When you have a cat, who has lived on the outside edge of your life for years. One, that comes to eat when food is offered, but when a hand is extended, either bolts or hisses or swats, you do worry. Outside life is not easy. Not even when food comes at regular times every day, shelter and warmth are provided along with fresh water and other felines for companions.

But when these strays are in trouble, all the effort you have made on their behalf pays off because they do trust you when they are in trouble. This morning, MK (Mystery Kitty) was in trouble. She has been here now about eight years I believe. Not one to be confined, she showed up in the middle of the night years ago and never left. She is along haired Persian mix- looks almost like Dash and they were great friends. Now her and Magoo seem to have forged a friendship and I often see them snuggled together in the yard.

4:00 a.m. I go out to feed and MK is crouched under the feeder. Normally, she would run the minute I walked over, but not this morning. Sensing something was not right, I bent down and taking a deep breath, scooped my hand under her belly to pick her up. No resistance! I felt under her belly for wounds, sponginess, anything amiss, she was fat, healthy and on fire. I took her inside 105.3- called the vet asked if he could meet me at his office in a half hour, he said yes.

Turns out, MK has been hit by a car. Bounced off a tire according to the vet, due to the swelling and tenderness on her hips and legs. When I explained that with this cat confinement would make her injure herself further, it was decided to just crank up the meds on her- antibiotics, painkillers, a steroid shot and take her back and just release her. So we did all of that flea-treated and de-wormed her, and I just put her back with Magoo (who was inside one of the large heated carriers outside.) There were no wounds, we were able to remove all her mats without finding anything nasty underneath- being part Persian she mats if you look at her sideways.

Through it all she was a trooper, and only once when her purring got really loud as I was working on removing a mat on her with a seam ripper- did I almost get nailed by a bite. Cats don’t just purr when they are happy, especially strays. The purr when they are in discomfort (this was a big mat) I’ve even had some who purr while the end of life juice is being introduced into their veins. I believe, they are responding to their primal instinct at these times, calling out to their mom for help. As the purr got louder, I looked up, saw the head starting to turn and the mouth opening, and I jumped back just in time.

But she’s home, no broken bones, no wounds, just a bad night with an encounter with a car. She is one of the lucky ones.

I went and saw Mike yesterday. They finally figured out the right antibiotic to give him and he looked so much better. He is still in a great deal of pain- they said they get him up every day but he can’t stand more than 30 seconds before he is begging them to go back to bed. His face was a normal shade of color and not gray and he knew who I was this time. We talked for awhile, he realizes he has to make some great changes if he wants to come home again. I hope that he can.