by Jessica Hughey

Created on: November 17, 2009

It was a typical spring day in the country. A bit windy and cool but summer was definitely in the air. I had placed some hamburger buns out on the deck for the birds to eat, to supplement their steady diet of birdseed from my many backyard bird feeders. I was sitting on the sofa, next to the patio door, when suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked outside to see a beautiful cat sneaking up to investigate the birds. She was small and grey and resembled a bobcat, with long tufts of fur on either side of her face. "What an unusual looking cat.", I thought. Naturally, the birds sensed her presence and flew hurriedly away. Looking rejected, this small cat began to eat the hamburger buns I had put out for the birds! At this point, knowing that cats are true carnivores and would never eat bread before meat, I reasoned that she must be very hungry. So I went to the kitchen, opened a can of tuna and put it out on the deck. She ate it happily and trotted off into the woods. I thought that was the end of it. Boy, was I wrong!

The next day, the beautiful grey cat was back. But this time, she was carrying in her mouth a tiny, newborn kitten! She carried him up onto the deck and dropped him with a thud. Then, to my surprise, she hurried away again! Was she abandoning this kitten for me to raise? I wasn't sure, but I would soon get my answer. A short time later, she was back with another kitten in tow. Dropping him next to the first one, she scurried away again. By the time she finished, there would be four kittens, in all, living on and under my back deck. I suppose she thought it was a good place to raise her children since there was a nice lady who was so ready to provide free food!

And provide it I did. I continued to feed "mama cat", as we came to call her, and all of her babies throughout that spring and summer. I would bring a big pan of food out and set it on the deck, calling them with, "kitty, kitty, kitty!" and they would all come running, happy to accept my offering. They were still very cautious, though, especially mama cat. She would not allow me to get too close to her babies! So for the next three months, I would bring the food out and then sit, a short distance away, while they ate. I would talk to them so they would become accustomed to my voice and slowly, I would inch a little bit closer each day.

That summer, I contacted a feral cat rescue organization in my area and signed all the cats up for TNR, or Trap, Neuter, Return. The

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