In April of 2007, we found a little home in Kent to buy. And a cat.
One day in 2006, the previous owners, Paul and Norma Butler, found a cat under their deck. They soon realized the cat was a female and also had kittens with her. They eventually were able to get the cat out, who was just skin and bones. They took the cat and her kittens to the vet, getting them all fixed and vaccinated. Soon afterwards, one of the kittens disappeared and the other two were given away. The Butlers named the cat Mercy. She hung around…because they fed her!
When we made the offer on the house, one of the Butlers first concerns were about us taking care of Mercy. "We can't take her with us. Will you put food out for her?" Of course we will.
We bought house and the cat.
After moving in we realized how skittish Mercy was. Some people called her a "scat" cat – a cat that is sneaking food from wherever they can find it and then run off by people saying, "Scat! Get out of here!" If Mercy was on the deck when I put out the food, she would run off if I made a noise or moved my leg/foot or arm/hand too quickly. Sometimes we wouldn't see her for up to three days.
Then one day, probably close to being there a year, she let me pet her. Not for long. And only by the food dish. But she let me pet her.
I tried string on a stick and other toys, but she would never play with me. We caught her once in a while playing with a wind-blown leaf on the deck, or swatting at a stream of water from the soaker hose, but she wouldn't play with us. We figure she must have been abandoned at an early age and survival in the wild was foremost on her mind, not playing…
As time progressed, she began following me around the yard…never coming too close…even running off if I acknowledged she was there. But we were becoming friends.
Eventually, she even let me pick her up…for 30 seconds or so. And then one day…she purred. Yes, she was getting comfortable.
As time passed she even came in the house. She never wanted to stay for long. Maybe 10 minutes or so. This eventually grew in to 45 minutes. One day – and one day only – I found her curled up in the middle of the guest bed comforter sleeping like a baby. But she was definitely an outdoor cat.
There were times when I would be on the deck at night and she would hear a noise. We'd walk together to investigate the noise, Mercy on one side of the deck and me on the other – between her and the noise of course. Once satisfied there was no danger, or after scaring off the raccoons, we would go back to the step to the sliding door and sit down. I would pet her for a while and then say goodnight.
We had a bed for her on the deck. She would always be there in the morning and as soon as I opened the sliding door, she would meow, jump off the bed and run in to the house. She would plop herself on the floor, roll over and wait for me to rub her belly. This is how we started most days. (You need to know Cheryl and I sleep with our bedroom window open – all year round.) On mornings where we tried to sleep in, Mercy would get up to our window and meow, "Get up! I am hungry!"
Every evening would find her waiting at the slider for us. For most of the 4 years there, she never came inside in the evening – just waited outside while I prepared her dinner. But the last few months, she would come inside in the evenings too for some belly rubbing.
Remember how I said she would run at the slightest noise when we first met? As time progressed she would accompany me in to the shop and despite the loudest bangs, she would stay there with me. Eventually she would even allow herself to be petted or picked up other places around the yard, not just by her food dish.
Mercy grew to trust me, letting me play with her paws, put medication on her, look at scratches… I even got her to sit on my lap a few times.
But she was still an outdoor and "wild" cat.
We moved to Woodinville one week ago. We are out in the country with coyotes. On top of that we just didn't see Mercy making the adjustment very well. The two neighbors, Kathryn and Kathy (two different neighbors) said they would feed Mercy and watch out for her. After all, one of them was already feeding her anyway, and Mercy frequently slept on a chair of the other neighbor's front porch. But as the week grew on, the neighbors reported Mercy was acting more lost and just sat at our back door and cried.
I went down one day to get mail and she comes up to me, lays down and wants to be petted. She let me pick her up and hold her for a long time. I went in to the house; she followed me in and then wouldn't go out when I tried to close up the house. She missed me…
So we decided to transport her out here to Woodinville. She was one scared cat by the time we got here. She immediately went behind and then under the couch. She came out a couple of times. Cried. And went back under. Finally she came out and over to me. I picked her up and she sat in my lap purring.
I took her out to the shed by the horse pasture to show her where her bed, scratching post and dishes were. She sat in her bed for a minute and then went behind the refrigerator where she remained the rest of the afternoon. I coaxed her out that evening with some canned food. She ate the food, letting me pet her and looking around. Then she went back behind the frig.
However, Monday morning she was gone. And her dry food was untouched. I hoped she was just out exploring. We added more dry food and went to work. We came home and still no Mercy and no sign of her eating her food.
Who knows where she went, or if she will come back. I don't think her odds are good out there with the abundance of coyotes – brave enough to walk the streets here in daylight! And if she tries to go back to Kent, it's a long way and she would need to cross I-90.
We left canned food out last night, but it hasn't been touched.
She grew from running away for three days if I moved too fast to trusting me. And I feel like I let her down. Maybe we introduced her to the outside too quickly. My heart breaks when I think of how scared and disoriented she must have been. And now she's on her own.
I hope you come home Mercy. Your food and bed are waiting for you.
