From feral kitten to cherished senior cat: Sadie's story

This is a special episode of The Hissing Feline. My guest today is my wife Georgia, who is the producer of this podcast. The show focuses on visiting about raising our cat, Sadie. We adopted her as a feral kitten, and she lived to be nearly 21-years old. 

During the podcast, we reminisce about Sadie's younger years and how she got her name. We discuss her personality as a youngster and some of the biggest challenges of having a feral cat.

Sadie mellowed as she grew older, but she always had the same spirited personality. She never became accustomed to having someone new in the house. Sadie was not a lap cat and did not like to be held. Then there was the day we brought home a new cat (Bridget) when Sadie was 15. It took many months, but Sadie and Bridget became close companions. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

This is the Hissing Feline Podcast, a weekly program that is about everything cats. The Hissing Feline features experts and other cat aficionados who share their knowledge and perspectives about dealing with felines. From strays and ferals to adoption, health, and cat psychology. We hope the topics give you helpful and interesting insight into the world of cats. Now, here is the host of the Hissing Feline, Clark Greer.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Welcome to this edition of the Hissing Feline, a podcast that is all about cats. Today's a special episode of the show. Joining me is my wife, Georgia, who is the producer of The Hissing Feline. We're going to spend the next half hour talking about raising our cat Sadie. We adopted her as a feral kitten, and she lived to be nearly 21 years old. That is a long time for a cat. Now we hadn't thought about adopting a cat until a friend called me at work. Talk about what happened that day.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Well, he called and he told you basically that they had a cat who had kittens under their bush. And were we interested in adopting a cat, a kitten? And um I I've always been a cat person, so I wanted a um to get a kitten, so that was something that I'd always thought of, but I hadn't really thought of a feral kitten, and I really didn't know anything about feral kittens.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

In fact, we didn't really know about raising a cat from a kitten or even an adult cat. We'd had a cat many years before that. And so when we decided that day to take home the kitten, that was a whole new experience. We had to go out and get litter, we got toys, we got a I don't know if we got a bed for the cat, but we were gonna do this right as pet parents. And and so that's what happened. Now you were you're always a cat person, and growing up you had cats. You had a cat. And growing up I had cats. We lived out in the country, they were outdoor cats. And uh I always thought we would probably get a little puppy, little dog, because we had a nice yard.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

You converted me into a cat person, and now my entire life, the past 25 years, has been nothing but cats. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Growing up, I had a dog and I had a cat. The cat was in pretty much indoors. We did let it out into our garage at night. But um, but yeah, I and we had you and I had talked about um getting a dog since we had a little yard, and it would have been perfect. But um, I was really excited when we found out that there was this opportunity to adopt a kitten.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

And she was kind of a scared cat. We're gonna talk about how we got her name here in a minute, but she was kind of shaky and and uh and so we felt sorry for the cat, the kitten, and um so how old was Sadie that when we adopted her?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

She was probably about eight weeks by the time um we got her. Um our friends who um offered us the kitten had already taught her how to use the litter box and to eat from a dish. So we really adopted her at the right time. If we'd adopted her a little bit later, it would have been more difficult for her to become used to socializing and that type of thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Right. Her mother seemed to be pretty docile, but uh we've read since then about feral cats and when they hit a certain point as a kitten, it gets really hard to try to train them and domesticate them. Do you remember what it was like when we brought Sadie home for the first time? We had a little carrier and we we let her into the house. Do you remember what it was like for her being in our house?

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Um I don't remember all the particulars. I do remember she did not want to be held. She barely wanted to be petted. I she was very timid and um really scared of of us as humans. So it took quite a while for her to get used to us. Um I would say for two months she did not want me to pick her up. And I could pet her, but um she wasn't really fond of being petted. And um it really took a long time for her to get used to us.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

And when you'd go to pick her up, we have the putting the ears back, what we call it airplane ears, but we her ears would go back and she'd hiss. She didn't want anything to do with people when we first got here. Not only people, but she did not even like her brother. So she was part of a litter of three, and then something happened to one of the kittens, and so our friends kept the male tuxedo cat, and that's when we adopted uh Sadie. She hadn't been named yet, but we had adopted a little girl cat. But she didn't even like her brother. What was happening that we found that out?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Well, they seemed to get along when they were, you know, in a litter together. And then when once we brought Sadie home, it it was about a week, maybe not even a week, and our friends were gonna go out of town and they said, you know, would you take uh Patches? That was the little tuxedo cat that was her brother, would you take him in just while we're gone for this weekend? And we thought, oh sure, not a problem at all. And um, well, we were a bit surprised because when when Patches came in and Sadie saw him, she hissed and she was not happy at all. So evidently she had made this her home and he was not welcome.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

