IIn 2000, I was working with our local TNR group, when we got a call from a bottling factory where a feral cat had got inside. It was January and so bitterly cold (-25) that the cat had sought shelter inside the huge noisy building, piled high with crates of soft drinks. I can only imagine how terrifying it would be to a cat to be lost inside there. Workmen described the cat as a large and vicious.
We set a trap, and caught a small skinny terrified little grey kitty, not the wildcat they described. She didn't make a peep as we drove her to the vets. She was vaccinated and spayed and we brought her home to recover. We put her into a bedroom (with food and litter) and she hid under the bed in the darkest corner.
There was no colony nearby, and since it is difficult to integrate a cat into a colony that they are not from, we decided to keep her and named her Sodapop. After many weeks of much coaxing and gentle talk, and therapy visits from our other cats, she came out from under the bed and let us pet her. It was a full year before Soda felt brave enough to leave the bedroom and 2 more years living upstairs (there are 4 large bedrooms) before she ventured downstairs to join the rest of the household. Now she is fully adjusted, and plays outside in the summer with our cat family (we have 9 rescues) in our cat-proof fenced backyard. Soda is the sweetest gentlest little kitty and after 9 years of love and cuddles she is a happy little girl. We love her dearly and can't imagine our lives without any of our amazing little loving and playful furkids.
Charlottetown, Canada
