When the Lord Drops a Cat on Your Doorstep

In the country when I was a kid, if a cat or dog showed up on your farm, you automatically assumed somebody had dropped it. That meant we suspected they had taken an unwanted pet for a ride and shoved them out beside the road a good distance away from their house.

I’ve made pets of at least three dogs that had this happen or at least I supposed they had. One, years ago, when I was a dog hungry little girl, a black cockerspaniel showed up in our yard and I was in love. My dad wouldn’t let me keep him, but my aunt who lived over the hill a ways gave him a home. I walked to her house every single day and let that sweet dog lay his head in my lap. When it was discovered he was a chicken killer, we had to give him away to someone who didn’t have chickens. I was heartbroken, but a farm girl knows what has to be. I wrote a story about it that was in a book of dog stories, The Dog Next Door by Callie Grant. I retained rights to the story and offer to share a copy of it to anyone who signs up for my newsletter. I’ll give it to you too if you want to read it. “A Gift of Love.” Just let me know in the comments and I’ll send it to you via email.

My next dog I assumed was dropped was Oscar, who was found on the side of the road. When the people who found him couldn’t keep him, they advertised to give him away. He became my best dog ever. The other abandoned dog is Frankie. He was picked up by the dog police and I found him at the humane shelter. He’s not my best dog ever because he is often a rascal, but he’s found a home in my heart too.

On to the cat in the story. When I was a kid, barn cats came and went. Some of them would wander away and then ever so often show back up and then they’d be off again. Maybe that’s why I leaned toward loving dogs. They generally stayed around. Mostly.

Fifty years ago, we moved into the house where we live now. At the time we had no outbuildings and the barn was a good ways off down in the field. We had no cats. My husband is not in favor of house cats. At all! So for fifty years we have had no cats. Then this spring something unexpected happened. Very unexpected.

My son and his family came to visit on Mother’s Day weekend. The granddaughters ran into the house and said, “Grammy, did you know you have kittens?” I give them a look as if to say I didn’t think it was April Fool’s day and said, “What are you talking about?”

“You have to come and see.”

I turned off the stove where I was cooking dinner and followed them out the front door. Sure enough, four little kittens were being enticed out from under the deck. The kids hardly wanted to come in for dinner. The kittens were very small, but old enough to eat some food we rustled up for them. They had beautiful blue eyes still the way baby cats do. Four kittens. Two striped ones, one black one, and one tortoise shell. That one gave away the mystery of where these cats came from.

Last year I started putting out cat food in our open shed that was near the garden in hopes that a cat perhaps slinking by now and then would scare away the chipmunks that were eating my strawberries. Seemed to work. Our garden had less pest related problems and we even got some roasting ears before the raccoons did. We started teasing about how I must be feeding a Super Cat, but I never saw a cat in the shed. I did catch a picture of a couple of different ones on a trail camera. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just feeding raccoons and possums.

This spring we started seeing a cat hanging around the yard. Not one I’d caught a picture of on my trail camera. It was a tortoise shell cat and seemed very small. The cat always ran off as soon as it saw us. Obviously, one of those times, she ran under our deck and had four kittens that crawled out just in time for the grandkids to see them. We fed them and the kids held them all afternoon. Mama cat stayed in hiding.

The next day I bought real cat/kitten food. The kind that gives cats a little courage if they are hungry. Mama cat was hungry. Baby cats were hungry. The mama cat is very small and young looking.  Each time I fed the kittens, Mama cat got a little braver and wanted her share of the yummy food. Finally she let me touch her. And then she liked me rubbing her back and started purring.

One by one the kittens found new homes. The first two went together in a box to church with me. My preacher’s daughter got to play with the kittens all through Sunday school and then take them home with her.

The tortoise shell kitty with the blaze that was a flower pot kitty up top found a home next. That left only this last little girl. She loved the box I had set out for the kittens. My daughter came to visit. While she was here the kitty went missing for a few hours and we worried she might have followed mama cat off and been lost. If she did, she came back. But my daughter decided to save the kitten from perhaps meeting up with an unfriendly dog like Frankie or a coyote and another kitten went in a box to go to a new home. She’s been named Smudge (I think that’s final) and is having a grand time in her new home.

The next day mama cat – that I named Mama Mia – took a trip to a spay/neuter clinic and lived inside for a few days in a small bedroom while she healed. She was very upset about the whole thing for a day and a half, but eventually she came out from under the bed and let me rub her again. She is still sticking around my yard because I am still buying her cat food. While still very skittish, she lets me rub her and she purrs. It’s fun having a cat around. I do have to keep her away from Frankie who is not a fan of cats. But she stays in the front yard and Frankie and Marley stay inside or in the backyard. So far so good. Maybe I can keep her around and after half a century have a cat again.

I’m not sure why the Lord decided to drop Mama Mia on my doorstep, but if it was to make me smile, it worked.

What is making you smile this week?