Get Well Soon, Mama Cat

Mama Cat’s had a hard life, but you would’ve never known it if you ever met her.

Many years ago, we first found her crossing the street in our neighborhood, where we thought she was heading to the home where she lived. But when we saw her jumping with her kittens from tree to rooftop where she was keeping them safe, that’s when we knew she really didn’t have a home to sleep in.

For some reason I had kept a bag of cat food in the trunk of my car. So we left some of it out for her, hoping she would come with her kittens and have a good meal for once. Very shortly thereafter, she did.

For some time she lived in a small little house with a comfy bed we put out for her, one hidden behind some plants with lots of food, water and toys too. Sometimes we’d see some other wildlife eating her meals, but she just quietly waited for them to leave, knowing that was the safest thing to do.

Everyday we’d come home and there she would be, along with her son, playing in the bushes, sleeping in the plants. We eventually took in her boy & named him Ben, knowing that a kitten had the best chance at adapting to life indoors.

Mama stayed outdoors, and was the sweetest wild cat that we had ever seen. We gave her warm blankets to sleep in, but that didn’t stop her from sleeping next to the outdoor dryer vent for the heat, at times when it was extra cold.

Knowing she was ours to take care of, we wanted to make sure she was healthy & took her in for a checkup. That day we found out that her heart just doesn’t work as good as it should, and that she would need medicine for the rest of her life.

So, we decided that day that the rest of her life would be with us, inside and back with her little boy.

And even though her daily medicine regiment didn’t initially sound like fun, she now looks forward to it every morning & night now, but that probably has more to do with the tasty treat it’s wrapped in.

Last week we noticed that Mama wasn’t feeling very good, so we took her in for a checkup and thought she just had a little bug. Very quickly we found out that her one of her kidney’s was completely blocked and there was little time to save her before it would be too late, and almost immediately she was rushed into surgery.

She almost didn’t make it, but our 5 pound little wonder made it through. She’s still at the hospital, slowly getting better. And usually the quiet one, her son Ben misses her the most, and wasn’t afraid to let us know it when he kept us up the whole night calling for her.

Some of the best doctors around are taking good care of her right now, our little friend who’s life has been much harder than she deserved. Even though Abbie has already visited her best friend once in the hospital, what we’re all truly waiting for is for her to be strong enough to come home.

Since taking her in, Mama Cat has taught us so many things. She is patient, and tries extra hard not to bother us. She never makes any noise, and she’ll quietly make sure to only take what she absolutely needs, but doesn’t hesitate to give it back when she knows we have noticed her take it.

She’s never in the way, and tries her best to take up as little space as possible, even though we give her all the space in the world to have.

We all want you to get well soon, Mama Cat, because it’s just not the same without you. And just so you know, Abbie has already promised to lick those folded little ears of yours just like you like, as many times as you could possibly enjoy.