What would you name the wildest feral cat you had ever encountered as an experienced cat rescuer? The Sheriff called me late one night because a caller had reported seeing a mother cat and three kittens living in a drainage pipe that went under route 219 between the Microtel and WalMart. It was an extremely cold Thanksgiving 2006 weekend night, I grabbed my box traps and some canned cat food and went to get them. Several hours later I had all four cats- hissing, spitting balls of fire in box traps. Now what? I called good friend and cat lover Colleen for help (most people know how allergic I am to cats!) The pastel grey mother cat needed to be spayed, given her shots and wormed. But she proved too much for even the vet clinic who could not get her to go under anesthesia despite a number of attempts. They would have to try again the following day when the drugs in her system wore off and there wouldn’t be a threat of overdose. After considerable effort, “Nasty” as she was soon named, was anaesthetized and spayed. Her kittens, Timmy, Jimmy and Kimmy, were quite wild but were eventually placed in a barn home. Nasty went to Colleen’s home to recover and await placement in a barn that didn’t mind if cats weren’t tame. Homes like this are very hard to find and please, if you have room for one or more healthy spayed or neutered un-social cats that have all their shots, please contact me at foxladye@yahoo.com. Because of the lack of suitable places to release these cats, Nasty had to stay at Colleen’s home. Feeding and cleaning her litter box was always risky because Nasty didn’t want any human hands near her. Over time though, Colleen and her husband gained Nasty’s trust and now, a year later, Nasty is a loving, gentle housecat that loves human touch and has proven to us that even the wildest of feral cats have potential as human companions! Please consider opening your heart to a homeless cat!
