This is the story of Tansy.
Tansy unexpectedly came to us one summer day in 2003. Grandpa came back from the barn from the morning feeding of the horses and said "You'll never believe this, someone dumped off ten cats in our barn!"

Its a sad fact that when one lives in the country, stray cats are common. We already had so many cats, most of them wild, that we couldn't name them all. A lot of the cats lived in the woods and came into the barn for the cat food that we provided.  The cats that were somewhat friendly  would receive their vaccinations, a neuter or spay operation and worm medicine. That cats that remained wild or feral would miss out on the needed medical attention. They looked scrawny and ill kept and occasionally we would find them lying dead in the yard or barn.

Immediately we knew that the new cats had to have been someone's pets. They were all friendly. It looked like there were three adults and seven kittens. The mother cat was very young with longish hair, the male cat was a black long hair and the third cat was a gray female. Within days, all the new cats started dying. The young mother did her best to feed her babies while she herself became thinner and thinner. We took as many as we could up to the vet in town. We told the vet to give shots and to neuter or spay all that he could. I didn't hear back from him for two weeks. I assumed that all had died. One day I got a call from him saying come pick up your cat. My cat? What cat? I thought they had died. All did except the young mother, and the vet had kept it all this time until she was strong enough to be spayed. 

 We brought the young mother home, named her Tansy and marveled at her will to live. She was practically a walking skeleton for months. Finally she regained her health. Tansy seems to know that we saved her. She is now a house cat, she has no desire to venture outdoors. She is always ready to jump in our laps and purr and show affection. When I look at her I see one of God's creatures that had fallen upon hard times, and through sheer will and luck has survived to live the life of luxury. God loves all his creatures great and small...even little kitties.

Love, Grandma Howard