Bravery and Courage

My cat Frankie lived in a cage for the entire first year of her life. But the cage was only 3 ft x 2 ft, and she lived in there with her brother, who is twice her size, and neither of them could stand up or move about.

By the time they were rescued from this situation, both Frankie and Johnny's legs had suffered atrophy to some measure, to the point that Johnny's legs bow pretty badly and Frankie has had trouble with her back legs since I took her in.

Both cats were taken off the streets of New York City at the age of 5 weeks by some guy who kept hundreds and hundreds of cats in his small apartment in cages. I suppose he was trying to do good by them, but two cats living in a 3 x 2 cage is no life for them either.

For the first four years they lived with me, Frankie was terrified. She was afraid of people, and noise, her brother--pretty much anything and everything. If I tried to touch her when I was upright, she ran, even though she knew I was the one who fed her and took care of her.

She was less terrified if I was down on the floor with her. So I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor trying to pet her. She was always extremely cautious with me, and even at night she'd come into bed but stay in the most distant corner of the mattress. If I reached out to pet her, she would flee. If I held my hand an inch from her head to pet her, she would cringe on her haunches in terror, and then take off.

Over time I worked hard to reduce her fear. I kept at it and at it. I would pet her despite her fear, and speak to her softly. Still, if my hand headed in her direction, she would duck her head and cringe. It was really so sad to see.

But one night several weeks ago, I got in bed and immediately went to sleep. I woke up 1/2 hour later and realized that Frankie was no longer at the furthest end of the mattress, but up by my knees. I smiled to myself and went back to sleep, quite pleased with her bravery. I awoke again about an hour later, and I found her leaning against my hip. I spoke softly to her, and went back to sleep, very pleased with her progress.

The following morning, I woke up to find her facing me in the crook of my arm, inches away from my face. We looked into each others' eyes, and I smiled. I was so afraid that if I moved, she would jump out of bed and run away.

But she didn't run away. Instead, she moved her head toward me... and touched her nose to my nose.

Frankie has come a very long way on a difficult journey. I'm so proud of her bravery and courage.