Slowly, they come from where they have been lurking since I have been gone. The first to appear was Tover, my two year old black kitty. Tover’s mission in life is to make it extremely difficult for mom to get on the computer at any time! I hadn’t seen him since I hit the front door, and last night as I typed, I thought I heard him in the room. But he is a black kitty and most of the main lights were off. I didn’t see him.

Suddenly, there he was larger than life in my lap. He head-bumped my chin and looked up at me as if to say: “Where have you been?” Bending my head, I kissed the top of his. He crawled up my chest and lay with his head on my shoulder. Of course, it was my right shoulder as I am right-handed. He always likes to make things difficult! He sensed something amiss and settled in my lap for a snooze.

Next to appear was India. She too is black. She is shy until you pet her and then her shyness abates. She couldn’t get enough pets from me.

I have not seen anyone else approaching me. I understand they are unsettled because even though Mike lives in the same house, they don’t have interaction with him much beyond the living room and hallway. It is difficult for him to get around except in the chair.

They know I am home. My voice carries down the tunnels and they are figuring out that familar routines are just around the corner. It will take time as I have never left them for this long. I don’t really believe that cats get angry with their owners when they leave. I think it is more of a settlement issue. They are set into a routine and it is disrupted. It causes confusion and sometimes even unexpected aggression. But, when the owner returns- things settle down once again to the status quo.

Yesterday, I received 65 bags or dry cat food and 65 bags of kitty litter! Knowing the delivery was on its way, I had to go to the shed outside and rearrange the contents so the food and litter would fit. The delivery is a blessing as things are tight as always.

I am glad to be home but for the first day, it seemed strange not to have Mother yelling at me! LOL Why is it that when we visit our parents, we turn into 2 year olds in their eyes? I know she is stressed and scared but my older sister is there for her now. Gwen has always been her rock. I have always been her crying towel. I’m exhausted beyond belief and my energy comes back when I am in the bedroom and 10 kittens come scampering up to say “Good Morning Mom- here we are! Aren’t we handsome? All is right with the world because we are in it!”

The diagnosis is in- Daddy has Leukemia.

Within the circle of grass, Georgy lay quite still. The long blades had been pressed down into a ring near her. At first, I thought maybe the fairies had visited her during the night making her bed bigger. But when I said her name and she didn’t stir. I knew something was wrong.

Although she was lying in the sun, napping was not her intention. Her eyes were open and staring and her breathing, frantic and irregular. At the time of this discovery, I was to little to understand about the importance of resperation, heart beat and vital signs in cats. All I knew was that my friend was in trouble and there was only one person I knew who could save her.

Georgy (her real name was Georgia) was a very large, orange and white cat when I was growing up in Southern California. She was one of many strays that seemed to find us, or that my Dad found on his way home. He worked for the postal service and walked to and from work every day.

I used to pick this cat up, (who was bigger than me) and lug her around like a doll. Holding her by her front legs, I would heave her up my chest. Her front legs would curl around my tiny arms. Her long lean body dangling down my chest and legs meant her back paws were scrapping the ground when I walked. She would lean into my chest when I walked and allow me to carry her in such an undignified fashion. She never complained, or bit or scratched. We were friends.

When I saw her lying there, I knew something was wrong. My bare feet slipped in the wet grass as I ran screaming into the house; “Daddy…Daddy… come quick! There’s something wrong with Georgy!”

Daddy captured me in the hallway and scooped me up into his strong arms and hugged me. The familar smell of aftershave and Old Spice calmed me down. I hugged his neck and whimpered “Something’s wrong with Georgy.” He said “Show me.” Lowering me to the ground he allowed me to take his hand and pull him impatiently out to the yard. I stopped and pointed “There, see there?”

He sat down next to her, picked her up carefully and laid her on his lap. His fingers began to gently explore, prodding and searching her whole body. This once energetic orange girl lay quite still under his fingers barely stirring. I sat nearby watching the two of them.
He didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary with his fingers, and as I watched, he placed the palms of his hands down into the grass and pressed his hands firmly in the ground. Then he took the palm of his hand and passed it slowly over her body right above her fur touching neither her skin nor her fur. He told me he was looking for a “hot spot” a place where heat would rise to his palm and then hopefully be able to find the “problem.” Georgy lay quite still letting him do his “cat scan.” When he got to her tail-head, he stopped. He had felt something. He located a bite that was just starting to fester. Picking her up, he carried her inside and I followed.

He cared for her for a week with me by his side. Back in those days vets weren’t a necessity. Spaying and Neutering were words barely heard. Daddy had been a Corpsman in the Navy for thirty years. His medical knowledge was admirable. He used all his tricks and soon Georgia got better romping in the grasses, chasing butterflies and stalking bees.

This memory came flooding back to me two days ago, when I laid Daddy’s latest rescued cat “Calico” near his side at the convalescent hospital. Daddy, admitted to the rehab center only a few days after a bad fall was unrecognizable to me. I had seen him a month prior. He was ambulatory at that visit, a bit frail looking but held no resemblance to the emaciated man reaching out now for this dilute calico kitty he dearly loved.

His once muscular arms that had scooped me up so many times in my life were now shriveled and dry, resembling toothpicks Although speaking is difficult for him now, he said her name, welcoming her.

Calico stopped mewing and pacing. She calmly walked out of the carrier and lay under his arm. Daddy’s smile spreading across his face as he stroked her soft fur was angelic. They laid together, both finding peace again. As I watched this unfold, I knew that when she returned back to where Calico calls home, she will no longer vanish from sight outside, meow constantly att the window or pace the house searching.

No more banging the blinds by the sunroom in the morning looking in vain for the man who rescued her long ago when neighbors would chase her with brooms or hoses out of their yard when she showed up looking for food.

