Tracked by the Cat

I entitled this piece The Bandits, because my cats are bandits. They grab things they want and run away with whatever it is. If it's something I want, I have to chase them down and we have a tug-of-war. Sometimes they win and I lose. They hide their treasures and it may be months before I find what I want. I call them bandits, too, because they have completely stolen my heart! We have a multi-cat family, and some of my cats are feral or come from feral mothers. I love them all, but I find that it's hard to get really close to a feral cat or her offspring. A couple of mine won't let me touch them, but will come and talk to me in their own way. If I need to take them somewhere, I have to devise ways to catch them.

I remember two outdoor kittens whose mother would bring them to visit me. She carefully trained them not to let me get near them. One day I looked out on my patio and was surprised to see a cardboard lid walking across the deck with eight legs underneath it. A gust of wind came and blew the cardboard lid away,
leaving two delighted kittens underneath. You would swear they were grinning and laughing at the joke they had played on me!

One feral mother decided she could trust me, and led her kittens to my patio. She allowed me to pick them up and bring them inside. She followed them in
and they never left! I took them to a vet for shots and a check-up and eventually had them all fixed. One had snails in its fur and the other had an eye that was closed and crusted over. The snails were soon removed and the vet was able to save the baby's eye.

These babies were still nursing from their mother when they came to me. When they were older , it fascinated me that when they drank from their water bowls, they would scratch and paw at the rug with their feet. I finally decided that they were trying to make more water come up from the ground. As a student, I had studied animal instincts and encoding, but it was a thrill to watch it happening before my eyes.

One day I found a tiny baby kitten whose mother had rejected her for some reason. I picked her up and took mother's place. I fed her from a tiny bottle and she drank special milk made for orphaned kittens. She was too tiny for me to leave alone, so as soon as she had her shots, I put her in a cat carrier and she went to school with me where I taught first graders. The children were enchanted and she became the class pet. We fed her, kept her cage clean, and tried not
to talk too loudly while she was napping. It was great training for my students, because they tended to shout at times, especially after recess, when I was trying to calm them down.

We named her Dancer because her tiny feet would dance as she sucked at the bottle. Later, my daughter renamed her Sparky for the LA Sparks.
Today she is an adorable adult cat.

A few days ago, I looked at Sparky and decided there was no doubt about it, she needed a bath. As she came from a feral mother, I was sure that I would never be able to get her near water. If you did anything but pet her, you had a problem. I decided to try the cat wipes I had seen on sale at the pet store. The
package said the wipes would allow you to clean your cat without water. It further claimed the cat would enjoy the experience as it was like petting and had a calming affect. We'll see.

I put Sparky in a large cage so she wouldn't get away. She was familiar with the cage as I used it for sick bay. I opened the cage. Sparky was sitting
relaxed and happy, looking out the window the cage was near. I opened the package. I took it as a bad sign that the peel-back seal was hard to open and tore the package as I tried to peel it off. Oh, well, I could put the unused wipes in a zip lock bag.

I must confess, I had a feeling of impending doom as I looked at Sparky. She was no longer looking out the window. She was watching me with great interest.
Bravely I forged ahead. SURPRISE! Sparky allowed me to wash her. I won't say she enjoyed it, but she tolerated it. I talked soothingly to her and kept the session short. I let her smell the wipe before I touched her with it.

With my other feral cats, the only way I could wash them, is to take them to a vet. He would have to anesthetize them and then do whatever needed doing.

I give the cat wipes 5 stars. Since I don't have stars, I give them 5 asterisks. *****