That's exactly right. I remember that uh when our friends brought in Patches in his little carrier thought, oh, this is gonna be nice, the kittens will enjoy a nice long weekend to probably play. And we let Patches out of the carrier. And he wanted to play with our kitten, and she wanted nothing to do with that. And we decided, okay, this is what we're gonna have to do. So I remember that we switched them in and out of the guest room every couple of hours. So then each of the kittens could have lots of free space to roam and play with toys and things, and then we went back and forth, and that was our entire weekend like that. We decided maybe babysitting another kitten would not have been a good thing at that time. Earlier I mentioned that her name was Sadie. How did we come up with that name?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well, um we had heard of of other animals named Sadie, but she was such a Freddy cat. We we decided to pick Sadie because it r rhymed with Freddy, and we often called her Frady Sadie. So that's kind of how she got her name.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yeah, we we talked about some other names, and you actually talked about Maddie, and that is our tabby cat now. We named her Maddie because you know they actually they have very similar personalities except Maddie doesn't hiss and put her ears back. She's a little bit more docile. But Sadie, Sadie was a tabby, and her fur is a little darker because her her mother was a dark-colored uh cat. But uh she was she was a really interesting uh character. What were some of the biggest challenges that you can remember of having a cat with that type of nature in the house?

SPEAKER_01 7:54

We were never quite sure how she was going to react to things. And she was very timid. She still was afraid whenever anything out of the ordinary happened, like a neighbor would come over, she would usually run and hide. Um, I remember during thunderstorms, she would hide behind the bathroom door.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yes, right. And um we always knew where she was going.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, so she she had the right idea. At least she was in an inner room and um in a safe spot, but she was very afraid, which is why we named her Freddie Sadie.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Right, yeah. And it really went along with the personality of a cat that's feral or at least semi-feral, is very timid, very afraid. How about her personality as a young cat? Did she ever become a little more uh socialized so that she would spend some time around you?

SPEAKER_01 8:45

She never wanted to be held and didn't want much petting and affection given to her, but she was a lot of fun as far as um playing with um with us. We would do things like um hide behind the couch, and she would come hopping at us, you know, sideways with her fur all ruffled, and she just had so much fun. And we even got to where we would um she had a little puffy ball that we would play with her, and um we would throw it up against the wall behind the couch, and she would jump and she had so much fun. She was just fun to watch, really fun. Um, I think she was having a great time, and and that's when she kind of lost herself in playing.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, I wish I had that kind of energy. I had forgotten about the uh poofy ball and bouncing it against the couch, and and of course she had very sharp claws and she'd jump up and grab this thing. She was really pretty agile. It was a lot of fun uh to play with her. We we thought, oh, it'd be fun to buy the kitten some uh toy cat toys. So we'd go to the local store, cat store, or the pet store or whatever, and we bought her a bunch of toys. No, she didn't want any of the toys that we spent money on. Instead, she liked a couple of other things.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Yeah, we found that if we had a post-it note and wadded it up, she just loved the sound of crinkling paper. And um, so she would she would just play. We could throw it and she'd play. She also fetched um that little puffy ball that we had with her. We would throw it from our bedroom at night into the hallway, and she would actually go and pick it up and bring it back to us. So yeah, there was there were certain things that she she really loved to play with, but usually when we spent a lot of money or you know, tried to find the perfect toy for her, she wasn't interested.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

