Molly’s Three Lives: From Abandoned to Beloved House Cat

The following story was submitted by Brett C via email:

Molly has had three lives.

We don’t speak about the first. Her behavior tells us someone loved her. The vet exam results told us someone hurt her, there are poorly healed fractures. That was before they abandoned her by the airport

It was five years ago during her second life that Molly became part of mine . I had just become the Monday and Tuesday caretaker at the managed feral cat colony she had wandered into when we met.

It was love at first sight for both of us though she played “hard to get” for two months. I’d sit on the slope after feeding her and her friends and she’d sashay back and forth in front of my outstretched legs, swishing her fluffy tail and flashing those green/gold eyes , her long black fur glistening in the sun.

Before long she allowed petting and soon after that she was laying in my lap purring while I brushed her.

It always broke my heart leaving her there when I was done , never knowing for certain I’d ever see her again . And that was before her disappearances began.

She would go weeks at a time without showing herself to any of the feeders . The last time was three weeks and I’d grown so desperate that I’d taken over the colony feedings seven days , calling for her with tears in my eyes.

Finally after three weeks missing she came trotting up to me with sparkling eyes and an happy meow, completely clueless that the large blue box at my feet was a cat carrier

Quick as a flash I had her off her feet and into the carrier. That was 5 August 2019 Molly and I walked away from her second life in the human and feline homeless site between the freeway, the wastewater plant and the taxi way of SFO.

The first months weren’t easy and it was a while before I heard her sweet voice again. We were on her time but I loved her so much that patience came easily.

It’s been almost four years since I brought her home now.

You can’t see the scar across her nose anymore and the nicks and tears in her ears have mostly healed. You have to look closely to see that she was ear tipped as a TNRd feral

She’s made herself totally at home now living in complete peace with her feline family of five , especially our newest little tuxedo queen Wishes who seems to have become a surrogate for the kitten she had and lost when she lived in the colony.

Molly is as happy and well adjusted a wee house cat as I’ve ever known . She has no interest whatsoever in leaving the house , contentedly sunning herself in that catio extension or a sun puddle inside when not following at my feet demanding affection and pets.

And then there’s the stormy days when I watch her laying in her cat tree with the air from the forced air heater ruffling her long black fur as she stares out with her big golden green eyes as the cold rain lashes against the window panes and you can just feel how happy and thankful she is that she no longer has to feel that.

Molly is still only nine and the picture of health and I expect we have many years together ahead of us.

But I still treat every single day with her as the blessing I very well know it is.

The outdoor photos are from her old life, the indoor from her new.

Brett C