Roger-Luc Chayer
Gay Globe Media’s Facebook or Twitter account subscribers know Mamie, the famous abandoned cat who has been living behind our offices for the last 7 years, but few know her story exactly. It is important to talk about it on the one hand because the abandonment of a pet in an alley is an extremely sad gesture and, on the other hand, because during periods of cold weather as we have just experienced them in Montreal for 3 weeks with wind factors up to -38, these animals can die of cold or develop frostbite.
It is precisely because of the cold weather that I learned to know much better this cat that sleeps under my BBQ or in a cabanon at the neighbors for years. She arrived one day like that in the landscape and seemed pretty well emaciated. It was summer, there was heat. So I used to give him a bowl of water with a little coffee cream to give it colors. It worked well.
Since then, she has done two deliveries for a total of 11 kittens, with neighbors I took care of it. Always with the same neighbors, Chantal and Martin, not wanting to seek to continually adopt babies, Mamie was enrolled in a program of the Montreal SPCA which, for a low price (about $ 60) allowed to sterilize, deworming, vaccinating, in addition to having a complete examination and blood tests. In order not to be bothered by agents of the pound or Berger Blanc afterwards, the left ear was cut in V, not touch so … Mamie has recovered from the operation, and remained in her shed with the only kitten we had not managed to catch, Ginette!
Unfortunately, Ginette disappeared after 5 years, leaving her mother in an obvious mourning. It is still during this mourning that the real character of Granny appeared. More and more affectionate and without fear, she allowed herself to be approached, flattered and even wandered around the house to get to know the hut of the « BBQ guy », as she likes to tell other cats in the area!
I had never left Grandma sleeping indoors or staying for more than a few minutes, not wanting to have any sanitary memories to pick up. During the cold weather, I could not morally leave her at -38 day after day and I took the risk of making her sleep at night in the house. At first on a napkin in my room, she later settled on her napkin in the living room, not to have her own niche, but because she snored like a drunken sailor and it prevented me from to sleep…
Grandma is an extremely intelligent animal. There is no litter in the house and she never made a mess. She restrains herself until I get up or, if it’s more urgent, she jumps into my bed and makes me a big « mew » hoarse for me to open the door. Although she had her food and bowl of water in the kitchen, she quickly preferred the water from the bowl and knew exactly how to open it to drink colder water.
If I tell you the story of Grandma, it is that sometimes the animals can surprise us. She who had lived in the lane for so long had kept all her good habits of a clean domestic cat. We are looking for a family of adoption who will want a ball of love. Contact us at 514-728-6436.