The Prodigal Daughter

I call Emma our prodigal daughter because she does see us as her family, but doesn't feel the need to be with us in the house all the time. Emma was born in the urban jungle. We never knew who her bio-mom was. We met her shortly after we moved into our home in Vallejo. We were out in our garden talking to our next door neighbors, Wheeler and Linda and we see a kitten not more than a week old next to our compost heap, of course we became alarmed to see this tiny being seemingly abandoned. Was he sick, is that why it was abandoned? No sooner after we started discussing what we needed to do about the kitten, out of the far right side of the garden, we see a black and white cat holding another tiny being in her mouth to put the little one next to his sibling. We realized that the first kitten was not abandoned, the bio-mom, Emma (at the time we called her Black and White Kitty), was transporting her litter to our home for safe keeping. We found out later, that there were some neighbors in back of us that were doing some yard work and Emma needed to more her pride to a temporary home until it was safe to move back. What a good Mom. Linda, a lady who along with another lady, trapped many feral cats and got them spayed and put them back in the neighborhood, knew of this mom cat. They had already trapped her first litter and was able to get them spay or neutered but the mom was another story. She could not be caught. We knew she needed to be spayed but she was very crafty she always seemed to know what the traps were for. But we were patient. We knew eventually if we just kept getting her trust, we could persuade her for us to get her the vet. So when it was time they were able to get Emma's latest litter.

David seemed to get along will with Black and White Kitty and she started letting him pet him. Me-she was still unsure of who I was. She was suspicious of me, she knew I could understand her and she did not want me to know what she thought. But I knew that eventually she would realize that I was an ok human and she would open up to me. When I would see her, I would tell her how important it would be for her to go to the vet and have the operation. she wouldn't have those awful feelings she gets and have those male cats after her. It would calm her down and it would keep her healthy. She still wouldn't come up to me but she would sit from a distance as I spoke to her. Then one day, on a Saturday morning, David was able to pick 'Black and white kitty" and took her over to one of the ladies who worked as a vet tech. They took her in and got her spayed.

Black and White kitty stayed with the vet tech's home to recooperate when she was well enough to go out, she started coming over to our house more and more. In the evenings, I would still go out and talk with her. I told her we would love for her to join our family--that we would always made sure she would lots of good food to eat and toys to play with and a warm place to stay when the weather was a little too cold or rainy. She would look at me as if she was playing with the idea of being a house cat. She really liked her freedom and the idea of not being able to go outdoors didn't appeal to her. After all, she had the whole neighborhood and a garden as her territory.

Six months had passed. We still had our quiet talks (mostly me and her listening). Finally I said, you don't have to be in the house all the time, you can still be part of our family, but you will have a place to go to when you need it. And if you accept this, I want to name you. That is what humans do when they adopt a family member. I would like to call you Emma. It is feminine but a strong and independent name. So you like the name and want to be part of our family. I want you to come inside the house to let us know that you accept. Two weeks later, whe came in.

Emma is so sweet, but she sill has the primal instincts from living outdoors most of her life. During the summer months she does prefer to live outdoors, but in the winter months, she does spend the night in the home. Sometimes if we pet her too much she will respond with a bite, but over the years, she has learned to stop before she bites. She listens so well. she understands to be courteous and honor the other cats in the home and she is very good about that. In fact it is Oski who we have to watch, he will still try to get territorial with her, she is good, she will give a ferocious hiss to let him know she is not pleased and I will intervene on her behalf.

She accepts us on her own terms as her family. There are times she wil get on the sofa and get on my lap and let me pet her. Those special moments mean so much to me. We love our prodigal daughter.