It's a new day, Honey!

     It's always wonderful to have a success story!

     Honey's story (my part of it anyway) began a couple of weeks ago, when Feline Network got a call from a man in Avila Village. A female cat had been hanging around for a long time, crying and wanting attention—and undoubtedly wanting food! His reasons for not feeding this poor creature were convoluted. Who knows why people do—or don't do—what they do? It's inexplicable at times. In this case, something to do with the fact that he and his wife already had three indoor cats, there were health issues involved, and somehow putting out a bowl of food now and then was too much. Believe me, for anyone not already involved in animal rescue, the hardest part is dealing with the humans!

      After getting the call about the cat, I literally was at the guy's house in under an hour with food and water to set up a feeding station where I could trap the cat later. But I was greeted with the homeowner telling me he had 'bad news.' According to him, the next door neighbor had called Animal Rescue and they had arrived half an hour ahead of me and taken the cat.

       Now Animal Rescue is not often a good deal for ferals or, as was the case with this cat, abandoned or lost domestic cats who have become shy, skittish, or aggressive due to the trauma of their lives on the street. The sad fact is few of them get adopted and most of them get destroyed.

      After talking to some folks at Feline Network and getting the cat's i.d. number from Animal Services, it was arranged that the cat would be released to me in a few days. This past Friday, I went to Animal Services, where the people were extremely kind and efficient and turned the little brown and gold kitty over to me. Knowing she was going to be released to me, they had given her shots and shaved her belly in preparation for her spay, only to find a spay scar. So she was definitely either a lost cat or an abandoned one.

     I drove straight up to Santa Marguerita and met with T.C., the wonderful woman who runs a cat sanctuary. Most of T.C.'s cats are ferals, but she will consider any cat who is in a difficult situation. T.C. asked me the cat's name, and I didn't have one, so we decided on Honey.

      For Honey, the good news is she will have plenty to eat for the rest of her days, a warm shelter to curl up in with her cat buddies and, if she wants human contact, volunteers who will visit. She won't be alone on the street anymore and she will never be hungry.

     I tapped the top of her carrier as I got out of the car and said, "It's a new day, Honey!"

     Later on, I thought how sometimes, when I get stuck in life, I wish someone would come along and do that for me, tap my shoulder and tell me 'it's a new day, Lucy" But it is a new day, every day, full of new options and fresh opportunities if I choose to take them. It's a lesson from Honey that I need to learn and remember.