By
the time I met up with the black and white Alley cat, he'd been
sitting in a small cage at the Humane Society for about one and a
half years. He was one of the longest sitting residents. But out of
about 60 adult cats, Alley was the only cat who met all of my
criteria for adopting the perfect cat.
Due to allergies in my
family, I could only have a garage cat. He needed to be affectionate
but not needy, street-smart (a former stray), playful (i.e., a good
mouser), and tolerant of my children. I also looked in the Petfinder
profile for a cat that was dominant/intolerant of other cats, as this
type of cat would be braver in the presence of loud machinery on the
upstairs floor of our 2-story garage. Secondly, I thought a
difficult-to-place cat would be the only kind that the Humane Society
staff would allow me to keep in a garage. My 8 yr. old daughter and I
spent time with several cats, but both agreed there was no need to
look any further once we met Alley. Besides being a former stray and
"dominant" cat, he was very affectionate, but forgot all
about us when the toy came out! That's when he turned into a
ferocious tiger. The husband will be very pleased with Alley's
mousing skills, I thought.
I brought Alley "home" to our
garage a few days later. As soon as I let Alley out of his travel
box, his tail sailed straight up in the air. He looked around a
minute or so, and then hurried back to me, purring excitedly and
rubbing against my leg. Then he explored a few more minutes, but
hurried back, excitedly purring his thanks. He repeated this
procedure several times. It's funny, as I had just been hoping he
would come out of hiding sometime within the first week. The best
part was when I showed him his essentials. He ate just one kibble out
of his bowl as if to say, "There's my food bowl..." and
moved on to put his nose to the water. I then placed him in his new
bed, which was oval-shaped with a soft wall around it just like his
bed at the Humane Society. Alley purred and kneaded his new bed for a
minute. Then he ran over to me and excitedly rubbed against me and
purred. Then he ran back to his new bed and repeated the procedure.
He ran back and forth several times between his bed and myself, as
excited as a kid at Christmas. It was one of the sweetest incidents
I've ever witnessed.
Being grateful to your new humans is one
thing, but trusting them turned out to be quite another. Alley came
to us with emotional wounds that come from being caged up so many
months. He hissed or growled whenever he felt his new-found freedom
was being infringed upon. Most maddening was when he dug his claws
into my daughter when he jumped out of her arms. But time went by,
and he continued to be fed and loved, and given his freedom anew each
morning when I opened up the garage. After several weeks he quit
hissing and growling altogether. With my daughter's steadfast love
and attention, he also quit scratching her when jumping down.
One
pleasant fall afternoon I sat with Alley on the hill in our yard,
which over-looks a little-used road. A family strolled down the road,
talking happily. Alley took great interest in the family. He sat
tall, ears perked up, with whiskers pointed as forward as they would
go. As I pet Alley, I thought about his past. He was once a stray in
search of some nice humans to take him in. When he finally accessed
some humans, they brought him to the Humane Society instead of
keeping him. He looked so interested in this family now, I wondered
if he was going to approach them. But they passed along, out of sight
behind some trees. Once out of sight, Alley turned his eyes to me. He
looked at me very lovingly, and then began to purr his heart out. I
was sure he was thinking, "I don't have to go begging to humans
anymore, because I already have a loving human family." It was a
moment of deep gratitude on both our parts.
Alley is spending his
first winter in his garage home. He has a little, insulated cat house
with a heating pad and a thick cloth door to help keep him warm. He
hasn't been caged in anything smaller than a 2-story garage (and then
only at night) since the day he arrived. He catches lots of little
rodents, gives and receives love to myself and my children (the
husband is allergic), and demonstrates appreciation for his
possessions and his new life every day. He is no bother, and is a
pure joy.
I
have never until now owned a cat that I was given, but have taken in
strays. This is sometimes hard on me because they die quicker then
cats you are given, because of diseases and such. One of the cats I
owned the most was Star Light. She was a Persian cat that I found
walking around my neighborhood. She was really beat up, starved,
cross eyed, and had some kind of gunk just under her mouth
constantly. I remember that she shied away from everyone else that
walked by her, but when I came up to her she came right to me. I was
little and didn't understand that there were complicated things
involved with owning a cat, much less two because we had another
named midnight, all I knew was that she needed a home and I had
one.
This is the anniversary of the day she died. I don't know how
old she was, she looked really old, but we had her for two years. The
year I got her Midnight died and she was there for me. I miss her a
lot and wish she could be back with me, hope she's in a better place
were she can chase mice and stuff.
She fell in love with the
family the second I brought her home, and we did too. But as I said
there are things that make owning a cat difficult. My mother told me
that we were not allowed to own another cat in our complex, and told
me to go put her back were I found her. I couldn't. I loved her to
much already to just abandon her to life alone on the street. So I
took her to this lady in the neiborhood who fed cats. She had a lot
and I didn't think she would notice one more that just came over one
day, but she did. Apparently she noticed me put the cat in her "back
yard," and called my mom to complain. My mom decided that if I
loved it that much we would keep it.
After that Star Light was
afraid of leaving the apartment. She wouldn't even go on the pattio
without me or my sister being there the whole time. She stayed that
loyal to us even when we moved and she overcame her fears. She would
go sit and play in the back yard and neighbor hood, but she would
always stay close enough that if anyone called her she would come
full tilt to us, happy to finally have a home to come to.
3 years
and 4 days ago today we woke up to find her having convulsions on the
floor. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do, and she was in so
much pain. We took her to the vet to see if there was anything they
could do for her, but there wasn't. It turned out that about a year
before we got her she had gotten a brain tumor that was slow acting.
Even though the stuff under her mouth and the crossed eyes had went
away when she was taken care of there was still that little thing
wrong with her. It was terminal and the vet said she had about 4 days
were she would be almost OK, then she would gradually die, and it
would be nicer to put her down then to just let it happen. My heart
broke. She was my best friend, I loved her as much as I love my
mother and she was dying. I cried and cried those days, staying by
her side and not eating much. When the day finally came that they
were taking her to the vet to put her down I couldn't stand going. To
be part of the group who killed her, I was young and didn't
understand it was for the best. They brought her home to Barry. Dad
let me look at her one last time before he lowered her in, but I
didn't see her. Everything she was was gone, her happy eyes were
blank, the she always looked at me, like she could understand
everything I felt was gone. She was empty and even if I hadn't been
told I would have known she wasn't just sleeping. I still miss her
everyday. I feel bad for not being there for her when she died. I
never truly got to see her again, but I hope she is in heaven,
looking down on me and trying to help me. I know she would if she
could.
I made this poem for her:
Star Light, Star
bright,
The first one I loved to die,
You are gone so is the
light,
I don't really know why.
Ill miss you, my little blue
eyes,
You were the only one who understood me,
I wish we never
had to say good byes,
But stay in heaven, im coming soon you'll
see.