Sunday, a hero cat named Faith and a new Facebook page!

Faith a Hero

So its Sunday Blog time again…on a cold and snowy morning in Eaton.  I have been working on a Facebook page in my efforts to find homes for some strays that have been dropped at my door.  

So this morning when I settled into my usual position on the sofa trying to think of something “blog-able” to write about…one of the cats that I have not named showed up.  So I took that as an inspirational sign and decided to search for the perfect name for her. 

I humorously thought of “Old Possum’s Books of Cats” and the theory that cats have the name we give them… and they have their own “cat” name, and  I wondered what hers would be.

The cat I was naming was a stoic as well as a great mother cat.  She was also interested in what was going on all of the time.  She would often come forward and listen intently to what I told her. She was attentive and even watched another mother’s kittens.  So...I googled… cat names.  One search brought up a story on a cat named Faith! She was called "the famous cat of London"…hmmmm… So I was once again off on another  “history quest”.

Seems Faith was a stray that was found and taken in by the rector of St. Augustine & St. Faith’s Episcopal Church in London about 1936.  The cat loved the Rector, Father Henry Ross, and would attend every service sitting at his feet when he preached or sit next to him when he sat in a pew. It was said that she attended every service at the church. Named Faith, she became like the mascot of the church throughout the horrible times in London...times of fire and bombing brought on by the War with Germany.

In September of 1940, she gave birth to just one kitten that was named “Panda” because of its black and white colorings.  All the church members celebrated Panda's arrival.... in his honor the churches choir sang “All Things Bright and Beautiful” at the Sunday service. 

The “Battle of London” was on and for some reason Faith insisted on taking herself and her kitten Panda to the basement of the church.  Father Ross tried to dissuade her... but she continually removed the kitten from her basket and would take it to the basement area.  So after a number of attempts back and forth, he finally gave up and moved her basket to the cold dark basement area she chose.

A few days later on the night of September 9^th, the German bombing of London struck St. Augustine’s rendering it a mass of rubble.  The following morning the air raid and civil workers asked the Rector if any people were in the church at the time…no…but he remembered Faith and went into the burning rubble, down to the basement where Faith was found meowing for help, laying over the top of her baby…Panda.  It is said that just a short time later,  just after her rescue, the entire building collapsed into the basement where the cat had hidden.

Faith’s story spread everywhere, even to the United States... to become part of the inspirational testament to the steadfastness of the Londoners and all who heroically survived the fire and bombing.  Faith became a star and symbol of Londoners heroics!

For her act of sheltering her kitten and her savvy she was awarded the Dickens Medal in Silver in London, and a medal from the Greenwich Village Humane Society of New York…and so in her honor I named the stray cat “Faith”.

My cat named Faith!

Great Sunday story don’t you think?  Here is a link to my new cat Facebook page...https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rascals-Help-the-Stray-Cats/362984687233739

The Battle of Britain and bombing of London

Stray cat of my attic cat bed and breakfast!

Wu - Chi marker in the Eaton Cemetery for a dog!

Well this has been a tough week; I finally caught the little sight-impaired cat that has been living in my attic for three years.  The cat came in with another Siamese cat who was very elderly and  died in the attic, which is how I found out that they were there.

I could never get close to her she just seemed to stare out at sounds and finally I realized that she could not really see.  When I called KIT-TEN she learned that food was being brought to her.

So I took the time to insulate the attic area she used that has a window and heat from the woodstove located in the kitchen below.  I tried unsuccessfully to get her to come closer… but no dice.  I had someone who would have adopted her …but she wouldn’t come to us.

She made friends that year with the old stray the neighbors called Curly, and for two years they lived in the attic together in the winter and she would come down and sit with him on the porch in the summer… unless something approached and then it was up the stairs to the attic room. 

To get there she had to jump through a missing windowpane, up the stairs and through another little cut out in the door.  For me to get there however, I had to go out the kitchen door, through the side yard to the garage doors, and up the stairs to her abode.

Each night I brought her (them) food, water and each time she would hide in the corner and wait until she heard me close the door and my foot hit the step, only then would she come out to eat.

Old Curly had to be put to sleep last year in the terrible hot summer…a truly aged and wise cat who had found a good retirement home in my attic. 

Then this horrible long winter came and Kitten never came downstairs.  She used the little box I put up there for her and appeared to love laying in the basket next to the little ”safe” electric heater I installed.  Then I noticed she got diarrhea.  I tried to catch her but could not, until I guess she finally knew she was in trouble.

This week she came down to the porch on her own to beg for food.  After two failed attempts at catching her, I finally got her, and took her to the vets.  Unfortunately it was too late.

And so the little stow-a-way in the attic…is gone.  This cat had been someone’s cat -she was fixed.  I assumed the two cats that had come in together were strays lost by summer people or…worse yet… dumped by someone where they had belonged to an old lady or man who was taken to a nursing home.  Yes, the friend or family says they will take care of them...but they don’t.  They just put them out with some food down and by winter they are helpless and hopeless.  It happens a lot down here. 

Wish people would understand that old cats don’t become feral after living indoors all their life…especially after being spoiled by their owners. 

So the attic is empty and this year I won’t have to worry about keeping the heat up for the upstairs cat and going out at 20 below to make the climb to the second floor attic room with food… I have boarded it up…the last occupant has left the “attic bed and breakfast.” 

I have to admit it though ...I feel terrible about her passing.