Cat Hero

So here's a happy story:
As some of you may know, my husband has been caring for "wild" cats in our yard for the past year or so. What were once thought to be feral cats are now looking to be much more like OPC's (other people's cats) who have been abandoned. The population has dwindled significantly (coyotes we think) so that recently, there have been only one or two cats out there.

About a month ago, he said, "Boy that gray cat is looking puffy. I wonder if she is pregnant?" (wonder? of course she is....) I encouraged him to try to catch her so we could spay her, but he wasn't able to. So, two weeks ago, while I am sitting in Logan Airport he calls me and says, "Don't be mad, but I brought the gray cat indoors. I heard the coyotes howling and she began screeching, so I brought her into the guest room to keep her protected. And she's definitely pregnant."

No, I wasn't mad, but the reason he said "don't be" is that we are full to the brim with already- been-rescued cats and dogs. Six and two respectively. Plus, I would never want this poor abandoned cat torn to shreds: I wanted her safe too.

The next day he takes her to a low cost spay/neuter clinic: the vet there said the cat was too far along to be spayed safely. She gave him a list of names and numbers to call to get the cat into a foster care situation. After a week of trying, no one could help us. Gray cat is still living in our guest room...and she is as sweet a cat as you can imgine. Loving and friendly.

Last Thursday, things are getting desperate: its clear she is having several kittens, and we just can't handle more. I asked him to take her to our vet, who knows us really well (guess why?) I said, "Maybe they can help. Maybe she is not as far along as the other vet thought. Maybe they know of another foster program...anything." It broke our hearts to think of spaying and destroying these kittens, but we were not having any luck finding places for them. We could let them be born and then try to place them, but we'd been through that the year before and wound up with 5 cats...

He brings her to our vet, who said she would prefer not to because of the risk to the cat, but she knows our situation and would spay graycat the next morning if we wanted her to.

He brings graycat home and calls his daughter in MA to tell her the plan. She loves animals as much as anyone I've ever known, and has a great knack for caring for them. She said, "Dad, please don't spay her. If you drive her up here to MA, I will take her and find homes for the kittens." He was thinking about it...we live in NC and its a 12-14 hour drive....with a pregnant and ready to deliver cat...I broke down and cried and begged him to take her as soon as he could. I just couldn't bear the thought of losing her to the spaying option, and neither could he. It's now 4 pm on that Thursday and his daughter calls back and says, "Just get her feline leukemia test done so we know she is healthy..." She rightly suggested there was no point to any of this if the cat wasn't well.

Back to the vet, who had one last test kit available...and performed the test at no charge. Graycat is healthy and fit for travel.

So, instead of driving her to the vet on Friday, my husband drives her to MA. He arrived on Saturday after a long time on the road...and on Sunday afternoon she delivered five kittens. Momma cat and kits are all doing well, and he got to share the experience with his daughter (my new personal hero) and her husband and three sons.

They named the cat Gracie.

My Cat Hero arrived home again yesterday, driving 12 plus hours to make it back to the "zoo" he left here at home. He received a hero's welcome from me, Newt, six cats, and a Dog named Fish.