Bitsy was a small kitten when we first started seeing her. My next-door neighbor was feeding her and another cat (that we presume to be Bitsy’s mother). That neighbor ended up moving to a new area, and at that point we began leaving food out for the duo with an intention of trapping the pair and turning them in to a rescue or shelter. Based to her size and development, we thought that she was about 8 weeks old.

The kitten was easy to capture and transfer to a kennel without us ever needing to physically touch her. She was extremely frightened and appeared to be aggressive. For the first 24 hours we spent time with her in the room where the kennel was, allowing her to become used to being around humans. When it was time to deal with her litter box, and food and water bowl, I donned a protective glove and slowly set to work in the least invasive manner as possible.

During this process, Bitsy remained frightened and continued to cower in a corner and to hiss. At one point my glove touched the kitten, and to my surprise she leaned into the contact asking for more! I was able to pick her up and show her affection which she willingly received, she rewarded me with a very strong purr session, and relaxed into my arms as I held her!

Bitsy eventually grew used to being around all of our family members, our resident geriatric cat, and our two dogs and became a permanent member of our household. We later discovered that her mouth was deformed, with her lower jaw being half the size of her top jaw, yet she seems to have overcome this handicap and has no difficulty eating food or drinking water.

At six years old, Bitsy is still a very small cat. She continues to retain some feral characteristics. She will not socialize with other humans beyond our family and will not socialize with any new animals that are brought to the premises. Other than her fears of new humans or animals, she has adjusted nicely and obviously considers us her forever family.

Bitsy