February Rescued Spotlight: Harriet

Meows from Mudpie!

Over the past year we've been telling you about Rescued: The Stories of 12 Cats, Through Their Eyes, an anthology of rescue cat stories compiled by Janiss Garza, who writes the Sparkle Cat blog. Each author featured in the book has nominated a cat rescue and was assigned a month to promote the book, with a third of the profits from that month going to their rescue. It's hard to believe we've come to the last of our interview series, but we're already looking forward to Rescued 2, which is in the works!

February's spotlight is Harriet, a special needs kitty who shares her own story and the stories of many of the other cats she spends her days with at the wonderful shelter she calls home.

Welcome Harriet! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today! Could you start by introducing us to yourself and telling us what made your story such a good fit for the Rescued anthology?

Meow!! I'm Harriet, a paraplegic cat, and a very Happy cat! My story was well suited for "Rescued" because of my great fortune after I was attacked by a dog and my spine was broken. It could have been the end for me, but some kind souls intervened and I wound up at a no-kill shelter. Hooray!

What is life like as a paraplegic kitty? Are you still able to have fun doing everyday "cat stuff"?

My life is wonderful! I scoot around the shelter, climb onto cat beds, shelves, and even laps, and cuddle up with my best friend "Sonic." I love to eat and purr and get attention, just like most other kitties. I even learned that my adopted kittens are great big happy girls in their forever home - they are 7 years old now!

Do you think one day you might find your way into a forever home of your very own?

Because I need special care, the shelter will be my home for the rest of my life. You see, due to my paralysis I'm unable to use a litter box. The kind staff at PAWSitively Cats manually expresses my bladder several times a day. They give me baths too!

The rescue you've chosen to receive your proceeds from the book this month is PAWSitively CATS No-Kill Shelter. What important work do they do for homeless cats?

PAWSitively Cats rescues at-risk kittens and cats from the local pound, nurses them to good health, and tries to get them adopted. They also lend traps and give people instruction on Trap-Neuter-Release to help keep down the population of unwanted cats. 

What's a typical day like for you at the shelter?

Well, before "Rescued" came out, I would scoot around and visit people, eat, play, nap...you know, cat stuff. But lately I'm getting asked to sign book after book, and my little paws keep getting dipped into pink and blue ink! Those are the shelter colors, and I love them, but the other cats look at me funny when my feet are pink and blue.

What would you like humans to learn from your story and what do you want your lasting legacy to be?

I hope people will not think it's sad for cats to be in a shelter. We're the lucky ones, as compared to those still out on the streets. Remember, you can't change the past, but you can make a difference right now: Sponsor, Adopt, Volunteer, Educate, Donate so that more cats can be S.A.V.E.D. I hope that my legacy is that more and more communities will adopt the No-Kill philosophy. Thank you, Mudpie, for chatting with me. Purrr......

Note from Mudpie: Following our interview we received a pawsome update from Harriet. Two of the kitties from PAWSitively CATS that she featured in her story, Midnight and Merlin, have been adopted...together!!! They had both spent years at the shelter, overlooked simply because they were black. Thankfully someone noticed how special they were and gave them a forever home. Who knows, maybe one day their story will be told in a Rescued anthology!

Photos used with permission: Susan Miller