Meet Bridget… The Beast

Let me start off by saying that I have always been an animal lover. I like most pets. I’ve had dogs and cats my whole life. Chris has not. He is not a fan of cats. He is also highly allergic to cats. So after my cat, Cassie, found a new home when Morgan was born, Chris and I agreed that we would not have a cat as a pet again.

Fast forward to today. When we moved into our new home, we talked about the possibility of getting a “barn cat” to keep rodents away. Right away, we noticed a problem when Chris found wires chewed up inside of his work truck – multiple times.

Side note – this area has been known to have a stray cat problem.

We have some friends that live nearby and they told us about this stray cat that they started feeding. We were told that she was super sweet and stayed around as soon as they gave her a little food for the first time. They were tempted to keep her, but asked if we would take her.

A few days later, the cat arrived at our house. The plan was to let her stay/live in our shed. We figured that she had already lived outside her whole life and we would be able to give her a much better life than what she currently had, even if she was strictly an outdoor cat. (Being from the city – this was a new concept for me! I was feeling a little guilty from the idea of not letting her in the house.) But I knew we were helping her and, ultimately, she would be better off with us than on her own.

Now to name her… We really like human names for pets, so that’s where we started. Of course the kids wanted to help and made this process much more difficult than it needed to be. (Are you surprised?! Haha) I really liked the name Brenda, but we ended up settling on Bridget. However, Jenna (my 2 year old), refused to agree to any other name than “Kitty Cat”. So her whole name is “Bridget the Kitty Cat”. She is literally registered with the vet as “Bridget the Kitty Cat”.

Since I have never had an outdoor cat before, I had no idea how to take care of her. How was I supposed to keep her in our yard? Does she need to be locked inside the shed at night? What happens when it gets cold outside? Where will she go to the bathroom? Do we need a litter box? There were a lot of unknowns…

So, in case anyone wants to know… We only had to feed her once. She kept coming back once she realized where the food would be. She also learned where we would be (inside the house) and follows us to the door often. She also enjoys sitting outside of the door (at any hour) and meowing continuously, if she’s hungry. Or if she wants attention/love. Luckily, she does her business in the woods, so no litter box was required. Thank God! I’ll get back to you on what to do when it gets cold. I’m still figuring that one out. So feel free to leave me some ideas! (The shed is not heated – there is no power out there.)

Now, you are probably wondering how she is doing, what she’s like, and if she is doing her job and keeping the rodents away. Let me share!

Bridget is the sweetest kitty cat! She came to us in pretty rough condition. She was covered in fleas – to the point where she was missing a lot of fur. You could see her skin without even touching her because it was so thin – and greasy. Yuck. She had a lot of scabs/cuts (likely from flea bites) everywhere. And she was very underweight. Nevertheless, she loves to be around people.

I scheduled a vet appointment as soon as I could. (Another side note – none of the Vet Clinics up here are accepting new patients! I had such a hard time finding a place that would see her!) She ended up having fleas, a skin infection, a double ear infection and was very underweight. She received an antibiotic injection, a steroid injection, a rabies vaccination and antibiotic drops for her ears.

Since then, she has been doing great! She LOVES the kids. She comes out the moment that Morgan and I walk outside to wait for the bus. She usually waits with us until the bus comes up and then runs away. She loves to be pet and would prefer to have company in the shed while she eats. She really is the perfect pet.

However, Chris continues to remind us that “Bridget the Kitty Cat is NOT a pet. She is here for a reason and has a job to do.” Clearly, we all agree that she is “not part of the family”. Haha

As far as her hunting duties go – she is killing it! Literally…. Haha! Her first kill was a red squirrel that she chased off of Chris’s work truck. (Yes, the one that had the chewed wires!) She drug it under my SUV and ate the ENTIRE thing! Minus the tail. This was a bit of a shock to me. I wasn’t expecting her to eat it. Bones and all! This was all that was left:

Chris later told me that this tail was very soft… Gross! Should I be worried that he knows that?! A friend of mine later told me that she wouldn’t be surprised if he kept this as a trophy and added it to a hat. Ick!

Brace yourself for the next part… These next pictures are not for a weak stomach, so you may not want to continue scrolling….

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Ok, if you’ve made it this far then you are ready to see her next victims…

So far, we’ve seen her with:

• 1 Squirrel
• 3 Mice
• 1 Bunny

She’s definitely making Chris proud and doing her job. So much so, that I’ve even seen him pet her a couple of times! He will probably deny that if you ask him though.

I even watched her swallow the mouse in the far right photo whole! This is all so new to me, so I was surprised to learn that most outdoor cats have no problem digesting animal bones. This was just another day and another meal to her. No biggie.

Overall, I think we are all happy having Bridget here. We look forward to seeing her every day and I know that she’s happier here than she was at her last home (if you can even call it that). She has gained some weight, gotten rid of her fleas, grown a lot of fur back, teased our dogs and kept rodents away from our vehicles. We’ve even found her napping on our tires on multiple occasions. She clearly takes her job very seriously. I’m hoping she starts taking out the snakes next…

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Crystal