Scarlett - Chapter 7 - Finally

The date came to take Scarlett in for her "little procedure" as my vet called it and we rounded her up to go.  Have you ever noticed how cats seem to have a sixth sense about these things?  Scarlett was nearly always under foot but come time for the vet and you discovered that what you actually had living with you in the house was not an ordinary cat at all.  It was instead a cat of stealth and cunning beyond your wildest dreams and Scarlett was no exception to this.  In fact, if anything, she improved not only her own sneaky skills but those of Miss Kitty as well.  There was not a cat to be seen anywhere.

 

Here we were, two adult and one tween human, crawling around on the floor, pulling out furniture and shaking little bags of cat treats like some primitive noise maker to scare away the evil spirits.  When I think about the things these little creatures manage to get us to do, it is downright embarrassing!  Do you ever wonder what the kitty equivalent of "Watch this!" is?  If we knew the signal maybe we would have a chance to thwart their intentions of making a total fool of us.

 

We finally did find Scarlett after a couple of false starts, thinking we had her but finding Miss Kitty instead, and my husband dropped her off at the Vet's.  Later that day when we arrived to pick her up we were greeted by a our Doctor holding a large book that was open to a page with a photo that for the world looked like Scarlett!  I had to look twice to see that it was not her, but another cat remarkably like her, and this cat was photographed in it's den with it's cubs! 

 

My vet explained that worked a lot of animal rescue cases and that he had worked on a case with a group of these cubs that were found abandoned a couple of times in the past.  He said this was a very rare breed of wild cat that lived in the Louisiana swamp but was being killed off by humans.  I guess Scarlett was from a group cubs such as this.  She was definitely one of the breed of cat, no doubt.  He told me that this was the reason he had questioned me so much about her.  Apparently they went to search the area around the grocery store where I found Scarlett the day I brought her to him the first time, hoping to find other babies but were not successful.  Since he was not 100% sure at that point that she was indeed a wild cat cub, he just left it alone and watched closely. This was the "unofficial" explanation.  Officially, it was amazing how much she looked like one of these cubs at first, but of course, it would be illegal to have such a cat in your home, so obviously she was just a domestic cat who looked a lot like a wild cat and was very smart like they are.  He also told me that she was probably a lot younger than I thought when we found her.  I had thought her to be 3 to 4 months old but he said she was likely 8 to 9 weeks instead. 

 

This was the reason for all the phone calls, to see if she was blending in and not causing issues..  He said they had hand raised the other kittens (cubs) and they had done very well with humans but were unable to return to the wild.  They ended up living in a rescue facility.  He figured that if she did well with us, she would have a happier life with another cat and family than she would all alone in a shelter.

 

So we gathered up our little sleepy bundle of cat and took her home with a better understanding of why she had always seemed a little odd for a cat.  She spent the evening in the bath tub, recovering from her anaesthetic, which was a good thing for her.  She loved the bath tub.

 

Scarlett and Miss Kitty were with us in the as my daughter grew to womanhood.  We moved from Louisiana to Indianapolis and at that time, I guess Scarlett decided it was time to return to the wild.  While the humans were away, one summer afternoon, Scarlett and Kitty chewed and clawed their way out of a screened in enclosure that they had enjoyed lounging in for many months.  They were in a very rural setting at this house and there were lots of other animals around as it was a farming area and there were many farm cats who visited our yard.  I spent months trying to encourage them back inside but they would have none of it.  They would visit from time to time, but the outdoors was home now and confinement to a house was not to be tolerated.  After a time Scarlett disappeared from the group.  She had been healthy and happy when last I saw her so I can only guess as to her fate.  It has been many years, but I still dream of her and wonder what ever became of her.  Miss Kitty stayed with the pack and eventually died at the very old age.  She also visits my dreams and thoughts.  They were special gifts, both of them, and I shall forever miss them.