She was not interested in anything that we went out and actually spent money. But we also found that she liked hairbands. Oh, she loved us to shoot a hairband, and she'd go and fetch it and bring it back. In fact, we had some friends that we knew um quite a number of years ago, and they came over at Christmas time and they brought Sadie a gift, and it was a little package of hairbands. And I think we still have some of those, and uh and Maddie likes to play. So once in a while she'll she'll play with those things. But Sadie had a lifelong difficulty acclimating to humans, except for one person from across the street where we used to live, not long after we got her.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yes. Um we had a lady that um an older lady who liked to come and and visit us. She'd bring us um goodies that she had baked or whatever. And um I know that Sadie, I don't know what it was about this this lady, but um she would sit on the couch and Sadie would like to walk behind her on the couch, and she'd sniff her hair, and so she wasn't really afraid of her. I guess that she was just curious about who this lady was, and she maybe because she knew her from when she was just a baby that she accepted her.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yeah, yeah, she did. It was really cute to watch her, and that was really the only person when she was in her younger years who she would come around and she never hissed or growled or put her ears back. She really she really liked that uh person a lot. Now, Sadie was playful as a kitten, which would make a lot of sense, but she seemed to stop that behavior a few years down the line.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Yeah, I don't remember how old she was when she stopped it, but when she was a kitten, it's like she just played all the time and she loved to play. But then as she did get older, um it was kind of like she had this attitude that, oh, I'm too old to play, and that's not that's not you know who I am. So it was kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Yeah, it was. And uh and so I remember later on, and we'll talk about this in the in the next segment, that we brought another cat home when Sadie was quite a bit older. And uh there was an instance where the other cat would like to play with toys, and we tossed a little ball or something like that. It went over Sadie's head because it was for for Bridget to chase, and Sadie started to jump like she was gonna play with it, and then sat back like, Wait, I'm too really too old to do this. So she had a lot going on in her little mind. So I'm Clark Greer. You're listening to the Hissing Feline podcast with my special guest, show producer, and wife, Georgia. We'll be back in a minute to talk about Sadie's senior year. Stay with us.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Hi, everybody. My name is Sherry Dean Parmley, and I'm the author of the Prescott Family Chronicles. Book five in the series, and the truth shall set you free, recently became available on Amazon. Madison Prescott was a young woman who was trapped into a false sense of guilt over the death of a very dear friend. Her uncle Johnny Prescott was a man who believed a lie his entire life until a special letter came by, and he found out that the truth really did set him free. I hope you'll visit my author website, stparmalayauthor.com, or check out my books on Amazon. Thanks so much for your support. Bye for now.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

I'm back with more of the Hissing Feline Podcast. I'm your host, Clark Greer, with the show's producer and my wife, Georgia. It's nice to have you visiting today about our kitten, our late kitten, Sadie.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah, it's nice to be here.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Sadie mellowed as she aged, actually. Yes, she did. What was Sadie like as a senior cat?

SPEAKER_01 14:36

She was um obviously not playful like she was as a kitten, but she really became more um used to us and used to people, and she was pretty entertaining. Um she you know, she would lay next to us, she would um sometimes lay on our lap, but usually it had to be her idea. It wasn't she didn't really respond well if we picked her up to put her on our lap. She had to make the first move.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Well, it's pretty typical of cats, even our cats now. And Bridget's very affectionate. Someday maybe we'll talk about Bridget, but she's very affectionate, she loves to lay on your lap, only if it's her idea to get up there, because if you do it, if you put her on your lap, then she'll get down and go do something else. It's just their personalities. Did Sadie ever become really domesticated?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Well, like I said, she got she got really used to us. Um as far as being fully domesticated, no, I think you could always sense that she had been a feral cat. Um she you know, she'd still run and hide when people came to the door and she would hide if anything, if any loud noise scared her. So yeah. Um she she was more afraid than curious, I think, when when something different happened.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, I remember when uh George was a harpist too, by the way. And I remember that when you first got your large-sized harp, it was so cute the cat would walk through the living room where you were practicing, and she would have these little girl type meows, and she'd go and go to sleep in the hallway not too far from the living room.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

