|
 |
 |
| Name: |
Gracie
|
Age: |
Unknown
|
| Gender: |
Female
|
Kind: |
Cat
|
| Home: |
North Carolina, USA
|
We
first saw Gracie about two years ago when she came through our yard.
We did not see her again until several months later when she came
through with two kittens. We eventually adopted the two kittens
(see Sophie).
We saw Gracie only sporadically, although we
left food for her daily, until she had her next litter of kittens and
brought them to us in late spring, 1999. She then had a litter of five
kittens in July, 1999 and brought them to us.
Since we live in an area that has had several hurricanes in recent
years, we were concerned about the kittens' safety if a hurricane
occurred while they were so small. (As it turned out, we had three
hurricanes in 1999.) When the first hurricane approached, Gracie watched
intently as we installed the hurricane shutters, and as I caught the
kittens and took them inside. I caught all but one, but as the storm
winds began to blow and the rain began, Gracie sat down next to this
kitten and led her to the garage. The kitten refused to enter the
garage, so Gracie repeated the process until the kitten was safely
inside. As the 2nd and 3rd storms of the season approached, Gracie
watched us as we installed the shutters and brought her babies inside
without any coaching.
Thanks to a wonderful organization, Operation Topcat, a group of
volunteers who care for homeless and feral cats on our coastal island,
Gracie, her seven kittens and three other cats who adopted us have now
been spayed and neutered. All of them are now tame and are basically
indoor/outdoor cats, whichever they choose to be. On stormy or chilly
nights, they come inside to "their" bedroom, our spare bedroom in which
they rode out the hurricanes, and have the run of the house. At other
times they sleep in our garage, which has been winterized and now
resembles a nursery with all the beds, toys and food dishes! Their
favorite activity seems to be hunting in the marsh behind our house,
even skating on the ice during a rare snowstorm this past month.
There's never a dull moment, with Gracie, her brood, the other three
cats, our two house cats and our dog! Its been wonderful to watch Gracie
regain good health and to know that she has chosen to stay with us.
|
Find out how your pet
could be Cat of the Day.
|
|
|
|
