Ellen, aka KD, Needs a New Home!

About three years ago, an elderly, wheelchair-bound woman named Lorraine looked from the balcony of her high-rise apartment in Saugus, MA, and saw a cat in the nearby woods. She felt sorry for the cat (Kitty Doe, “KD” for short), who hobbled around on three feet, but was still quite fast and wouldn’t let anyone near her. Lorraine began to toss food over the balcony whenever she saw KD. She feared that coyotes would attack the cat. In failing health and thinking she might not live much longer, Lorraine wanted to make sure that KD was rescued. She called numerous rescue organizations and shelters in the area, but no one would help until she contacted the Friends of Beverly Animals.

A most kind couple (ages 88 and 90), living in the same apartment building, donated money for veterinary care, but nobody wanted to take in KD. We put a plan together to trap the kitty in conjunction with another rescue group who had a trapper living nearby. It took three weeks until KD was caught in a have-a-heart trap. The trap had to be monitored, because you can’t just set a trap and leave it. An animal could hurt itself if left in an unattended trap, and you might unintentionally trap a wild animal.

After KD was caught, she was taken to a local veterinarian who determined that she had been spayed. We don’t know how old she is, but she must have been someone’s pet in the past. We also don’t know how she lost her hind right foot.

KD came to live with Heidi Roberts, the founder of FOBA, who gave the cat a new name one day when she was watching the Ellen DeGeneres show. Heidi thought that the cat’s eyes looked a lot like Ellen’s eyes—very pretty and unusual. Ellen (the cat 🙂 ) was very afraid of people and lived the first three years in a closet or under furniture.

One way Heidi found to build Ellen’s trust was to scratch her on her side where the foot is missing, because she could not scratch herself there. She always hid under something, so it was hard to get at her in order to scratch her.

Ellen finally decided to come out of hiding one day and join the other cats who were waiting for breakfast in their foster home. Then she took residence on a chair that no other cat had claimed. Ellen is now more trusting, purrs, can be picked up and generally seems happy; however, she does not play. She may not know how, or it might be related to the trauma she went through in her earlier life. As you can see in the videos below, Ellen really does get around quite well.

Ellen is ready for a forever home. Please contact FOBA if you can give her a home, but it has to be a very special home, because Ellen is such a special cat.

Heidi Roberts
Friends of Beverly Animals www.friendsofbeverlyanimals.org heidiroberts@comcast.net
(978) 927-4157