So that was it was very cute, but it showed that she was starting to make some type of connection to us. But it that took a while to do that. It took a few years for her to really feel comfortable with us. And I'm I'm guessing that that's probably gonna happen with feral cats, and it likely depends on background, the type of cat type of experiences, and those things. But it was nice to see her making those types of uh connections. I remember uh one time where we lived that you were laying on the couch reading, and Sadie got up next to you, not on you, but right next to you.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Right. Yeah, yeah. Which, you know, for her to do that, that was pretty good, actually. So she was becoming more domesticated and more used to us.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Right. Uh Sadie was always Sadie when it came to new people coming to our house, even as she got older. We had some friends where we lived, and she looked at Sadie and said, Oh, Sadie will remember me. What happened at at that incident?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Well, she um she proceeded to to walk over to Sadie and say and say, Sadie, you remember me, don't you? Because I took care of you while we were on vacation. And so um she walked over and started to pet Sadie, and Sadie immediately went into airplane ear mode and hissed and it was kind of hard to to explain that this is just the way a feral cat is. I mean, they're they're not used to you, so they're gonna react.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Yeah, even even though somebody had been in the house. We had uh friends uh a number of years ago that would come and feed her and c and clean her box and things if we were gone. And one of my very good friends said uh he talked about the invisible cat because every time he came to take care of the things in the house, there was no cat.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Right. There was he never saw the cat. She she just stayed hidden, and the only evidence he had that there was a cat was when he cleaned the litter box.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Right. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, she was just that way, and and she was that way pretty much her whole life. But she seemed to become more affectionate as she got older, and she was more willing to, I was gonna say, hang out with us or be with us a lot more, and that could have been maybe her, she was just mellowing uh just a little bit. And um, I remember I had some health issues, and uh I think cats are very perceptive, and animals uh know when there's something going on with somebody. And I got the surprise of my life one day when she walked down the couch, hopped over into the recliner where I was sitting, and got on my lap.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yes, yeah, that was pretty amazing for her to do that. And then after she did it once or twice, then sh you know, she knew she could do that and she did it more often.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Uh it was it was cute because she would get on my lap and I thought, oh, and I always have the joke that she's in my lap probably to stay warm, she's got to keep her paws warm. But I think it was because she actually wanted to spend some time with me. And I thought, wow, 15 years it only took for the cat to show me affection. So never give up. If you're in that situation, I guess never give up because you never know what's happening with that. Then there was the day we brought a new cat into the home when Sadie was 15, and that was Bridget.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yes, we weren't too sure about doing having a new cat, but um it worked out great, but it took time. Um we didn't have them together at first. We kept them we kept Bridget in the guest room and we fed her there, and we did things that we had read about um that are good to do, like um feeding them on the opposite sides of the door so that they're eating together, and they can smell the other cat and know that there's another cat in there. And gradually we we brought Bridget out and they started to um get used to each other, and but it took a lot of time.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

It did, and you had to really be patient, and uh, we had no idea at that age that Sadie was at the time that we brought Bridget into the house. She's Bridget's very mild-mannered, very affectionate, but you just never know. She really put up a lot with Sadie. I remember they would follow me into the kitchen to maybe get a snack, and uh after a while Sadie would follow Bridget in. It was though they were best friends.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

And uh so she really changed from when she was a kitten to that time period. And I don't know if as she got older, if she really sensed that, and maybe Bridget did too, but they were pretty good friends. Uh Bridget sometimes would sniff her too much and Sadie'd go around and smack her. But not very hard, but it's like, oh cat, what are you doing in my face? So but she she was a very, very good cat.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

And uh And we were glad too when um you know when we'd go on a week or week and a half long vacation that we would have somebody come in and feed them and clean their litter box, but we were glad that that Sadie had another cat. They had each other and I think that they were used to each other by then, so at least they had some company.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

Yeah. And I remember uh coming home the day we lost Sadie. Bridget looked at me as like, Where's my sister? And so there was something where she recognized that things were very different. But uh raising Sadie was quite interesting, and she was just a she was a fun cat and we got used to her little idiosyncrasies and and she was she was a good uh ended up being a very good cat for us. And we really enjoyed her.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

We were very attached to her. She really became a member of the family. I mean when when she lives to be almost 21, you know, that's almost 21 years with us, so we were really sad when you know she passed, and um and Bridget sensed that you know something was wrong and it wasn't the same, and she wondered where Sadie was, but she she was quite the cat. We you know, we had some difficulties with her, but we loved her like one of our own kids.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

So Right. Yeah, so there was hope for her.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Well, you know, so this has been a fun episode of the hissing feline reminiscing about our cat Sadie. Uh we still think about her, and uh actually around her usually it's is it her birthday or the about the time we we lost her, we're thinking, oh, we we do something special. And she liked a special little snack cake, so we got some uh just a few months ago to kind of uh to kind of remember her and and it's like uh remembering family. Uh I want to thank my special guest, show producer and wife Georgia for joining me today on the Hissing Feline. This has really been a great visit about Sadie.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Please follow the Hissing Feline podcast and share the program with other cat lovers. Stop by again next week for another episode of the Hissing Feline and remember to keep purring.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Content on the Hissing Feline podcast is for information and entertainment purposes only, and is not intended to provide medical, veterinary, or legal advice. Please consult your veterinarian and local and state authorities before dealing with feral and stray cats. Opinions expressed are those of the hosts and guests and not necessarily those of Duracho Cat Media LLC. References to products or services do not imply an endorsement. The Hissing Feline podcast is a production of Doratio Cat Media LLC and has been blessed by our rescue cats, Bridget and Maddie. All content is used with permission or under fair use.