The cat was definitely in trouble. Lost and hungry, he courted disaster seeking shelter from the cold and sneaked through the pet door of a rural home halfway between Eureka Springs and Berryville. It was a bad choice. Inside were two large dogs and several cats, none happy to see him, and most of which were more than happy to give him a run for his life.
Now terrified, he escaped the jaws and claws and found a hiding place under a nearby carport full of storage items. Then his luck began to change.
“I looked out my door and saw that a huge neighbor cat had a smaller orange cat pinned to the ground under my carport,” an animal lover who wishes not to be named told us. “I was afraid he was going to kill it, so I ran out and they both took off.”
The next day the stray was back, simply sitting under the carport staring at his rescuer’s door. “He just sat upright like a statue, staring in my door and never moving,” she said. “He looked like a bright ray of sunshine in the rainy gloom, so I called him that. Sunshine. But every time I opened the door he’d run away. Finally, I opened the door a crack and dropped a handful of dry cat food just outside. As soon as the door closed, he ran up and gobbled every crumb. After that it was easy. In three days, I could sit outside while he ate and even though he growled he’d let me pet his head. He desperately wanted to come in, but my own cats weren’t having it.”
And a cold snap was just about to begin with temps predicted in the teens. Worried he might freeze to death, our friend devised a plan to keep Sunshine warm for the coming week. First was a call to the Family Pet Vet in Berryville to get him neutered and have an overnight stay. Next was a call to Good Shepherd to see if they would keep him after that with a promise he would be picked up after the cold passed.
“I was surprised they said yes,” Sunshine’s rescuer said, “but then what was I going to do with him after that? I was even praying about it as I went to pick him up at the vet.”
But apparently Sunshine had some game of his own and had already made plans for himself. In 24 hours, he had won over the entire Family Pet Vet staff by being the most agreeable, loveable, huggable, appreciative cat on the planet.
When she went to pick him up, our cat rescuer was shocked to be greeted by receptionist Tracy with, “That is the sweetest cat! We all love him.”
“I told her I was glad to hear that because I was taking him from there to the shelter, and now maybe someone would adopt him before I had to pick him up,” our friend said. “When Tracy heard that, she said one of the techs was interested in keeping him and introduced me to Kendra Connell. As soon as I saw how she loved him and how contented he looked I knew Sunshine was going to have the best life ever.
“And to think, if the shelter had said no, I never would have mentioned it and Tracy never would have told me someone there wanted Sunshine. Just goes to show you, prayer works.”
All it took was a little love, warmth and shelter to change a traumatized orange cat into a mellow yellow lover boy.