Happy cats are helped by people who are responsible

About 15 1/2 years ago in the parking lot of this newspaper, while waiting for a friend to pick me up at lunchtime, I heard a plaintive "meow."

I followed the cry to the tire of a minivan. Without thinking about the possibility of getting scratched, I reached in and grabbed a tiny, shivering kitten.


Then I did what any sane person would do: I stuck it inside the front of my jacket.

My friend noticed the little cat face beneath mine as I got in the car and ordered, "Take me to the shelter!"

"No. Take me to my house," I heard myself say before we'd gone half a block.

I gave her some food and water, fixed up a snug box and settled her in my carport —  safe from the territorial cat in my house.

After work, I brought that scared, dirty and full-of-fleas kitten in, gave her a bath, wrapped her in a towel and called my colleague Julie to tell her that I'd found her cat.

"I don't have a cat," she said.

"Oh, yes you do," I replied.

She still does.

Ellie, who will turn 16 sometime in July, is an elegant, light gray, longhaired beauty. She likes to be combed, and she accepted her slightly goofy "brother," Romeo, when Julie adopted him.

Julie loves and takes excellent care of that cat. Ellie is lucky.

Too many others are not.

There are an estimated 82 million free-roaming cats in the United States, Cory Smith wrote in a recent email. Smith, senior director of Pets For Life for The Humane Society of the United States in Washington, D.C., also provided the appalling fact that more than 3 million cats per year are euthanized in U.S. shelters.

Kittens are adorable, but they soon grow up. A cat can become pregnant as young as 6 to 9 months of age. A fertile cat can produce an average of three litters in one year, each with an average of four to six kittens, Smith wrote.

The cats are just doin' what comes natur'lly. It's up to humans to have them spayed and neutered.

My friend Sherry, whose beloved pug, Lizzie, died a few of years ago, had thought about getting another dog. I suggested a cat might suit her always-on-the-go lifestyle, but she hadn't made a move.

 It was settled a few months ago when a sleek young male cat came to her neighbors' door from the nearby woods. Lisa and her mom already have two cats and dog, so she asked Sherry to house him in her garage overnight, providing food, bed, toys and a veterinary appointment.

Although a tad unsure, Sherry gave him a try. She had him neutered the next day and named him Pyewacket, after the witch's cat in the 1958 James Stewart-Kim Novak romantic comedy, "Bell, Book and Candle."

Pyewacket's adoption has become the stuff of romantic comedy. Although I've not met him, I've seen emailed videos of the beautiful and self-assured feline clown — accompanied by Sherry's laughter. He's often on her lap when I call.

Happy cats.

Happy — and responsible — people.



Kate Coleman covers The Maryland Symphony and writes a monthly column for The Herald-Mail.