Within the circle of stray cats that Dad has rescued over his lifetime, Calico’s life holds a special, bittersweet distinction; she is his last.

I’ll be quiet for awhile- about a week perhaps longer. Will explain later. ALL kittens and cats are doing good- this is a personal family emergency

“Hello?”
“Do you have kittehs?”
“I do..”
“Could I like, have one?”
“Well, that’s not how I operate.”
“HUH? You a doctor?”
“No, I just rescue cats”
“But you like just said you operate?”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that I don’t just adopt out kittens on the spot. What exactly are you looking for?”
“Huh? I like want a kitten! I like want a kitten NOW!!!”
“As I just said, that is not how I do things”
“How do you like do things (heavy sarcasm in this teenager’s voice)
“I have an application form you need to fill out. I will review it. If it passes, I will bring the kitten to your home. If the home and you pass inspection, I will ask you or your mom or dad to sign a contract-and I will leave the kitten with you. If not, kitty comes back home with me.”
“Like ALL I want is a kitteh- I can’t have a kittenh?”
“My kittens aren’t old enough to go to homes yet. They need to be neutered first.”
“HUH?”
At this point I hung up the phone and just shook my head and laughed. It is doubtful she would know how to read a contract let alone sign one. She hasn’t called back.

They don’t have names yet, but at least they are healthy and settling in well with the others. Not all are shown- there are two black fluffy kitties- two mackeral tabbies and the Siamese mix. Two girls and three boys.

I just returned from the Petco Adoption Days and while I was there, one of the employees came over and said a woman on the phone had some kittens she needed to get rid of. Now, I need more kittens like Carter needs more pills, but something told me to take the phone call.

The woman had 6 kittens about 8 weeks old. She wanted to keep the mom and her other female was pregnant (sigh). She told me about the litter- 3 black kitties, 2 mackeral tabbies and a a siamese.

I told her I would take the kitten on two conditions: One, she get the females spayed (and I told her how to do it cheaply) and two she bring the kittens to the Petco where I was before 3:00.
When I hung up, I am sure I heard God mutter “sucker!”

She brought the kittens in and she had them in a cardboard box not real stable. I was putting them into an extra carrier. They look to be about 7 weeks old- no discharge from eyes or nose thank the Good Lord.

I had to run and get some litter for them in the store, so I left and my friend who helps me with the cats said she would watch both batches of kittens.

When I got back, I was informed that someone stole a black kitty! Linda said some teenagers came up and were oohing an ahhing over the newcomers and asking if they could hold one or two. Linda said sure and handed them the siamese and the black kitty. One of the girls, the one with the Siamese distracted Linda over a cell phone question or something and when Linda looked up again-kitty and girl were gone! When she said something, the other girl dropped the siamese on the floor and bolted! Linda went to pick up the Siamese and the girl ran out of the store. I arrived back at the table just at the end of all this drama and when I rushed outside, they were nowhere in sight! I have never seen these girls before so I wouldn’t even know if they came back to the table. I just pray they give this kitten a good home!

So now I have five more kitten bellies to fill up and I learned a valuable lesson. Next time, I will put the doors to the cage and the carrier facing me so no one can steal another kitten from me. This is the second time someone tried to pull this! It makes me so angry. The first time I caught the woman right before she stepped out the door- but this time, I was MIA.

Not surprising, Marlow wasn’t rabid. She was also negative for FeLV and Aids. He said in just the brief contact they had with Marlow, it was clear that something wasn’t right with her. I am not sure if that was supposed to make me feel better- but it doesn’t. I don’t like these type of decisions but when it has to be made, I won’t shy away from it. I can’t. It’s not fair to the cat.

They too were sacrificed for the “rabies scare.” It broke my heart because they were so much fun and so much work to hand raise and get back to the wild.

Bottle feeding carefully! LOL

Yesterday, Marlow launched herself on me like a torpedo. I got out of her cage in a hurry and did some hard thinking and a lot of praying last night. I finally decided to take her into the vet and talk to him about her off-the-wall behavior and aggression. I have had so many feral moms before, but she just feels different any way I look at it.

Dr. Steve said that based on what I have shared with him about her behavior and how she bit me three days ago, he is bound by the law to send her into the Oregon Health Department so they can test for rabies! I know she doesn’t have rabies, she has demons- not sure which is worse.

He said he knows the cost is prohibitively expensive but then he paid me a back-handed compliment and said “Mary Anne, I really like you and what you do for cats. If I just euthanize her and not follow-through with the testing and she does have rabies, you die. I have to live with that and I don’t think I can! In fact, I know that I couldn’t.”

So- Marlow has been put to sleep and no I wasn’t there because just the sight of me sends her spinning out of control. They will then send in her body to be tested and I will know by Friday. Not a bill I wanted and again I KNOW she doesn’t have rabies, but I understand their stance on this. I had one cat when I was growing up that had rabies and I remember it like it was yesterday. He was a huge, fluffy black cat who hunted gophers in the back field near our home. He came home one day foaming at the mouth and snapping at the air. My father turned the hose on him and while he was shrieking and shying away from the water, my dad caught him in a net and put him in a box and took him around the corner. I remember the gunshot and then nothing.

Rabies is rare in this part of Oregon so not only do I have to come up with the cost of this test now, but I am not allowed to have Marlow after she is gone and give her a decent resting place.

I told her I was so sorry about all of this but her aggression is escalating and I had to weigh all the pros and cons of keeping her here on earth- and for who’s glory would I do that? So I could eventually say proudly that I was able to socialize these demons at rest, or do I look at that whole picture and understand she was like a loaded gun with a defective trigger and just let her have peace.

It was a hard choice and it is going to be an expensive way of finding my own peace- but again, I don’t think she has rabies.