Zelda’s Story

August 29, 2012

A few months ago Gary was leaving work as usual. As he was walking to his car he noticed a car across the street drive by. The car stopped, someone got out of the passengers seat, then dropped something off onto the sidewalk. He wasn’t sure what it was just except that he noticed it moving. As Gary crossed the street he quickly learned it was a kitten no bigger than the palm of his hand! He messaged me and tried to grab her but she just kept walking onto the construction zone she was left at.

As soon as he told me we began formulating a plan to catch her. It was a hot day and if anything we just need to get her into safe hands. At this point I had no plans on keeping a cat (Gary might have thought otherwise) but we couldn’t just leave her. We brought towels, cat food, a can of tuna, water, and our laundry basket to attempt a makeshift trap.

We waited around for about 20 minutes but I couldn’t see nor hear her. Her previous owners left her at what I call a construction dump– a place where construction workers dumped gravel, trash, lumber, and parked their tractors. Basically there’s nothing but trash with little to no foot traffic in the area. Gary had to go back to work, so I waited around and tried to look out for anything moving. No one was nearby so I decided to try meowing. This has never worked for me in the past (probably because I sound ridiculous), so I didn’t have high hopes. But as soon as I started meowing she responded with her own meows! She slowly started walking out from the chain link fence and I couldn’t believe how tiny she was. It’s hard to get a scale of things from photographs but she definitely could fit on the palm of my hand. I was afraid of scaring her away so I wasn’t sure what to do next. I tried feeding her some tuna but she wasn’t interested. Then I tried to pet her and she didn’t even flinch. I quickly grabbed her and pulled her through the fence. I couldn’t believe it! It was a very surreal moment.

We immediately took her to the nearest veterinarian and was told she was about 4-5 weeks old and completely healthy. We were so relieved! Because she was so small I was afraid she wouldn’t make it through the night. The first few weeks I hardly got any sleep and constantly woke up in the night to check on her.

Zelda is now a spunky little 4 month old getting into trouble around the house. Gary and I are definitely a little on the obsessed side.  Both of our phones ran out of space because we took too many photos of her! Neither of us ever thought we’d have a cat and only dreamed of getting dogs, but Zelda’s changed our minds. We are even thinking of getting her a friend to play with :)

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Mallory August 30, 2012 at 6:59 am

i’ve always been a “i’d only want a dog” / anti-cat person, but instagram has changed that! in particular, two accounts – yours, and leah goren’s. such cute cats.

Reply

Erin August 30, 2012 at 7:21 am

Zelda Fan Club member for life!! I love that little kitty!

Reply

Jenny @ BAKE August 30, 2012 at 7:51 am

she is so adorable! thank goodness you managed to rescue her

Reply

Chelsea August 31, 2012 at 2:03 am

I LOVE this post! :) Great story, and she is so darn cute. Especially that last picture, she’s so tiny!!

Reply

Hayley @ Oat Couture September 4, 2012 at 4:14 pm

Oh my god! She is the most adorable little love ever!! I mean would ya just LOOK at that face in the picture where she is wearing a yellow collar?! :) You are both stars for rescuing her and giving her a home!! We found our cat around the same age and they are so tiny and fragile looking aren’t they?! I was always scared I would stand on him by accident as he used to run around in between my feet all day! Luckily he was spared! ;D

Reply

Ashley September 4, 2012 at 4:23 pm

She is precious! We found our cat, Fiona, running across a freeway off-ramp. It took us hours to get her – I’m glad your meowing worked. :)

Reply

Shannon September 8, 2012 at 12:14 am

Zelda must take after Her owners because look at those legs. Can you say deadlifts??? :p

Reply

katie September 9, 2012 at 10:04 pm

love this story!! she’s so dang cute… and how special that you rescued her!!!

Reply

alexisbryn September 11, 2012 at 4:30 pm

maybe her and duesy can meet sometime – shes a doll :)

Reply

Jessie September 15, 2012 at 6:44 pm

What a spunky-looking little cat! My heart melted about twenty times through reading this post. Congrats on your new furbaby!

Reply

Mel October 3, 2012 at 5:29 am

We found a kitten of about the same age tottering dangerously close to the edge of a major road in Melbourne back in March and did the same thing :) Six months later and that spitting, flea-infested, starving little thing is the doted on baby of the family. Never stops eating though! Like she’s never forgotten what it’s like to be hungry. Hurrah for saving kitties.

Reply

jess October 23, 2012 at 7:58 pm

my vet says that black kitties choose their owners (ours did). you didn’t have a choice ;)

Reply

pb. November 26, 2012 at 1:59 am

So adorable! Love the photos – especially the little kitty butt. We have a little black kitten, too. :)

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: