Hope, Then and Now

Hope is the very sweet devoted mother, who was abandoned on 5th street in Albany. I was called to help get cats fixed by a neighbor of a tenant boarding house. Behind the boarding house, was a single rental house, owned by the same landlord. The man who owned, then abandoned Hope, had lived in that house, which was falling apart, with an open floor in one spot.

I got Hope fixed, but had to return her. But tenants in the boarding house took her in and said they would find her and her three young kittens, a home. Instead, they kicked her back outside, along with her kittens. I didn't know this.

I got a frantic call from the neighbor of the boarding house three weeks later. She said Hope had been badly injured, and had an eye hanging out of its socket, but no one could get to her, since she had retreated back into her former home, with her kittens. A maintainence man was working inside that house at times, and concerned neighbors had the police put a note on the door, for the landlord to call the police about the injured cat, but the house owner never contacted anyone to help get her out.

I went over the next morning. I took the first photo through the window of the empty house. She was inside, with her kittens around her, having entered through the crawlspace in back, and then come up through the huge holes in the flooring.

I tapped on the window and called to her. She saw me and must have recognized me from when I got her spayed. She almost seemed like she had been waiting for me, knowing she could trust me. She began meowing frantically and pacing inside. I immediately went to the back of the house, and knelt at the hole in the foundation and called to her. It was not Hope who came out first, however. First, Hope made sure I had all three of her kittens, before she came out too. Her eye looked absolutely horrible and must have caused her immense pain. It was removed in surgery.

A very wonderful couple in Bend, Oregon wanted Hope from the moment they saw her on my petfinder.com website. They had to wait a couple of weeks before coming over, due to severe snowstorms, but they came. Hope now enjoys a wonderful life, and even travels with the couple in their RV. Hope is far more well travelled than I, in fact.

Hope's story is both horrible and beautiful. I am glad for my part in her story.

Hope, inside the house where she once lived, with the man who later abandoned her. She retreated back into this house after being horribly injured, and continued to care for her three kittens, despite such a horrific injury.
Hope, just after she came out of the house, with that horribly injured eye.
Hope now. Her current owners, who are absolutely nothing like her first owner, just sent me these photos of her.