This is Kayla. She is from my neighborhood. She showed up several years before I moved in, a feral kitten who had already had babies. When she had her second litter of kittens, the neighbor whose yard she’d claimed trapped her, took her in, had her spayed and re-released into back into her territory. This process is known as Trap-Neuter-Return and is the most successful (and humane) way of controlling overpopulation in feral cats. Kayla lived happily in the area, with the neighbor providing her food and shelter for her. She remained feral and could not be approached or touched by people, but she had her cat friends for company. One fall day she disappeared. A week later she showed up at another neighbor's house, but she looked very sick. He tried to get her to eat for nearly a week before calling Caly's Cats. