I love happy endings!

This evening, after taking Baby to her new forever home, I swung by the vacant house where Janice and I had seen the two abandoned and starving cats the other evening. There I met with Tracey of Katie's Place, a local cat rescue, and we headed down the hill with carriers and humane live trap in hand.

The larger cat, who we nicknamed Friendly, came to greet us right away and gobbled some of the food we had brought. The little black one, who we nicknamed Shy One, was no where to be seen. We waited and waited and wandered all over the property but there was no sign of him. I was afraid he had either died of starvation or been eaten by a coyote.

We decided to take Friendly with us and to set the live trap with the hopes that little Shy One would eventually show up for the yummy, smelly canned food with which we had baited it. We made plans to take turns coming to check the trap, and I headed up the driveway to my car to get some paper and a pen for a sign so realtors would know someone was taking care of it.

As I came back down the hill, Tracey indicated that the little black one was skirting the area. Perhaps Friendly's plaintive meows had drawn him to the house.
I stayed back, and watched as Shy One circled closer and closer, popping up on the porch for a bite then hurrying away again. Tracey sat down near the second cat carrier, ever patient and talking softly, and before long Shy One was eating from a bowl next to the carrier. Steadily, Tracey moved it inside the carrier to the hisses and slashes of Shy One With Courage Warning Lady to Back Off. But soon, little black cat was right inside the carrier and that door was shut too.

What a relief. The cats are off to Katie's Place where they will be well cared for and no longer at risk of starvation or predator. We never expected to get them both tonight. Thank goodness for small miracles.