A"Tail" of 8 Kitties: White Wilmington Ridgebacks (pt.2 of 4)

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The first few years of this century saw us living in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, USA, on the edge of the business district. We lived on the first floor, and my friend ErasmusNova lived on the second. Early one cold February morning, he rushed back downstairs shortly after getting home from his nightshift job and knocked on my door to tell me about a little white kitten on his balcony. I headed outside to go up the fire-escape and cut off the path of retreat. When I got to the balcony, all I could see was a still, tiny form with the unmistakeable look of life already departed. I reached toward the poor baby with a heavy heart, and was quite startled to hear a small but sincere hiss and feel a tiny paw swat my hand. Hidden behind was another little angry white ball of fur. I scooped her up and brought her downstairs, hissing and spitting all the way. In the house, my huge Lab mix was instantly in love with this silly hostile creature. She expanded every fur on her body to its maximum size when she saw him... pretty funny! He sniffed her ears, licked her head, and their bond was complete. She calmed down immediately, and reached under the bathroom door to touch her new friend while I had her shut in to go get food. She was only about four weeks old, so we had to get a nursing setup and formula. She shredded four nipples the first week, after which we switched her to semisolids and eating from a dish. We named her Paris, for another pure white kitty I had many years before. Her eyes are sky blue, but she's shorthaired, so she isn't deaf. She adapted to the household in a matter of days, secure in the love of her big friend Larry. Meanwhile, I had noticed a solitary black and white cat hanging around outside, and wondered if this was the mom. I started putting food and water out in a hidden part of the back alley for her, and she would come each evening to be fed. Slowly, over the months, I was able to get her to accept me hanging around at a distance, then closer, finally sitting near while she ate. By October, she would let me stroke her fur. In November, I started trying to get her to come into the hallway. She would step halfway in the door, stay a moment, then run back out. Thanksgiving was the coldest weekend of the year, nighttime temps in the 20's with a bitter wind chill. The mommy cat, as I called her then, decided to come stay in the hallway of the bldg. This worked out for a week or so, but the German Shepherd upstairs was getting too curious, so she moved into our place, living in Larry's dog crate until she got used to the household. After a week, I was surprised to see that Mommy was actually pure white, like her daughter, with pale blue eyes. We named her Frankie, for Ol' Blue Eyes himself. We call them the White Wilmington Ridgebacks because, when they get upset and puff up their fur, it forms a really high, sharp ridge down their spines. It looks like you could cut something with it! Next chapter: The Bunny Butt Boys.