Lizzie (Queen Elizabeth) was roaming the neighborhood at the same time as Bitsy. One local resident reported that she had seen Lizzie carrying Bitsy in her mouth. For this reason, we have always assumed that Lizzie was Bitsy’s mother. However, by the time we were able to lure Lizzie close enough to care for her (which was a few weeks after trapping Bitsy), Lizzie did not appear to recognize or have any sort of bond with the kitten.

Lizzie was quite thin when she came to our home. We took her in for a chip-check and she had none. Her picture was posted on social media sites, and my son and I taped a notice on every door in our neighborhood attempting to discover if she belonged to anyone and had simply gotten separated. There were zero responses to our efforts of finding her family. Though we were not especially desiring to take in another cat we continued to care for her in hopes that someone would eventually claim her.

Within a couple of weeks it became apparent that Lizzie was pregnant. She eventually gave birth to 4 kittens, one seal-gray kitten, and four solid black kittens that were all polydactyl. We found families for 3 of the kittens and kept the one that had the most deformed paws. Our time with Lizzie’s kittens was a time of revelation as we discovered the existence of Hemingway cats, which we had never heard of. The kitten that we kept was definitely a Hemingway cat!

After attempts to either find Lizzie’s owner, or to find a new home for her failed, we knew that she would become a permanent member of our family. Lizzie continues to be quite affectionate, and a bit snooty, but we love her very much and are glad that she is part of the family.

Lizzie