed. So that was her only litter with us.
Sophie is a great cat. She does not like strangers, kids, or small animals. She is scared of them.
I do not regret saving her life!

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