The numbers did not compute.
Six months old. Three pounds. One tabby.
Zero time.
She was born in a town with a population of 849, although we are pretty sure 140 of those are the Tabby’s Place cats. Most of the rest are cattle, sparrows, and the random praying mantis here and there.
There are no airports in Ringoes, NJ. No movie theaters. You must drive elsewhere to find açaí bowls or real bagels. Our “nightlife” is three fat bullfrogs belching out “Your Body is a Wonderland” down by the creek.
But for all it lacks in big numbers and worldly bustle, Ringoes is just the right place if you are small.
Especially if you are too small.
A six-month-old kitten should weigh 5-8 pounds. She is the equivalent of a ten-year-old child, old enough to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but too little to use the oven without supervision.
But, when Ringoes the kitten should have been dreaming of Narnia, she had trouble in her own tiny oven. At half the proper size and twice as heavy-laden, the tabby tot was pregnant.
In a town like Ringoes, a kitten like Ringoes has a few advantages. There are no billboards or gastropubs to distract the citizenry from a stray in the street.
Among skyscrapers, a fallen kitten is as invisible as innocence. But in a town that shuts down for Community Corn Hole, where the most scandalous item on the police blotter is “couch cushion (large) reported in middle of Route 31,” a smudge of stripes may yet be seen.
Also: Ringoes, New Jersey is the forever home of Tabby’s Place: a Cat Sanctuary.
For 23 years, we have loved this tiny town, where littleness is no liability and quirks are common coin. So, when a stray like no other was found miles from our door, we were proud to name her Ringoes.
We feared the name would too soon be followed with the bittersweet words, “Forever Loved.” Ringoes the kitten was Ringoes the town’s most desperate citizen, and the numbers were not in her favor.
Like Cheddar, brave baby Ringoes was “neurologically inappropriate.” This is a gentle way of saying a cat exhibits an abnormal mental state, and not in the way the rest of us exhibit “an abnormal mental state.”
Woozy and disoriented, Ringoes was a tiny tangle of tabby stripes, too weak to walk.
But you, dear Tabby’s Place family, were here.
And it is a good thing you were, for our little lady was slipping from life’s storybook. All evidence pointed to a septic pregnancy, a life-threatening, systemic infection. Ringoes’ only hope was surgery.
Ringoes was, frankly, too weak and too small for surgery.
But lives are not statistics, but stories. And Ringoes had more than 849 angels on her side.
Even the praying mantises were on the case as our beloved girl entered surgery. A world-class team of specialists sheltered her every breath, with the kind of medical excellence reserved for cats who are most loved. The little cat from the little town was now the biggest story.
And, though she may never make the headlines in New York or Los Angeles, Ringoes’ breaking news rocked Ringoes: she made it!
Soon, the kitten who’d been found as cold as a statistic was maintaining her own temperature. Warmth and wonder coursed through her little nutmeg stripes, as the dainty girl began to dream new dreams.
Trusting and precocious, Ringoes reminded us of a little girl beginning to write her own stories, in a special notebook embossed with her name.
Ringoes.
But, there is a big difference between a storybook and a fairy tale. One has talking lions who are good, but not safe. The other has happily-ever-afters that trail off just when love is supposed to begin.
In the unfinished story called life, Ringoes walks a challenging road, yet not alone.
As of this writing, we are treating her for focal seizures: the kind that cause twitching but not unconsciousness (in contrast to, say, the grand mal seizures experienced by our little epileptic boy Corduroy). Antibiotics fight off the dragons of infection, while anti-seizure medication eases Ringoes’ symptoms.
Meanwhile, our precocious girl is active and excited to be here. Ringoes the town is a world of wonder to Ringoes the kitten. She trashes her crate and giggles about it. She gazes, wonderstruck, at the spectacle of waving grasses and wildflowers. She is thrilled bythe sight of serenity.
I peeked into her notebook, and the first line of her story is this: “calm is overrated.” (We will let you know, once she’s the equivalent of a sixteen-year-old, if she starts singing “Pink Pony Club” and yearning for more than Ringoes.)
And you, dear Tabby’s Place family, are here in the heart of Ringoes.
You adore a kitten you may never meet, because you are part of a family you will never lose.
Love multiplies.
It computes after all.
And if Ringoes has touched your heart, you can make a big splash in our small town with a donation to the Linda Fund Matching Challenge. As the emergency reserve for the most desperate cats, the Linda Fund saved Ringoes’ life. Please be here for the next little survivor. Your donation will be doubled, but only until 9/30. Thank you!