Safe Harbor

You never know when you are going to be called upon to lend a helping hand to one of God's creatures, two or four legged.

Yesterday, while enjoying a sunbreak to plant some lettuce and more spinach in the trough-garden, I was startled to have little Nikki start barking right behind me. She was warning me that a stray cat was intruding.

And there she was. The thinniest little kitty I've ever laid eyes on. At first I figured she was one of the feral cats that show up from time to time in farm country. But she was only about 15 feet away, and let me tell you no feral cat will get that close to people, let alone a dog. So there was a good chance she was a discard, which happens much too often in farm country. I don't know why people think it is OK to dump unwanted animals near a farm. The cats or pups often end up dead on the road, or suffer starvation. Which seemed to be the case I was looking at.

Nikki promptly put the cat up a tree. After putting Nikki in the cabin, I went out to see what could be done. I was a bit surprised when after only about 10 minutes, I had a dandelion-puff of a kitty in my hands. She was frantically hungry, but didn't struggle or scratch.

She was made comfy in one of our multi-use dog crates (it was a pig-carrier a few weeks ago).



















She looks to be about 4-6 months old. After a few small feedings over the next several hours, she seemed content to be warm and safe on the back porch, where the sun shines through the big windows.



















The next thing of course, is what to do with her? Jetta isn't very receptive to other cats on her turf. She sat on the stairs where she could watch this interloper through the storm door window, with a steady golden glare that warned of sparks to come.



















The Lakeshore Humane Society in Manitowoc has a side service called Free Roaming Felines Program. They provide free spaying/neutering and vaccinations for stray cats that have been dumped or wandered from homes. After the vet visit, the cats are placed in foster homes until they can be permanently adopted. Some of the cats end up by request at horse barns or dairy barns, even a bee yard in one case. Others, which have obviously been a house pet or at least used to being handled by people, are more appropriate to place in pet homes. The program keeps track of the re-homed cats, checking in at least once a year to see how they are doing. I was impressed, after a 20-minute phone conversation, with the quality and care offered the program.

This little girl has been handled; she is not afraid of humans or dogs (at least small dogs). She likely was a pet. We'll never know if she was dumped or strayed.

I will soon be taking her in to one of the vets who work with the program, for spaying and shots. Then I'll foster her until she is healthy and hopefully placed in a permanent home.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post. I was instructed that she would have to be named before she went to the vet, because that's how they track the cats. By name.

We need a name, here, folks. Any ideas??