Angel Our Feral Cat Companion
by Dana Fried
(Kalama, Washington)
In December 2008 my fiance was cooking chicken on the BBQ outside. We live on a couple of acres on a big hill with forests behind us and the Columbia River in front of us in SW Washington about 25 minutes from Portland Oregon. We have been city folk LA/Seattle/Chicago our entire lives so living amongst coyote/Bald Eagles and hawks were new to us.
When my fiance (Kim) went out to get the chicken it was gone. Very strange because doubt began to creep in regarding whether she had even put a piece of chicken on the grill.
A few days later as I was away in LA on business for a month, the cat we call Angel (came on Dec 22) came to the door bleeding and crying. Kim took Angel, a calico cat, in and wiped her off getting scratched in the process. She kept the cat in the garage as she attempted to feed her and set up a litter box.
When she told me the cat was in the garage I went ballistic. I am deathly allergic to cats and have been rushed to the hospital a number of times because of the inability to breathe from cat dander. This was a brand new home we built and I am thinking I won't be able to live in it for months with cat dander everywhere.
To make a long story short, Kim took Angel to the Humane Society and tried to get her a home. No one would adopt her and the HS called and said they were going to put her to sleep. Kim brought her back and promised me she would find a home within a week. Because Angel was very wild and about 7 months old she would hiss and claw at anyone who came near her (except for Kim)
I came back and started to wheeze to my distress. Here we built a brand new dream house that had become a nightmare. I hated cats!!!!! And on top of it Angel hissed at me every time I walked in the garage. Would she attack me? I had no idea but I kept my distance.
I went back to LA after a week to be able to breath again as Kim tried frantically to find Angel a home.
Kim researched (she has a masters and used to research movie info for the studios in LA) and found Allerpet as well as other things that would allow me to live with the cat and breathe at the same time.
When I came back from LA it was amazing. I could live in the same house and I began to fall in love with Angel. Its been 7 months and Angel is like our child (we have no kids). I pet her under the chin constantly, she has soft beds everywhere and now rules the house. We take her to the vet (bought her a health plan). She is very attached to Kim and drives everywhere with her (no cage to the store/gym/from Portland to Seattle). Kim gives her belly rubs 5 times a day and their relationship is like a pet owner with a dog not a cat!
She has made our lives better. We are still teaching her a few things but for the most part she comes when we call her and she follows Kim everywhere around the gardens.
It also make us feel great about saving a cat who is now spoiled after living such a hard life trying to survive on a daily basis stealing hot chicken off a hot grill because she was starving.
Its not easy at first but I believe anything that is as rewarding as Angel takes hard work and patience.
All the best
Dana Fried
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