I have three cats that I call indoor/outdoor cats. Nicholas the beautiful old grey tabby; Fiyero the Maine Coon, my scrapper, the boss; and finally Fancy the sweet little girl who got her name because, well, she just looks "fancy".
I wanted a cat that would cuddle with me and live inside. I love them all dearly, but they are all a different sort and are not happy being in the house all the time. They come in at 6 o'clock every morning for feeding. They come in when it's really hot or cold outside. They pass thru the house several times a day (just checking on their humans I guess). They are all neutered and spayed, so they are not out populating the city and they stay on our property, they are just not happy "living" inside.
I came home from work one day and heard "kittens" screaming. I knew from the sound that it was not coming out of my grown cats, it was "kittens". I got my husband and daughter involved and we isolated where the crying was coming from, it was under our storage shed. We pulled cars up with headlights shining under the building but did not see anything even though we knew that's where the "kittens" were. We retired for the night because we were making no progress in the dark.
The next morning my daughter went out bright and early, determined to find the "kittens". She laid on the ground searching with a flash light, and discovered one little tuxedo kitten, still screaming to beat the band. He, all alone but sounded like a whole litter of kittens, he was very vocal. No mommy cat, no litter mates. Just this little tuxedo cat all on his own. How did he end up there?
She coaxed him closer with cat food, but he was very wary of her and would hiss and growl if she reached for him. So, she sat there on the ground for quite a while talking to him. He was falling asleep sitting straight up and would then "jerk" awake.
She decided that he was too weak and exhausted and did not really have the means to harm her, so she grabbed him and brought him in the house. He was covered in fire ants, so we washed the ants off and dried him. We gave him a meal (on the kitchen counter) cause that's how we roll around here. When he got down he was dragging his right hind leg. So, off to the vet we go.
The vet said he was about 6 weeks old. The leg was not injured but it was a birth defect and that his mother was probably feral. Feral cats often abandon the weaker kittens or kill them. He's lucky that she left him under our building.
Of course we were keeping him, there was no discussion or decision to be made, next he needed a good name. My daughter said, "Oliver! Because Oliver Twist was an orphan and so is he".
He's now a happy, cuddly 3 year old cat. He doesn't care about going outside with his indoor/outdoor siblings. But it doesn't end there...
About 6 months after we were blessed with Oliver, my daughter left work to find a small group of people gathered around the car. Turns out there was a tiny kitten in the tire well of the car. They said that it was an "angry" kitten that was hissing at them. They had been trying to figure out what to do for about an hour. There was a little boy in the group that was begging his mother, "Please Mom, it's going to freeze tonight and he's all alone out here". His mother explained that they could not take a kitten home.
My daughter reached into the tire well and grabbed the kitten. She assured the little boy that it would not spend the night out in the cold, and she brought it home. Off to the vet again.
The vet said he looked to be about 6 weeks old and healthy. We cleaned him up, fed him, and again, no discussion or decision had to be made, he was home. We named him Jaxon, just because Jaxon is a cool name.
I finally got my inside cat that I'd been longing for (double). Double trouble, double pleasure, double cuddles.
Technically they were not rescued from an animal rescue facility, but Oliver was rescued from the heat of the summer and elements that come with it (fire ants). Jaxon was rescued from a cold, freezing winter night and taken into a warm home.
God sent me Oliver because he knew how much I wanted a cat to cuddle with and He sent Jaxon to my daughter's car because he knew Oliver needed a life long friend.
P.S. All of my cats were rescued from the elements, but that's a story for another day. Thanks for reading!
SOMERVILLE, TX
