This sweet little girl is Cleo and she has had a rough start to her life. But thanks to several very caring people that is all far behind her now and we have a new member to our family.

I don't know all the details but what I've been told Cleo was rescued near a local lake where she was living a feral life with her kittens in the rafters of a garage. She and her family were taken in by a caring rescuer and the kittens found new homes and Cleo was spayed. But she was a troubled girl and ended up living in a windowless storage room. This was when my neighbor convinced me to get involved although very reluctantly on my part! "I'll put her on my web site but that's it." But she kept at it. "At least your spare bedroom has a window. That's much better than where she is now!" I gave in but only until we can turn her over to Four Paws, a no kill cat rescue that I often foster orphaned kittens for. Well, that made a lot of people very happy and within a couple of days Cleo moved in and she decided to stay!

But she did have problems and my husband, Vern, felt it best to keep her a week so that we could idenify just what her problems were. She was shy, difficult to handle and flinched or ran if you reach to pet her. All signs that she may have been abused or even beaten. The tips of her ears have a slight bend in them indicating that she has been outside in our sever winter weather. But she wasn't truly feral and would come up to you if everything was quite indicating that she was socialized with people as a kitten and that, despite everything, she is still willing to trust us.

Well if she was going to stay for a week then she may as well meet the rest of the gang so on the second day I put a baby safty gate in the bedroom door so that everyone can sniff and get to know the stranger in a controlled setting. Cleo had other ideas and after sizing up the gang on the other side of the gate, she was up and over ready to explore her new "home". There was the usual bout of hissing as everyone expressed their displeasure at the new invader but the gang decided to stick to the high ground and watch Cleo explore the house.

On the second day I noticed that the litter box in Cleo's room wasn't being used and that did worry me a bit but then on the third day while I was cleaning the main boxes in the basement, Cleo wandered down the stairs and showed me that she had indeed discoved these boxes and knew just what they were there for. What an amazing little cat! Everyday she showed improvment and that she could easily fit in with the whole family, except maybe Casey the dog. But he understands cats and they give each other space. The most unusual thing I noticed with Cleo when she was given full run of the house is that she would copy the other cats actions. She would follow Spot during his nightly bed checks. She started sleeping on the stairs just one step down from Baby. And when Puff would cuddle up and roll over for a belly rub she would come up and roll over often right on top of him! And she never asks to go out! It's as if she feels that if she copies what everyone else does then she can't get into trouble. What a wonderful little cat!

Saturday morning, Cleo's last day, Vern picked her up to place her in the carrier for her trip to the rescue when he looked up at me and said, "I can't get rid of her." I wholeheartedly agreed! The past week was wonderful and everyone even Baby had accepted her as part of the family making it an easy decision to make. Now we made Four Paws cat rescue very happy that she didn't get another cat.

Cleo is now a full fledged member of our family. She no longer flinches when we pet her. We can hold her tail and even put a little pressur on it (it's a thing we train all our cats to put up with, it makes them easier to handle in an emergency) and we can even rub her tummy now. She doesn't copy the other cats any more and her own personality shines through. Her stiff, dry coat is softer now with a good diet that she loves. She only scratches her cardboard scratchers and her favorite toy is the Turbo Scratcher where she can whip the ball around the track at an amazing speed. But her most favorite thing of all is sitting in the window of the spare bedroom where she spent her first night with us.

Coming soon: Photos of Cleo in her new home as soon as I get them developed and scannes. I really should get a didigtal camera!:)