I rescued a cat some years ago. She turned up at my farm/weekend retreat one sunny Sunday in late October. She was a sweet calico and liked people, so I thought she was someone’s pet, even though the nearest home is a mile away. I left to go to work for the week.

I rescued a cat some years ago. She turned up at my farm/weekend retreat one sunny Sunday in late October. She was a sweet calico and liked people, so I thought she was someone’s pet, even though the nearest home is a mile away. I left to go to work for the week.

The next weekend she was still there, living under the house. It was getting cold and snowy, and given she had not gone home, I realized she would likely struggle through winter, so I took her to my home in the city.

I quickly found she was not housetrained. She also really liked the outdoors and was not keen to be inside a house. I took her to the vet, where they confirmed she had no microchip and had never been spayed. She was in fine health and received her vaccinations.

The vet advised waiting 2 weeks before having her spayed. She didn’t seem comfortable in our home, but she absolutely loved the warehouse and offices I had at work.

I’m fairly certain she was a barn cat from a nearby dairy farm. They typically have many cats, and occasionally one gets displaced. What was unusual for a barn cat was how warm, affectionate, and fearless she was.

Warehouse equipment and construction machinery didn’t frighten her at all. She knew to get out of the way, jump on a shelf, and watch from a safe distance—probably a behavior she developed in the dairy barn.

During those 2 weeks before she was scheduled to be spayed, she encountered a tomcat and became pregnant. The vet was prepared to spay her despite the pregnancy… but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. So a few weeks later, she gave birth to the two most adorable kittens you’ve ever seen.

Once they were weaned, I gave them to my parents (who absolutely adored them) and had mama cat spayed.

Life for my kitty was good after that. Our warehouse overlooked a ravine with wilderness and a river, so she roamed the natural area during the day and always returned home before closing time, sleeping in my office at night. During winters, when it was cold and snowy outside, she was content to explore the warehouse.

She never bothered birds but was the most skilled mouser and rat-catcher you could imagine, doing us a tremendous favor by keeping the place free of pests.

She had an abundance of love, affection, intelligence, and personality—very interactive, more like a dog than a cat. She even learned to respond to commands… not verbal ones, but hand signals. I’ve never encountered another cat quite like her.

What started as a chance encounter with a stray cat turned into one of the most rewarding relationships I’ve had with an animal. She found her perfect environment with us—the freedom to roam and hunt during the day, with the security of shelter and companionship at night.

Sometimes I wonder if she chose me rather than the other way around. She could have wandered to any property, but she appeared at mine and stayed until I returned. Perhaps she sensed I would understand her need for both independence and connection.

I’m incredibly thankful our paths crossed when they did. She brought so much joy to our workplace and taught me that sometimes the best relationships are the ones where we respect each other’s nature rather than trying to change it.