Lucky. That should have been her name, although her name became just Kitty. Her life began in an abandoned house, and would have ended there, except a young woman knew there was a mommy cat and her litter there. It was lucky that the young woman realized that the police had rescued all but the one kitten, who somehow got left behind. If not for my niece, Kitty would probably not have survived. Fortunately, though, Kitty got rescued and that was the beginning of the story.
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As with all young people. my niece couldn't do all the things she needed to do to be out on her own with a small, abandoned kitten in tow, so my mother ended up adopting her for her own, and a lifelong bond was formed.
Little Kitty, maybe 5 pounds soaking wet, was a quiet and loving little kitty. She mostly stayed in the garage, although when it got too cold, she would deign to stay in the laundry room in the house. She had a little bed in the "toilet", which was the box for said fixture, with a cozy bed where she could hang out and survey her domain. My mother would pull her little truck into the garage, and there would be Kitty's ears, perked up above the box, waiting for a scratch on the ears and a kind word.
She loved to be brushed, unlike most cats. My mom would sit in a chair outside or in the garage, and Kitty would sit on her lap and just enjoy mom's company and the gentle stroke of the brush on her long, tortoiseshell fur. She also liked to watch the birds at the feeder in the back yard, although she wouldn't chase them. Her life was simple, and her world was small. Because she had such a tough start in life, she was afraid of cars, and the big wide world, so she kept to her own yard and was content with it. There were intruders, such as the yellow cat that lived nearby who was constantly trying to take over her territory. Kitty would defend it as best she could, with her human's help. There was plenty to keep her busy, though, in her own little world, with the hiding places under the bushes and the warm sunny spots in the yard to bask in.
Kitty wasn't an aggressive cat because of her abandonment. The fear she had of cars and people in her early years were to affect her the rest of her life. I hardly ever saw her, because she only trusted two people, her "mommy", my mother, and her rescuer, my neice. She wasn't a beautiful cat, either, by most standards. But she was a loyal and loving companion for eleven years, and we will honor her memory.