A Cat Odessey, My Lucky Luke

It was a dark, stormy, rainy evening, and suddenly there was a loud knock on my door. Standing there, on my doorstep was my next door neighbor. In the palm of her hand was a tiny, black and white kitten, a black spot on it's nose, it's eyes still shut and ears pinned back. It couldn't have been more than three or four days old. "Have you seen a mother cat with another kitten in your yard " she asked?

That was the start of it all!


It turned out, this little guy was left all alone in my neighbors tree, where the mother cat had given birth to these kittens along with two more that had died at birth. During the storm she had disappeared, taking the one kitten and leaving this one behind…. We spent the next few hours searching my yard and adjoining yards. Just as we were about to give up hope of ever finding them, I heard a small sound coming from the bushes under my bedroom window. There, in a little space, between two of the bigger branches was another tiny kitten lying on the wet and soggy leaves.... Just to my left was the mother cat watching me a few feet away. My instincts told me the only way these little guys had a chance of survival was to be with their mother, so I gently put "my" little one down beside it's litter mate and hoped for the best. I did call my vet that night who told me I had done the right thing.


For the next few weeks I fed the mother cat, thinking that it would keep her from straying too far away from the kittens to search for food. I watched from afar, as she kept moving these little guys from one hiding place to another, during those heavy, springtime, monsoons we were having that year. I would agonize when I couldn't find the latest hiding place for fear they would drown in the flooded waters. Sometimes, she would leave behind the smallest one, the one I had originally held in my hand that first night....I bought a kitten baby bottle and formula to have on hand, in case she didn't come back for him.



There were times it rained so hard I would move the kittens myself to higher ground or under my patio roof. She would always find them and move them away again. I knew I should have left them alone, but you can't imagine how bad the rain was and how deep the puddles were in the hiding places she choose. I know they would have drowned had I left them alone. While I was feeding her, she never really went too far and would always show up to eat as soon as I got out of sight…..She just wouldn't let me near her or come to me, although, I know she heard me when I called her, shook the cat food box and put the dish down.



I hoped everything would be all right, until, one day her dish was still full in the morning. The next day I couldn't find her or the kittens, or the next day or the next. I searched high and low for them, under every bush, tree and crawlspace in my entire neighborhood, including the golf course behind my yard and the adjoining yards...There was no sign of her or them. I sadly started to give up all hope of finding them, when suddenly, one night, another knock on my door! This time it was another neighbor, two young kids from across the street, one of them, holding a little black and white kitten in his hand, a kitten with a black dot on it's nose. "Does he/she belong to you they asked"? At that moment, there was no doubt in my mind, "yes," I answered. Whether destiny or whatever, this kitten belonged to me. It was just meant to be. I asked about the mother cat and other kitten and was told that they had both been killed by a stray dog, right in their back yard. They found this one crying for it's mother and didn't know what to do, (their Mom is allergic to cats they said) I don't know why they came to my house, but for some strange reason they did. They had made the right decision. I brought him in and put him in my spare room thinking he might have some sort of disease or parasites I was afraid one of my other two cats could get exposed to. I put him in a box with blankets and a stuffed toy seal, the same size as he was, to keep him company, introduced him to a litter box and gave him that kitten formula milk I thankfully had purchased a while before.


The next day I brought him to the vet, and he received a good clean bill of health, except for ear mites and fleas which were taken care of on the spot, along with his first shots.


Now, as I sit here 5 years later with "Luke"(yes, it was a he) sleeping next to my feet, under my desk, after he playfully attacked my other cat and drove her out of the room, I can't help but wonder about life's little quirks and natures tragedies.



Needless to say, it wasn't easy. The other two cats in my household at the time, were not very happy in the beginning with a new kitten who wanted to play with them constantly or who took my attention away from them. I did have to keep them separated for a while, but slowly and surely they did adjust and now are great pals, most of the time! Between the jousting and the wrestling, I do find them sleeping together in a heap at the foot of my bed. And, surrounding my bed in the morning, are all the toys Luke has had since the very beginning. I guess he brings them to me as gifts. Little tokens of affection. I find furry mice, glitter balls and the little stuffed seal I had given him, to keep him company when I had to leave him alone in the room I made up for him. It was the same size he was, but now he's four times it's size and he carries it around with him everywhere. When he leaves it for me I know he's telling me he loves me.


Luke has grown into the largest cat I have ever had, over 18 lbs and has the strangest habits. He is not a lap cat and doesn't like to be held or carried, I don't know if it's from his first few weeks of life that has made him so skiddish but, he sits, sleeps or lies just beside me where ever I am and looks at me with such affection at times I think he's talking to me or at least telling me thanks.. All I have to do is reach over and he purrs, then, attacks my hand with little love bites, never hurting me, just his way of saying I love you, at least that is what I want to think!......I just can't imagine not having him in my life. My Lucky Luke. Lucky because, somehow he found me twice. And I, him.