Almost two years ago a stray cat started showing up on our porch. We didn't really want a wild cat around because of all of the birds we have encouraged to nest here, so I would chase her off, but she kept coming back. I figured that some neighbor was being irresponsible and I would follow her trying to determine where she belonged, but our house seemed to be the only place she wanted to be.

Then, one morning, a month or so later, we looked out at the back porch and there were four little faces with blue eyes peeking from behind a broom that I had left there. Good grief. She had kittens! I thought oh, great now we were going to be overrun with feral cats, but my wife insisted that we take care of them.

We started putting out food and water, but we could never approach them very closely. Mom cat figured out that my wife was the food bringer, and she also figured out that if she meowed at me out in the yard - from a distance, always from a distance - that I would go get my wife and that food would then soon arrive. Smart cat. Brave cat, too, although she is small. When I got too close to the kittens she would start growling and charge at me like she meant business.

This went on for a few weeks, as we fed her and she nursed the kittens, and the kittens started eating the cat food we put out. When I came back from errands she would be lounging on my chair on the front porch while the kittens played around her. We named the kittens Ginger, Blackie, Cutie and Pie (I guess we were getting attached).

With the guidance of the local cat rescue organization, we successfully trapped all five cats in two days, and off they went for shots, neutering and adoption. Success! End of story, or so I thought.

A month later the shelter called and said that the kittens adopted out, but mom cat hadn't. We were hesitant because she was pretty wild and not very well socialized, but she had worked so hard to adopt us that we couldn't refuse. So back she came.

She spent the first day and night in the large cage we brought her back home in. We put a hiding place in there for her, and litter box and food and water. I thought that would be days and days before we tried to let her out, but the second morning we opened the cage door and she came out. She would make little exploratory trips, just a few minutes, and then eventually she spent most of her time hiding in a dark room in the basement. But that only lasted a couple of days, and in a week or so she was exploring the whole house. My wife was able to pet her after about 2 weeks. It took 6 months before I could pet her. I think she had a long memory and probably remembered the days when I was chasing her around the yard! She finally decided that I am OK, but my wife is still her favorite human.

A year and half later she rules the house, and she is the sweetest cat you could ever imagine, and completely socialized. She is very vocal and is our reliable 7 am daily alarm.

So that is the story of how Molly Munchkin chose us to be her humans and would not take "no" for an answer!

Molly Munchkin 2 on Flickr