Promise House Cat aka Grizzabella

Animals love Promise House. Over the years, we've had racoons in the attic of our "yellow building", litters and litters of kittens under Wesley Inn, chickens and roosters wandering around our back yard, squirrels that almost eat out of your hand, and scruffy stray dogs by the dozens. There is always one of us taking home a stray dog or cat to raise.

There is one resident cat who deserves special mention. My assistant, Paloma, calls her Gray Kitty, but I call her Grizzabella. She has to be as old as Methusla (sp?) and has been around PH as long as I have (almost 13 years!). Shaggy, ugly, matted, and steel gray, she persists. She is the mother of countless litters of kittens (or so we thought--more on that later), is a hunter supreme, and claims PH as her kingdom.

Paloma is crazy about her (course Paloma is crazy about ANY animal). If a day goes by without spotting her, Paloma worries. When she does appear, all is well with the day. Try as Paloma has to endear me to this cat, I just don't feel the love. But Paloma does, and so Grizzabella has become part of the family.

Feral as this cat is, Paloma somehow caught her one day to take her to get fixed. BIG MISTAKE. Evidently, Grizzy went nuts in the car (I can't remember if she was in a cage or not), spit, peed, puked, yowled, growled, pooped, and literally through hair everywhere (how did she do that???) all the way to the vet. But Paloma soldiered on, determined to do this cat a favor and save her from a life saddled with kittens.

She finally gets to the vet (how she got the cat inside the vet's office is still a mystery) only to find out.......Grizzabella was ALREADY fixed!!! "How do you KNOW that?" a totally shocked Paloma asked. "See this notch on her ear? That's what we do to feral cats after spaying them." says the vet.

OMG!!

So Paloma has to get the cat BACK into the car and BACK to PH. I won't go into THAT story.

Well......poor old Grizzy was not seen for weeks. Paloma was bereft and convinced she had traumatized the cat so badly that we would never see her again. I was sorta hoping that was the case!

BUT, fate would have nothing of that. About two weeks later, here comes Grizzy ambling across the street just like in the "old" days. It is true.....cats have at least 9 lives. Paloma was so happy, she started jumping up and down, hugging everyone. I tried to show a little enthusiasm, but Paloma, of course, saw right through me. What can I say?

Grizzabella is still with us. Paloma took some pictures for posterity one day, so we would always remember. It is always a better day when Grizzy is spotted (at least for Paloma).

All this leaves just one question: WHO IS BIRTHING ALL THOSE KITTENS?????