Hestia Homeschool for Young Wild Women

When we moved into this house nine years ago, a feral cat lived under the decrepit old shed in the back yard.  She was so wild that we were unable to approach her, and soon it became apparent that she was nursing a litter of kittens. Her eyes were a vivid pale green. She was thin and scruffy, and soon came to depend on our meals.

As they grew older, the three kittens ventured out. Mandy was eleven years old then, and very patient with animals. Within days she had the kittens allowing her to touch and feed them. We found homes for two of them, and kept the black baby boy cat.

Mama Green Eyes took much, much longer. But eventually we were able  to stroke her and touch her, and she would even let us pick her up after a year or so. We were able to get her spayed, and the vet gingerly gave her shots if Mandy or I would hold her. She would wail like a banshee.

Mama Green Eyes was so beautiful that we didn't have any trouble finding a home for her after she was spayed. However, she did not want to live at that house. She refused to come out from under her hiding places during the days.She fought with the other cats.

So she came back home to us.

Then we found another good home for her, hoping that she could become an inside cat. (She could not live in our house with my tiny emaciated twenty two year old Pagan.) She walked the several blocks home so many times that we eventually decided that this was her home.

Her son Blackberry also lives with us.

Today my neighbor found her curled up dead in her yard. So we brought her home for the last time. Mandy cried and held her on the porch. Greenie was always Mandy's cat.

Mama Cat was fierce and brave. She is the cat we took pictures of facing down a raccoon that dared to eat her food on the porch. She would hide in the bushes occasionally and run out and swipe our legs for no apparent reason.

She could be a bitch. But she was OUR bitch.

Mama was the queen of our feral cat colony. I will miss her. People often stopped and admired her and her son, wanting to know what breed the two striking cats were. I would just smile and say Newport Alley Cat.

Greenie would follow us for many blocks, her tail straight in the air, when we went to walk the dogs or over to visit Rachel and Weesie. She was a unique cat, who lived life on her own terms, and I was always aware of how she graced my life. She reluctantly came indoors when the weather was horrible, but otherwise she lurked around the yard.

We buried her near the kittens.

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• #17 Comment from angelstorms70 
  11/3/06 9:04 PM | Permalink

  I'm so sorry for you loss.  It hurts so much to lose a fur baby.
  
  Theresa
• #16 Comment from redbird914 
  10/31/06 12:33 AM | Permalink

  Aaawww!  I just cried for Mama Green Eyes!  Thanks for sharing.
  ~ Valorie
  
• #15 Comment from donah42 
  10/30/06 1:04 PM | Permalink

  I'm so sorry about your little Mama :(
• #14 Comment from jabarett 
  10/29/06 6:42 PM | Permalink

  I'm sorry to hear about your loss. It sounds like she was a remarkable kitty.
  
  Julie
  http://www.barrettmanor.com/julie/archive.aspx?ID=1261
• #13 Comment from suzypwr 
  10/25/06 3:17 PM | Permalink

  I am sorry for your loss. It sounds like she lived a happy and eventful life.
  
  xoxo