We’ve profiled successful rescues, cats such as Momo & Chibi and Coco, who were rescued from life on the streets and are living out their lives as safe, happy cats. We’ve also profiled outfits like the North Toronto Cat Rescue that take special care to help unowned cats acclimate to people and thus enable their adoption into loving homes.

This week’s blog is devoted to a special kitty and the efforts of the folks at the Kamloops & District BC SPCA that helped her go from street life to pet cat. Like the North Toronto Cat Rescue, the BC SPCA recognizes that with a little extra time and loving attention, many adult feral cats can be acclimated to domestic life.

Meet Momma G. After she eluded care-givers in the colony in her Kamloops neighbourhood for several years, Momma G was finally trapped. Pregnant with a litter, she was put into foster care where she gave birth to and nursed her kittens. The kittens have all since been adopted, but Momma G needed to learn what it’s like to be loved. Now, after more than nine months of patient care from her foster family, she’s spayed and ready to find her forever home.

So often we hear that feral cats simply can’t be socialized to human contact, and that there are no alternatives to letting them live out their lives outdoors, or euthanizing them. Momma G is a great example of what’s possible with the time, extra loving care and patient attention. It may take her a while to warm up to her new human – her caregivers note that cooked turkey bribes will help – but this story represents what’s possible if we collectively work to invest the time and energy to rehabilitate unowned cats, and thereby save not just cats, but birds as well.