I fostered a calico and kept her two babies - another calico and a tortie point.

Mystery Girl was left when a neighbor moved. It was June in Texas and the power had already been cut off so she was in the apartment with no air conditioning, no fan, no food or water, and only one window cracked about one inch.

Luckily, I was home for lunch when the exterminator came. He played with my kitties a few minutes then told me about the cat in the other unit. We quickly went through our options - all of which meant Mysti goes to the pound. Finally, he said, "Look, I won't tell the management that you have an unreported cat if you don't tell them I let you into the apartment to get her". It was a deal!

Mysti spent the next few days under my son's bed. When she finally emerged I was still unable to touch her, becuase every attempt resulted in a fully shredded arm. She seemed to be especially stressed by Toot, one of my own kitties. Finally, I was able to quickly stroke her, and I noticed her nipples were prominent. I took her to the vet and sure enough, she was pregnant, but he couldn't get an indication of how far along she was. We kind of guesstimated she would be due about July 11th.

As her time got closer, I made a nest for her in my closet, but didn't really expect her to use it since she still spent a large amount of her time under my son's bed.

Around the first of July, though, I noticed she was nosing around it, arranging the towels, etc. I speculated to my son that maybe we had misguessed how far along she was. I even told him "I'll bet she's going to have those kittens on the Fourth of July!"

That particular fourth was on a Monday, so it was a long weekend and we went to spend it with friends, although we were still in town. On the morning of the fourth, I was so nervous, I felt I had to check on Mysti. So four of us trooped on down to my apartment. I opened the door, and Mysti was sitting there. She yowled and then ran to the closet. We followed her, and she got in her nest, laid down, and almost immediately popped out her first kitten! (Well, "popped out" isn't correct - she was a breach and I had to assist! )

About forty minutes later she had her second, also a breach but not as large as the first, so no help was needed.

That was all she had, and of course we named them "Yankee" and "Doodle". We knew Yankee was a girl because she was a beautiful callie like her mom.

I realize now that the reason she was so mistrusting at first was because she had babies on the way to protect, and this is why my one male cat particularly bothered her.

Boosie (as Doodle came to be called) was white, though, and we thought she was a boy (two little tufts of fur strategically placed to appear to be testes! ). After a few days her points began to appear, and we realized she was a colorpoint, but we still thought she was a boy. After a few weeks, though, her fur started to take on the mottled look of a tortoiseshell, and that's when I realized she was a girl and a tortie-point!

To this day it still amazes me how Mysti was so mistrusting she was fighting me, but was smart enough to realize within about a week that I was there to help her, evidenced to her by the way I made a nest for her.

And she was a wonderful mom. Boosie was a little slow at first and had a weak suckling instinct, but Mysti always made sure that she had a teat and would stimulate her to suckle.

Yankee and Doodle were both spayed so never became mommies, but they ended up being two of three of my very favorite cats. Yankee had such a funny personality, and Boosie was so sweet. Mystery Girl went to a good, loving home once Yankee and Doodle were weaned, and we kept them.

Anyway, sorry I went on and on, but just wanted to tell my story of my wonderful callies and the good mothering by Mystery Girl!