Jessie

Ahhh, little Jessie.  As mentioned, after I adopted Serenity and Heyokah I also became a foster mom to rescued cats and kittens for a volunteer organization.  My home became a revolving door of new cats.  It started off with just one or two but soon grew to several at a time.  Some cats lived in my home for only a few days while others lasted much longer.  Spring is Kitten season and that is when the big push began to find homes for all the cats.

In October 1994 as the adoption season was winding down my apartment manager was on vacation which meant that I was not only taking care of the fosters in my home but also the multitude of fosters in her home as well as her many cats.  Although I preferred to do fostering only, not participating in the Saturday and Sunday adoptions, while they were gone the other women from the organization would come to pick up all the foster cats.  That Sunday one of them showed up with a cat box carrier with a screaming cat, the box wiggling frantically.  She told me this wild one was previously adopted out and had been returned.  She was out of control and I really didn’t know what I was going to do with her.

I put her in my bathroom, keeping her in there overnight so as to keep some peace in my home.  The next day, after returning home from work, I went into the bathroom to see her and to assess the situation.  Oh my gosh, she shrunk against the bathtub, hissing and spitting at me, as I tried to calm her she would rush at me, claws out, hissing.  It wasn’t good. 

As the evening grew late she wouldn’t let up on the howling and since I was living in an apartment I let her out of the bathroom, praying she wouldn’t attack the other many cats in the home.  Thank goodness she blended in just fine.  Lesson learned she was fine with her own species.  It was time for me to give her a name…..Jessie.  Ok, now that you see her I’m sure you are thinking “That is the wild cat?”

Over the next six months she went to the adoptions every weekend and returned every weekend.  I was told that she wasn’t making a good impression because while sitting in the cages all she would do is suck on her own belly.  WHAT!  I was instructed to break her of this ridiculous habit or she wouldn’t find a home.  I must admit I did not want to break her of this habit because I felt it comforted her and honestly I found it so cute. 

As the months went on she milked at my heart so much that every evening I was on pins and needles hoping that she would come back home.  Eventually, I decided that she belonged in the family and I could not let her go.