Congratulations to Victoria Rosales who won a free outdoor shelter for their colony cats and a bottle of Feral Flower Essence from FixNation board member Jackson Galaxy’s Spirit Essences line through FixNation’s National Feral Cat Day story competition!
I was born in a family of dog people. It was hard since at an early age I discovered cats were my best friends and companions. My mother’s preference was Chihuahuas.
I liked all kind of cats. I didn’t care if they were big, small, tall, or fat. The color of yellow, brown or black didn’t matter either. When I grew up I discovered that there were different kinds of breeds. As time went by I had two or three without caring where they came from.
And I must have to say that I loved them all the same. When one died, I cried for months until a new cat came along.
Niñita came to me one April morning. It was cold. She was starving and when I fed one of the outside cats she took her food growling. Then she went away. By this time I knew that some cats liked to be outside and other inside. I assumed she was an outsider cat and since she seemed angry and upset I let her be. Next morning I took and extra plate to the porch and served food for three. My two came. Niñita following. I took the opportunity to pick her up and find out she wasn’t pregnant. I already knew she was a tortoise shell. When I went inside, Niñita followed me as if this had been her house all the time. (I was fortunate to be living in my brother’s spacious house in Covina, California. The house had a huge backyard and since my arrival stray cats came. I fed them all.
Some weeks before the pawn man had knocked at my door asking me how many cats I had. Since I don’t know how to lie I told the truth. “Ten,” I said without counting the two in the front. “But they are all fixed. I have taken them to Fix Nation. So now with Niñita I had 13. I didn’t care. I paid for their food. Three of my colony had belong to some neighbors on the back who were moving to a Section 8 apartments and rather than to have them take to the shelter, I adopted them. Their parents promised to bring me food but they never did. Oh, well. Karma will get them someday.
Niñita got fixed and we lived happily for a year and a half. All nights she will cuddle up to me. When my brother said that he often found her on one of the back streets when he would take his dog for a walk, worried me because I knew she wanted to leave. He also loved her because she would play with his dog and the two will wrestle each other. Even my son, who doesn’t like cats played with her. The rougher he got, the more she would play.
I am certain that Niñita never forgot her first owner and that’s why she left me with a broken heart. I have posted flyers everywhere. I have gone in my mobility car calling her. My brother tells me that the reasons she hasn’t comeback is because she is been safeguarded so she won’t take off again. Deep inside my heart, I think if Niñita found her first mom, I am being happy for that.
