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"One
cat just leads to another" -
Ernest
Hemingway
Cat of The Third Quarter of
1999:
Our Cat of The Quarter
for the third quarter of 1999, is Mona,
a small and very pretty
tortoiseshell. She's about four years old.
Mona
was apparently abandoned in the wild when she was around two,
perhaps even younger Since she didn't seem the type to cope
with upcoming winter storms on her own, she was shown the way to a
nearby farm by Leon,
a wise and experienced outside cat who knew his way around the
neighborhood.
Mona remained
an outside cat herself for a while, spending a lot of time on the
farmhouse porch and taking her meals there--often in Leon's
company. But after a couple of months she disappeared for a
few days and it was found she had moved into the barn and set up
housekeeping. Why? She had learned she was an expectant
mother.
An exceptionally smart little cat, Mona
found an old dresser in the barn with a drawer sitting up on
top. Perhaps assisted by Leon,
Mona
filled the drawer with old newspapers that were stored in the room
and created a warm and cozy home in preparation for her kittens.
It was in that cozy drawer where her three kittens were born:
Skipper, Max and Rainee.
After her kittens arrived Mona
timed her visits to the farmhouse porch food bowl to coincide with
the kittens' nap times--always keeping her meal breaks short, ears
perked up listening for cries from her babies. (Of course,
during the worst of the winter weather, she got her meals delivered
to the barn.)
She proved to be a responsible, conscientious and exceptionally
loving mother. About the time the kittens were old enough to
began to sneak out and go exploring, Mona
and her family were invited into the farmhouse. Skipper, the
smallest of the kittens, stayed there with his mom, Mona,
while Max and Rainee
moved in with Tyler and his family next door.
Mona
is probably the most tolerant
of cats, particularly in regard to her son. She puts up with
his frequent ambushes and roughhousing with good humor. But if
Mona hears
a cry from Skippy, perhaps because one of the other cats is
challenging him, she comes on the run to protect him--even though he
is now close to twice her size.
Mona
could best be described as a
little cat with a big heart.
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