Dart's Story

We caught Dart that same summer that we caught Zippy and his family.  In fact it was actually Dart's family that moved into our yard first.  Her mama evidently had her kittens in our garage, or moved them there.  We came home one day and she had brought the litter out to see the world -- probably for the first time.  There was a little boy kitten playing on a stack of lumber in our driveway.  I was able to walk up right behind and pick him up, and though he had never seen a human before he stayed perfectly calm on his trip up into the air -- til he turned and saw me and everything came unglued.  I was doing my best to keep ahold of him, and didn't understand why my husband was yelling and making so much ruckus at the other end of the driveway.  Then I turned -- and saw mama coming for me.  I escaped over the top of a car -- a Valiant -- and retreated to the van.  It took awhile to catch the kitten again inside the van, but eventually we did. 

I had thought that Valiant was old enough to be weened -- but he wasn't .  He ate food fine, and drank well, so I am sure that he had eaten before, but he evidently also still nursed.  Valiant was a very sweet kitten and nearly immediately tamed and became a member of hte family.  But one night soon after he joined us, he was laying in bed with me and kept nuzzling my bare arm.  Finally, he found a nub of fabric in the armpit of my T-shirt where all four seams met -- and that was close enough to a nipple for him.  He nursed quite contendedly for probably 15 minutes and went to sleep.

The day that I caught Valiant, there had been four kittens - but two others disappeared in a manner we don't know.  Probably a bird or some type of predator.  We saw the mama and the last kitten quite often, but this last kitten was very skittish and was not going to be caught so easily as her brother.  I didn't have a live trap yet, so finally we put Valiant in a cat carrier inside the front door, propped the door open, and let him meow.  It wasn't long till his sister came in to find him, and we were able to shut the door behind her.

It immediately became apparent that we had not thought that through well enough, because now we had a wild kitten loose in our house, and she had no intention of us finding her.  We named her Dart -- not for her skittish nature, but because the Dart is the sister car to the Valiant, yet the name suited her very well.  Dart was quite a bit older than Valiant by the time we caught her, and she naver has completely become tame.  I was taking classes at Parkland when she was young, and she would come out of hiding and watch me working at the computer.  It took months, much patience, and many stages but eventually she and I became friends.  She still, after several years, will only be petted by someone when they are sitting at the computer desk.

Dart is an outdoor cat at this point.  When she first was trapped in our house, we eventually got  her confined to one room -- with a litter box -- and she did use it.  Once we believed that she would use the litter box, we let her in the rest of the house, however when she was about two she quit using the litterbox and began using laundry baskets of clothing.  We took her to the vet and had her checked for medical problems, but there were none.  She simply does not like litter.  The vet suggested trying to retrain her by putting her in a crate.  We tried.  She slept in the litterbox and peed on the towell.  The vet suggested that we set up box for her with paper towells and change it often.  However, we have four cats -- and it seemed like this was just going to get confusing for everyone.

I am a strong believer that cats are not native and do not belong outside -- especially in town.  But finally we opened the door and let Dart out.  She no longer pees on our laundry, and she comes and goes as she pleases. 

Dart has never been able to get along with the other cats.  I don't thing she believes they really are cats with their lap kitty ways.  During the time she is inside, she generally is in my kitchen ceiling.  We had a chimney that we were tearing down in one corner, which left an opening up into the drop ceiling.  She jumps to the base, and just keeps running going up the wall and into the ceiling -- and the other cats know better than to try and follow. 

Eventually, we found an excellent home for Valiant.  He was the first child I had  nursed that grew up and moved away.

Dart is still with us and will be til the end.  The yearly trip to the vet is always traumatic.  She is sort of like a shy baby hiding on my lap with her head tucked beneath my arm.  I am her human and she trusts me completely.  It is a sacred trust not to be taken lightly.