Adopting cat

Missy, a beautiful gray-and-white mother cat, had two ill kittens. Both babies died quickly. Missy cried and begged as she searched for her kittens. Missy enjoyed hunting in a nearby field. Like many female cats, she often brought us alive mice, birds, or chipmunks.

Cat catches baby rabbits
She carried a baby bunny through her basement cat door one afternoon. I found it and placed it in a box lined with a soft cloth until I decided what to do with it. She returned to the outdoors and returned a few minutes later with another little rabbit. She returned four babies before quitting. She climbed into the box with them, began grooming and purring, and turned on her side to encourage nursing. Unfortunately, she had no milk left to feed them.

Returning bunnies to mom
We knew these bunnies wouldn’t survive adoption, so we returned them to their mother. We found the nest and reunited the adoptees with their siblings. Missy spent the day and night indoors. The next day, the nest was empty. We think the mother rabbit moved her babies. Our cat mom never adopted baby rabbits again.

Thanksgiving Cat Visit
Our home and garage attract strange cats. They’d enter through the cat door and terrorize our cats. In November, a timid tiger cat began climbing our basement stairs to eat cat food, despite our attempts to lure him closer. We found him covered in oil in the basement one night; he must have gotten it at our neighbor’s repair shop.

Not fun: Bathing a stray cat.
We knew the oil or whatever he got into wouldn’t come off on its own, so we corralled the cat in our basement and gave him a bath—not easy! We kept him in our bathroom with food, water, and a litter box until he dried off because he was soaked and sick. We couldn’t convince him to trust us, so we let him return to our basement, where he emerged in November.

Thanksgiving Guest
The story’s most interesting part came later. Our family had Thanksgiving dinner a few days later. Our grandson told us how much he missed his cat, who had been missing for almost a month despite their best efforts to find him.

A child reunites with his cat
Our stray tiger cat walked up from the basement as Stevie spoke. Tiger walked in after Stevie said, “That’s my cat!” We’ll never know if he crossed the river between us or took the bridges to our house. This cat knew we were a safe haven and that his owner would return soon.