Callie’s story

Let me start all over … On a cool day in September 2010, my husband was in our garage and he heard a little meow. He called me to come there and we went through everything trying to figure out where this little cry was coming from. In the far corner, next to an old metal filing cabinet, were a pile of sheets and a small plastic bag with a calico kitten curled up on it. The kitten appeared to be about 3-4 months old and was very thin. As soon as he saw my husband, he ran out of the garage. We talked about where this little creature could have come from and what to do. The next day, I made him kitten food. We didn’t see the kitten for at least another month, but the food was always missing. Towards the middle of October, I was in the garden trimming plants and packing leaves around it when out of the corner of my eye I could see the kitten. He was on the opposite side of our pond watching my every move. I made no move to scare him, I just kept working and speaking quietly to him. I would see that kitten several more times in my yard before it really started to get cold.

We continue to feed the kitten daily and keep fresh water for him. Our garage is separate from our house and when it rains or is very wet outside our garage floor water accumulates. I had to make sure the food didn’t get on the floor. I put a rug on a pallet I found and kept the food and water on top. My husband had taken one of the seats out of his truck in the summer when we were shopping for flowers for our garden and put it in the garage. I pulled out an old quilt and down comforter and made a bed in the van seat for the kitty. We used a large stone and propped the door with it so that it did not close completely. This would keep the kitten out of the wind and snow. Every day, I would go out first thing in the morning to check it out. At first, the kitten would see me coming and hide behind things in the garage until I came back to the house. Then I would go out and eat. We started with dry food that quickly turned into wet and dry food as well. One day in the cold winter, it stopped working. He stayed in bed and just watched as I put fresh food and water on him. That was the day I started calling the kitten Callie.

Spring came slowly. The days got a little warmer. I started to leave the garage door open so Callie could sunbathe. Callie was getting more confident in me. They told me that 99% of calico kittens are female. I didn’t believe that at first until I went on the web and researched it. My husband and I talked about repairing Callie when she was getting hot. The days grew warmer and Callie looked fatter. He was attributing it to eating well. No, my kitty Callie was going to be a mom! Now what? We were not prepared for this.

It was April 10 and my husband was in the garage. We hadn’t seen much of Callie for a couple of days, a quick glance every now and then. We thought she must be giving birth somewhere, but where? Suddenly we hear a little meow. Randy asked me to come quickly. We looked and looked and finally found where the sound was coming from, in the rafters! I told him I needed a ladder and to look in the recycling bin. She told me that either she would scare him and he would fall off the ladder or scare her, nothing happened. He found Callie in the trash can and she just looked at him as if to say “now you know my secret.” We leave everything as it is for a day. The next day, my Corgi would not leave the garage entrance to enter the house. My husband went to see what the problem was. To our dismay, we found that the recycling bin had fallen from the ceiling beams onto the concrete floor. We collected four kittens. Two black and white, one solid gray and one orange and white.

We grabbed the trash can, I put a quilt on it, and repositioned it on its workbench. We convinced Callie to return to her babies, which she did. Thanks to my corgi for finding the helpless babies. A couple of days passed. We checked her and the babies every day and made sure Callie was well fed. On the third day, to my surprise, there was one more kitten, a solid black one. Somehow, I missed it on the ground. Callie must have brought it back to the recycle bin.

Weeks passed and the kittens grew. Every day we waited for Callie to come out of the garage and Randy and I hugged the kittens. This kept them from being as wild as Callie. They loved human contact. I especially liked the orange and white kitten. I kept telling my husband that he was “my kitten” and he said no, because we already had four Persians. I started to think of a name for the kitten, Morris or Garfield seemed very suitable to me. One night I dreamed that the kitten responded by telling me that his name was not Morris or Garfield but “Delaney.” Delaney was.

In fact, he responded to us calling him by that name. They got cuter and busier every day. We used a large playpen for dogs and made a large playpen for them. We put the recycle bin with the now trimmed side there for them to sleep on. This kept them safe and happy for a few more weeks. They would run towards us when they knew they were being fed. Callie was tolerant and not much more. There were days and I took some good hits from her. The kittens were seven weeks old now and ready to go to their new homes.

