No Way Out

I clawed through the wallpaper – a wall behind it. Two friends tore through a screen but couldn’t get through the window. My cousin pulled down a drape.

Trapped. No way out. Hungry, hungry – and scared. Very scared. I was there. We were trapped – no, incarcerated.

I am Pele, named for the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes. . I’m a young tabby woman. I’ve been selected to tell our story because, well, I do spout off a lot. Most of us have what people call post-traumatic stress disorder – me, not so much. Although, when I think about it, I still shake.

Pele At The Adoption Center
Pele at Feline Rescue’s Adoption Center

Here’s how a human described it: “…you note the lovely setting and the great set up for horses. Then you get closer to the stables and notice the building that looked so great from a distance is boarded and patched and a room upstairs has patches of old-looking fur scattered on the floor. Across from the stables, a dead cat is decomposing on top of hay in the hayshed. Then there’s the house.”

Handsome Hendrix At the Adoption Center
Handsome Hendrix at the Adoption Center

“Blinds are askew, grass is high, there’s junk lying around, and there’s a sense of abandonment. And there’s the stench. Even though all windows and doors are shut, a nauseating stench exudes from the house.”

We, more than 60 of us, most still alive but starving, were the stench. Me and Luca and Marlin, Peyton and Paxton, Hendrix, Petunia and Posey, Henry, Trinket, more. Clearly, some of us are cousins, parents and children. We’re dark and tabby, with bright discerning eyes. We had thought we had a home. The person who owned this place simply “accumulated” us, then locked the doors and windows and walked away.

Hazel At Her Foster Home
Hazel at Her Foster Home

We clawed the walls, tore the screens, tried to get out. We screamed. No one heard us. No food. No water. Only each other. Several folks tried to climb through an air vent, didn’t make it, died in there. Terror. Sheer terror.

Luca At Adoption Center - I Am Scared!
Luca at the Adoption Center

The realtor handling the property’s foreclosure discovered us. First, she cried. Then she contacted Vickie Lachelt, head of Feline Rescue’s Spay-Neuter-Outreach Program. Teams of volunteers arrived. Over the next several weeks, they returned again and again, bringing bags of dry cat food, cans of soft food, litter boxes and litter, and containers of water. They wore masks and surgical booties to enter the house. But were these people friends – or more foes?

Outdoor Cat At Abandoned Foreclosed Property Gets Meal From Feline Rescue
Outdoor Cat at Abandoned Foreclosed Property Gets Meal from Feline Rescue

Most of us quickly scurried into the live traps for the food. Should we trust – or scream? They put us in carriers and then into cars. We visited veterinarians – none of us had met one of those before. We went to foster homes. Some of us went to Feline Rescue’s Adoption Center. We learned to be cats again. One by one we took the chance and starting trusting two-leggeds again. Some of us, including me – yay!, now have real homes with real people. More of us expect adoption soon. Feline Rescue. They were friends – maybe angels. Our way out!

Pele At Her New Home - Nice Leg!
Pele at Her New Home

7 thoughts on “No Way Out”

  1. Very sad but yet inspring story. Thank heavens for the realtor who got help for these unfortunate cats and for Feline Rescue’s Outreach group and volunteers who helped with them. It had to be a very hard thing to see that a fellow human being could do this to innocent animals.

    Your group is the best! (and all volunteer) I will attend all fund raising events you have and donate when I can.

    Shelly Pedersen

  2. Jessica Peterson

    My little family of 6 Me, Papa Chris, Big brother Tyler, Little brother Sam, and Speedy & Sunny ( My Grandbaby Gerbils) have had the honor of adopting caring for and loving with kindness gentleness and patience Ms. Trinket and her Big Brother Charlie. The first few weeks were under our bed came out at night to eat. We all went to them to say hello, we are here and we just want to love you and play with you! Soon Charlie would come play and eat during day and finally runs to us when he wants his full body message head to tail. Trinket sat back for 2 months walked along side her brother but kept her distance with us always having an eye on us! Finally right before Christmas a miracle arised and Ms Trinket recieved her first full body message with her own pink brush!!!!! Once very shy and scared kitties have turned into family snugglers, ready at all times for play with their toys and daily Messages. Run to us when its dinner time and finally has ventured out to the rest of the house to join their Family! Including at night time they go watch their lil furry friends play in their cages and running theie wheels! Charlie has turned into a lion and acts like one with courage and pride! Princess Trinket (name fits her to a T) is newly out of her shell she has alot of catching up to do with her brother and she does it with high energy at 2-6 am. And from 3 to 10 pm. We babied her every step if the way! They have learned to trust us with a lil shield. We ALL have become one big happy family! I have plenty of photos of our young and full of life additions please let me know if interested.

  3. I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
    I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you
    are not already 😉 Cheers!

  4. Oh my goodness! You are the rescue for me! I foster for another one but have watched your rescue set the bar. I can’t abandon the one I am with now; it’s small and needs me BUT if you want, I would feel honored to foster for you as well. Email me.
    Kindest Regards,
    ~Alisha

  5. i am wondering how many cats were saved from this horrendous place? and how many were adopted or fostered into loving homes? it is now several years later, 2016.
    i am so thankful that there are people like you around to be the angels for these animals who only want to be loved and give love.

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