



Introducing
Tabitha
Tabitha
is 6 and as you can see, is a
beautiful Classic Tabby. What
most
people don't know about Tabitha is
she's a true Warrior. When
she
was a tiny kitten, someone put her
and her littermates in a sewer,
where
they lived for a few weeks until
they were rescued. When she got
to
the Shelter, she was named Rebel. In
March of 2006, I was looking
for
a female kitten, I called all the
shelters but because if was Winter
(not
kitten season), nobody had any
kittens. I called one last Shelter
and
the lady I spoke to, told me that
yes she did have a female kitten.
But
that she wasn't adoptable yet
because the Shelter hadn't been
able
to Socialize her, making her
"unadoptable". Finally, I was able to
convince
the lady that I would give
"Rebel" a good home and
would
socialize
Rebel...I was told it would take a
long time.
The
next day, when I got
"Rebel" home, she ran
under my bed. And,
the
first thing I did, was think of a
new name for her...Rebel was
no
name for a little girl. Because
she's a Tabby, I decided on the
name
Tabitha. For 6 week Tabitha stayed
under my bed, she would
only
come out when I wasn't home or
asleep. Several times a day
I
had what I called "Tabitha
Time", that was when I'd lay on
the
floor
so I could look under the bed. I
would talk quietly to her, put
my
arm under the bed so she could smell
me and would put the
Feather
on a Stick toy under the bed and
move it around. I didn't
want
to stress her so I'd stay for an
hour or so with her. She was
so
scared. One night, I had gone out to
dinner with friends, when
I
came home, the first thing I did was
look under my bed for Tabitha,
but
she wasn't there. I looked all over
my house for her but no Tabitha.
I
decided to look in my closet again
but still no Tabitha. While I was
thinking
where she could be, I looked into my
closet and there was
Tabitha.
She was hanging onto a sweater that
was hanging in my
closet.
She was so scared she didn't move,
we just stared at each
other.
I left the room so she could go to
her "safe place", under my
bed.
As
time went on, Tabitha started
trusting me more and would come
closer
so I could pet her, until the day
she came out from under the
bed!!
She still wouldn't get on the bed
with me or let me pick her
up
but that was ok with me, we were
making progress and I wanted
to
go at her pace.
Tabitha
closely watched everything the other
kitties did. She became
good
friends with Jazzy and followed her
everywhere. One day, Jazzy
got
very sick, the vet told us that
Jazzy may need a blood transfusion.
They
explained to me that since animals
don't have blood types like
humans
have, they bring in a shelter animal
and get blood from them,
in
return the "doaner" is
spayed or neutured. Since Tabitha
was so
close
to Jazzy, I asked if Tabitha could
give Jazzy some blood...I
knew
Tabitha would want to do that. The
next day, the vet called and
told
me that Jazzy had lost more blood
and would need a transfusion
right
away. I got Tabitha right away
(which is normally hard because she
didn't
like getting picked up), put her in
her carrier and off to the
Vet
we
went. Tabitha was given a sedative
and put in a cage next to
Jazzy,
mainly because they were so close
but also so I could
spend
time at the same time with both
girls. Tabitha was hooked
up
to the machine and donated her
blood...however much a cat
can
safely give. She was very good but
thats because she was
sedated.
After Tabitha gave her sister her
blood, Jazzy was rushed
into
surgery. While Jazzy was being
operated on and I was sitting
waiting
for news on Jazzy, Tabitha slept off
the sedation. I spent
I
several hours worrying about both of
my girls. I don't know how
many
cups of coffee I drank, cigarettes I
smoked, phone calls
that
I made or anything else...it was
pretty much a blur. I do
know
that Jazzy made it through a surgery
that the Vet didn't
think
she'd make it through because of the
blood. I also know
that
Tabitha was a hero because she
helped save her sisters'
life.
Unfortunately, Jazzy went to the
Rainbow Bridge the next
day.
Now
at 6 years old, Tabitha still
doesn't like to be picked up, is
scared
of anyone but me (but she's slowly
getting better if not
pushed)
and will lay next to me on the bed.
As I said before, we'll
continue
working in these things but when
Tabitha is ready to do
more
work on this, she'll let me know.
Until then, I'm just happy
and
proud that she's gotten this far and
the Shelter is amazed.
Tabitha
loves her brothers and sister. Her
nicknames are Monkey,
Monks
and Monkey Girl because of her
climbing abilities. She
loves
to play, her favorite toys are
Feather on a Stick and Ms.
Squeaky...her
squeaky mouse. She also loves her
food...hence
the
nickname Big Girl, although she
looks bigger than she
really
is. Tabitha also likes to sleep
under a chair in the
living
room when I'm on the computer or on
my bed....
alot
of times she sleeps with her eyes
open.
If
you'd like to see some picture of
Tabitha, please click on
the
Next button.





(The
Residents of Kitties In The City
& their mom,
thank
their friend Connie very much for
making this set)