Cat Rescue Story: For The Love Of Maggie
I was finally able to get a kitten! No parents or roommates to forbid sharing a home with a cat. I had always wanted a Calico cat; they’re so uniquely beautiful. When my sister called and said her friend knew a lady who had a calico kitten available I agreed to adopt her sight unseen!
As the days went by I learned Maggie hadn’t come from a trusted friend whose cat had kittens. Her mother was a stray cat from the streets of Harlem and the woman who acquired them ran a “rescue” of sorts in the basement of her Brownstone. I traveled from my job in midtown Manhattan to Harlem to pick up the kitten a few weeks later. “She’ll never be a lap cat,” the woman told me.
She was stick skinny and looked more like a rat than a kitten. She was also flea infested and required two trips to the vet to be “flea dipped” to rid her scrawny, tiny body of the fleas. Within two 
days of her arrival she proved how wrong that woman was. Maggie was indeed a lap cat! In fact, for all her nearly 19 wonderful years by my side I couldn’t keep her off my lap! Not that I’d want to. I was single and living alone in a small apartment. I relished her company and looked forward to being greeted by her purrs and rubbing against my legs when I returned home.
Maggie loved a tiny catnip mouse toy like no other cat ever did! She played with them so hard she ripped them apart like a dog would! It’s all she ever wanted to play with and I bought them for her by the dozen. She was my constant companion, my confidant, my amusement, my cuddlebug, and often a shoulder to cry on. She got me through many heartbreaks; from broken romantic relationships to tragic losses of loved ones. We got each other through the heartbreaking loss of my other cat, Mousey, whom Maggie and I loved with all our hearts.
We moved four times together, between New York and Arizona. She and I had been through so much together, we were bonded for life, as was evidenced when I got married. Maggie apparently wasn’t ready for marriage, and although she adored my husband-to-be, she did not want him to live with us! She urinated on several of his possessions to prove her disdain! I could do nothing but laugh and apologize. My darling fiance would have to accept the Feline Princess who ruled the house long before he came along. She quickly came to love him as much as I did and never soiled his belongings again!
Losing a friend like Maggie was one of the most heartbreaking times in my life. I’m so grateful for the time we had together. I know she waits for me, alongside Mousey, at the Rainbow Bridge.
Cathy Armato of Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them shared her #CatRescueStory with us.
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