In October of 2012, hurricane Sandy was fast approaching and Pluto was a 6-month-old, female kitten living in a parking lot down by the water in Babylon, NY. Some of the people who were taking care of of the stray cats deemed her too feral to be homed so after she was "fixed", they sent her right back out there to fend for herself.
Luckily, a friend of mine knew that she wasn't too wild or feral and was constantly looking for a permanent home for her. I'd been asked several times prior to Hurricane Sandy if I wanted to take the homeless kitten home but we had just adopted another kitten, Jamie, a few months prior and we didn't want to take on another.
At 11pm, the night before hurricane Sandy hit, my friend made one last ditch effort to see if we could take in Pluto, just for the next night since they were being forced to evacuate and there was no way this little kitten would survive the havoc Sandy was predicted to (and did) wreak.
Pluto came into our home the next morning and hissed at anyone that would get near her yet never ONCE acted aggressively towards anyone. She was just scared and cowered in the corner of the room, behind anything she could find. Jamie was none too happy that we brought another kitten into her world and glared at Pluto like she wanted to kill her.
After Sandy passed, there was no way we could turn this little girl back out into the streets. Everyday after work, I would spend hours with her, talking softly and calmly, trying to get her to trust me. Then one day, she started to purr and nibbled on my finger, claiming me as "mommy" and I knew that this would be her forever home. After a couple of weeks, Jamie was also warming up to her and no longer glared at her.
Well Pluto, now more appropriately named Maya, has been with us ever since and not only is she one of the sweetest cats you could ever meet, she and Jamie are the best of friends.
WEST BABYLON, NY