This is faster than a house cat would be ready, but we were told if we waited; they would be less likely to be meek. My husband agreed that we could stay with Delaney. My friend Darcia took the black one and called it “Little Bear.” Rene Jr. took a black and white male kitten and named him Morgan. Sonja took the black and white kitten and named her Gracie. The little gray found a home with Amy and his name is Ashes. All the kittens now had a happy ending, but what about Callie …

In the early spring, when the kittens were little, I was at Hood’s Hardware talking to Patti, who is also a big cat lover. He told me about PAWS. He gave me a contact person, Terra. Now was the time to call Terra and see what could be done for Callie. I wanted to let Callie stay in our garage as long as she wanted, but I didn’t want her to populate the neighborhood. Tera came to visit and met Callie. He arranged for them to leave a human trap and gave us instructions to catch Callie. Well, easier said than done! On the first try we caught a huge raccoon! My husband got up at midnight and took him to the wildlife area to release him. Needless to say, Callie sat there and watched all this action and had no interest in getting close to that trap! Another week passed. We talked to Valerie and we thought my husband would have to put on the gloves and just grab her and put her in the trap. I tried one last time to catch Callie, this time with chicken. He loved chicken and that was the trick. We had her in the trap …

Early the next morning, Valerie was there to pick her up along with a truck full of others. We had her spayed, tested for feline leukemia, vaccinated against feline leukemia along with rabies, distemper, and some flea treatment. We felt we needed to give him the best chance we could if he wanted to go outside. The next day, they left Callie in our garage in the trap. It was a very hot day and I came home at lunchtime and released her. She ran back to the corner of the garage where we first met her when she was a kitten. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t make it. It looked like she was sore and lethargic. It was a long afternoon of work. That night, I called her and called her. I made some chicken and she came up to our terrace to get me. He ate the chicken and made the terrace his new home! Day after day, Callie stayed on deck. She would sit at our table and look around the house. He would interact with Delaney through the door. She became friends with our dogs. I bought her a dog tent that I put a towel in and she stayed in it when it rained. This went on for about 3 weeks. Callie decided she wanted to touch me. She rubbed against my legs when I came out to feed her. If I tried to reach out to caress her, she would hit me and whistle at me. I would sit quietly with her at night and let her do it her way. She would sit next to me and just enjoy the evening. I wouldn’t say a word. Every now and then he rubbed against my side or my back and sat down again. I told my husband that one day I might pet her. That day came faster than I imagined. I stretched my hand against my leg and caressed her without her knowing it. Once she realized he was touching her, she didn’t know how to react. Sometimes he would bite my hand and jump a lot. Within days of that, he discovered that he really did like humans. She would run to be caressed. One afternoon, we came home from an excursion, and I must have been thinking about something else, I bent down and hugged her. It was then that I realized that I was holding my wild kitten. She went limp and loved being hugged. Now when I came out, she would climb onto my lap and want to be stroked and hugged.

One night I was in the garden and it started to rain heavily. I ran across the deck and into the living room, and to my surprise, Callie did too! I thought, “now what do I do”. Callie was not afraid of my dogs and had a lot of contact with them. That was not a problem. Delaney ran over to her mom, they said hello and started to play. Two of my Persians went out to investigate. Persians are very sweet and confident. Callie took one look at them, slapped them, and hissed. They took off. I called Randy and told him to hurry home because Callie was in the living room and I needed to get her out again. It was easy. She just came back out when we asked her. Callie kept winning more and more hearts. We decided to “invite” her right now to play with Delaney and save the others. We did this on several occasions. We started to introduce him to others. Everyone seemed to accept it, except my first Persian, Milo. He was running under the bed. One hit was enough for him.

It is now the end of July. My sweet Callie is part of our house permanently. It started in our basement and moved upstairs to my husband’s archery room. We keep it there only when we are not at home and at night. Milo has accepted her, they haven’t played together yet, but he sits down and looks at her. The other cat shares his food and plays in his room. With lots of patience and love, Callie is a great success story. You no longer have to live outside in the cold and drink from puddles and wonder where you would find food to live in a furever home where you are loved and happy. I put Callie’s photo at the Wyandotte street art fair in the PAWS tent for cutest animal and she won second place. That’s the story of Callie going from poverty to riches.

Written by,

Verne Marie Felty