A Gift Kitty From the Other Side

For ten years, my family volunteered as a foster family for kittens and cats who were neglected or homeless and worked with them until they were ready to go to their forever families.

It all started one day when I heard the cry of a kitten in our garage. We didn't have a cat, nor did I know of any kittens in the neighborhood. As it turned out, there wasn't one kitten, but six of them, and my kids and I caught all of them. After working with them for a while, we were able to place most of them into homes. 

As time went on, we discovered that there were quite a few feral cats in the area, many of them having litters of kittens. We did everything we could to catch as many of them as we could, domesticate them, and get them adopted. At times, it was really a challenge because ferals can be quite nasty as they aren't used to humans.

However, we had a great success rate and never caught a kitten or cat that we couldn't eventually tame. Of course, with each litter there was usually at least one we would fall in love with and keep. At this time, we had nine cats of our own that we had kept.

One day, my husband and I had gone out, and when we returned home, we were shocked to see our cats roaming around the driveway. We never let our cats outside as we lived in a country-type area that had predators like foxes and coyotes, not to mention an occasional mountain lion that could easily kill any cats who were outdoors.

We scurried to get them all back in the house and noticed that the back door was open. Of course, none of the kids would admit to being the one who left the door open, and at that point, it didn't really matter, as the most important thing was to make sure our cats were safe.

All of them were now back inside the house except for one. Our missing cat was named Jasmine. She was one we rescued as an adult feral. Now, Jasmine was quite the homebody type of cat who just loved to cuddle and be petted. While some of our cats would sit by the window and look outside, she never did. She seemed perfectly happy being an indoor kitty.

We searched our property over and over again, looking for her, leaving food out for her at night, hoping she would return. Sadly, she never did. We believe she must have met her demise with one of the local predators.

A few months passed, and one afternoon, I looked out the sliding glass doors only to find Jasmine looking in. I was so elated! I quickly went to the door to let her in, but she ran away. This didn't make any sense to me. Why did she return if she didn't want to come back to us?

The next afternoon, she appeared again. This time, instead of opening the door, I just stood there looking at her, giving her a chance to get reacquainted with me again. However, upon a closer look, I realized it wasn't Jasmine. This cat looked almost identical, except the eyes were a slightly different color and her front paws had different markings. 

I set out a trap for the cat that night before I went to bed, and when I checked it is the morning, the cat was inside. I brought the trap inside and placed it in the bathroom with me, closed the door, and opened the trap. I expected the cat to bolt, but instead it came over to me and started rubbing up against me, wanting attention. This is certainly not what I expected.

The cat turned out to be female, and I named her Crystal. I couldn't get over how much she was like Jasmine. Crystal fit into our home right away. She instantly became buddies with our other cats and actually went up to our dogs to introduce herself. 

By now, our family had become a foster family for kittens and cats and we worked with a local feline rescue group. I knew it wouldn't be long before she would be ready to be placed for adoption. However, I kept having a nagging feeling that she was meant to stay with us. I wondered if the spirit of Jasmine had sent us her sister.

I know. You probably think that sounds pretty silly, and I actually did, too. I decided to put it to the test. Now, Jasmine did something that no other cat we had ever had or worked with did. When she wanted attention, she would stand upright on her hind legs and swat my leg.

One day, I looked at Crystal and told her that if she really is who I think she is, she'll have to give me a sign in order to keep her. Otherwise, we were going to find her a home through the rescue organization we volunteered for. Within a quick moment, she stood upright on her hind legs and swatted my leg three times. My jaw dropped to the ground.

If this was a sign we were meant to keep her, I wasn't going to ignore it. Needless to say, Crystal became a part of our family that day. Did the spirit of her sister really send her to us, or was this a pure coincidence? I know what I think. What about you?