The Life of a Stray

(This story contains harm to animals, abuse and neglect.)

The neighborhood that the cat liked to wander through was quiet and had very few people to disrupt her every day routine. The houses were spaced out so they had plenty of yard space for children or pets to play around in, she would occasionally hop onto the fences to see what was on the other side. Usually she was met by dogs barking at her in warning, or curiosity. She was not the only stray in the neighborhood, but she was the most well behaved since she had never once scratched or bitten one of the residents. The humans would occasionally gift her with food and she would reward them with allowing them to stroke her soft fur as she rubbed against their legs. She was content to live her life as she currently did, although she did have to worry about the weather changing suddenly or not being able to find food to eat. The trash cans that she rummaged through didn’t always have food in them, so she did rely on the humans to feed her for the most part.

The feline was born to an indoor cat before she was abandoned in the dead of winter as a kitten. Her mother had given birth to her and her siblings, then the humans decided to release them on their own, far away from their mother so they couldn’t find her again. She was left on her own to survive. It was rough in the beginning, always having to look out for predators and mean spirited humans that would beat her if she got too close. But then she wandered into this neighborhood and made it her home. There was a small bridge that crossed a stream she had chosen as her sleeping area, and the stream had clean water so she was never thirsty. The other stray cats in the area were disruptive and mean, but she was calm and loving to the humans in the neighborhood, which got her favored by them over the others quickly.

But she didn’t realize just how mean the other strays were before it was too late. One night, while she was settling down to sleep for a couple hours, a male stray found her. She had seen him before, but only at a distance. He had patches of fur missing, a scar above his right eye, and an all around menacing look. She was instantly on alert when he caught sight of her and started to stalk towards her. There was going to be a fight, and she was scared because he was so much bigger than she was. It didn’t help that she had never really fought before, she never needed to.

She backed against the underside of the bridge as best she could so she had some protection to her back. Her haunches were raised and she growled a warning at him, but he ignored it as he continued his stalking movements, never letting his eyes wander from her. She wanted to run, but she was fearful of not being able to escape him, so she waited for an opening.

He struck as soon as he was within reach. She felt his claws rake against her side as she tried to avoid the attack. Since her fur was short, it didn’t offer much cushion against his claws but he did not draw blood on her. She swiped at him in retaliation to the strike, but he avoided it completely. Then he pounced on top of her and dug his teeth into the side of her neck. She cried out in pain as she tried to kick at him with her back paws, claws fully extended. His weight was heavy on her, but she pulled all of her strength together and was able to knock him off of her. He quickly regained his balance from the throw, but she was already on the move. She ran as fast as she could through the neighborhood, every footfall shooting pain into her neck and shoulder. Some of the humans had started to come out of their houses to find out what the noise was about. One of the human males had grabbed a broom that had been sitting on the porch, then started heading directly towards where she was running from. The male stray was hot on her heels, but upon seeing the human with his weapon raised, he froze and decided to back down from the chase and ran the other direction. The human lowered the broom as he moved towards her. She was quickly losing energy to stay upright and ended up collapsing before the human could reach her.

They wrapped a soft cloth around her and then transported her to a vehicle, something she hadn’t been in since she was a kitten. There were two other humans that joined the male, a woman and a young girl. The girl was crying at seeing the cat motionless on the backseat of the vehicle. She lost consciousness soon after the vehicle started to move. The girl made sure she didn’t slide around on the leather seats too much as they quickly moved through the neighborhood. The cat was awakened by one of the humans picking her up off of the seat, which sent a shock of pain through her shoulder again. She lashed out to protect herself, feeling skin slice under her claws, but then she lost consciousness yet again.

The feeling of cold metal woke her up. She was drowsy and unable to lift her head, but she tried to get a look at her surroundings. She was in a metal cage that had a food and water dish on one side and she laid upon a blanket that she was not fully resting upon, which is why she was feeling the metal floor of the cage. After some time, another human with a white coat on walked into the room and saw that she was awake. He was gentle with her as he pulled her from the maw of the cage and laid her upon a metal table in the center of the room. She was able to look around some more and realized that there were a couple of other animals locked in cages as well, two dogs and another cat. There was also a large bird that she had never seen before inside one as well.

The veterinarian checked her over carefully. She had gone through surgery to fix the damage that had been done to her shoulder, stitches ran from her neck and ran around the outline of her shoulder. She realized that there were more stitches on the underside of her belly as well, she hadn’t realized that the male stray had gotten her with his back claws on the attack. After checking her over, the vet placed her back inside of the cage, speaking softly to her. He then moved on to the other animals, checking their injuries and surgical stitches for any infection or opening of any wounds. The bird’s wing was wrapped tightly and the vet carefully moved the wing to check for range of motion. All of the animals were placed back in their cages gently. The cat noticed how gentle he was being, making sure not to injure any of the animals any further.

After the vet left the room, the cat tried to stand on her own to get to the food and water. She was able to take a couple steps before she ended up collapsing from exhaustion and whatever was making her so drowsy, she was able to pull herself to the water dish and get a couple laps before exhaustion took over again.

The next day, she was able to move around more and stand on her own since whatever was in her system from the surgery was gone now. Her shoulder was still in a lot of pain, but she was able to withstand it to get some food and water in her belly. After eating a little, she cleaned herself, even though stretching the shoulder was excruciating. The vet came back into the room a few times over the day, bringing in other animals to look over and checking on the ones currently in cages as well. He was always gentle and careful not to harm them.

After a couple days of watching the vet work, she had a few visitors. The human male, who had a bandage on his arm, and his family came in to check on how she was healing. The little girl went right to her cage and had tears in her eyes upon seeing her. The cat wanted to rub her tears away with her fur, but the metal bars didn’t allow it. The vet spoke with the humans as the child reached into the bars to pet the cat, who was happy for the attention. The human visitors left soon after and she fell asleep again.

Another day passed before the humans came back, she was able to walk around pretty well by this point. They brought in a carrier with a blanket bunched up inside of it. The cat looked at it, confused for a while before the vet reached into her cage to remove her. He checked her over again to make sure she was healing well enough, then he placed her gently inside of the carrier. She must be leaving with these humans. She was afraid of going back to the bridge to sleep and being attacked by that stray again, but she would have to find a way to protect herself.

But the humans didn’t release her outside, they took her back to their house and opened up the carrier to let her explore. She did just that. They had another cat for a pet, a beautiful calico, who was very curious about the new addition. The cat walked up to the calico wearily before the calico walked towards her and rubbed against her as a friendly welcome. They ended up wrapped up together to clean each other after they had gotten used to the situation, fast friends.

This was her new home. No more hunting for food or a dry place to sleep, and especially no more stray attacks. She was safe and warm with no more worries. The little girl doted on her constantly, being extra careful of her stitches until they were removed some time later. She now had plenty of toys to play with and some new friends to play with her as well. She was now happy and safe with a new name. Nikita.