Happy New Year, Team TNR!

I hope your 2017 is off to a glorious start and only gets better.

That would be a fair description of the year to date for one feral-born phenomenon at Tabby’s Place. Meet LuEllen. Once you peel yourself off the floor, where I expect you have melted into a puddle of goo from gazing into her eyes, settle in for one startling story.

Tiny LuEllen — probably about eight months old, despite her fun-sized stature — was born outdoors. Unlike many feral kittens, she was fortunate enough to survive infancy. Alas, the same cannot be said for her left hind foot.

In what we can only imagine was an atrocious accident, LuEllen’s little paw was…well, we don’t know exactly what, except to say that it’s not attached to her leg any more, as you can see below.

Scrabbling for survival outside, LuEllen likely learned quickly that her three-footed hobble made her more vulnerable than her peers and rivals. A little slower to get to the food source, a little wobblier to wriggle away from threats, LuEllen learned to slink below the radar.

But she was fortunate to fail at eluding human attention, and so little, limpy LuEllen came into our care.

Initially, the bobbly baby wanted nothing more than to be left alone. LuEllen would flatten herself like an empty balloon in our presence, almost visibly praying that we would not see, or at least not kill, her.

What we did do was love her, on her own terms, at her own pace.

As we do with many frightened kittens, we moved LuEllen into the Community Room at Tabby’s Place. As the sort of nerve center of our operations, the Community Room is where most of our staff has office space. The room is perpetually swirling with volunteers, visitors, and all manner of miscellaneous humans.

It is a very good place to learn that miscellaneous humans mean well.

As of this writing, LuEllen has gone from grammar school to the doctoral level of Trusting Humans. The once petrified baby will now hobble and bobble to you, squeaking and shrieking with excitement until you pet her and lavish her with love and coos of “Looloooooooooo!”

A miracle? The tenacity of love? Both? Whatever you call it, it’s your doing, dear sponsors. Thank you for making it possible for us to not only rescue cats like LuEllen, but to devote the time and tenderness needed to give them a life of love, joy and confidence.

May your month be one long dance of joy!