Tenacious Kitty’s story starts about three summers ago, my wife and I had been feeding an orange tiger cat, Orange (not the most creative name but descriptive). One day we noticed a small black and white kitten following Orange, so I put a little bit more food out in the area where we had been feeding Orange. Time passed and fall was on its way and we agreed that the black and white kitten wasn’t going to be old enough to weather the winter, and besides she was so cute, so the decision was made, we would try to get her in.
First, we thought we could just catch her when the opportunity presented itself. One day, while we were walking the dogs on our trail, I spied the kitten watching us. I tried circling around behind it, which kind of worked, but the kitten rolled on its back as I reached for it. I got clawed and bit pretty good so I decided that, perhaps I should work on trust first instead of capture.
I started sticking around, but at a distance to get the kitten used to my presence and then I started adding our cat’s favorite treats to the food. The kitten liked the treats and didn’t mind too much that I would move closer as she ate. As she got more used to me I was able to gently pet her as she ate. One day I noticed the kitten hanging around the feeding area playing with a pine cone, so I went back to our yard and found a proper cat toy, took it back and tossed it in the grass just ahead of the kitten. The kitten was greatly intrigued by this; she captured the toy and began playing with it. A few days later, I saw the kitten again; she was playing with the toy I had given her. I went to the house to get some treats and headed back to where the kitten was, she noticed me; but didn’t run. I put the treats in the food bowl and stepped back calling her to eat. The kitten came up to the bowl and started eating the treats, I began to pet her, then gently I picked her up and cradled her, she didn’t fight at all. I continued to pet her and carried her up front to where my wife was working in rock garden. We both smiled, happy that this little kitten was going to be safe, as we took her in to our house.
Once inside, I took the kitten to our basement where we had a cat bed, food, water, and a couple litter boxes. I showed her around and then left her alone to get used to her surroundings. Later, my wife and I were on the front porch relaxing, thinking about a name for our newest addition, when I heard a meow from inside the house, it was the kitten. I found the kitten sitting at the opening of the basement door, “hey, little one”, I said “you want to hang out on the porch?” The kitten tried to get out of the opening, but wasn’t quite big enough, so I picked her up. I took her with me back out to the porch and sat down with my wife. “You are one tenacious kitten. “ I told the kitten.
Just then my wife exclaimed “That’s it, that’s her name!”
“Tenacious Kitty it is, “I said “but we’ll call her Tenacious for short.”
Tenacious has been with us for three years now and has had so many more adventures that, perhaps she’ll allow me to share with you.
Look for further installments of Cat Tails.
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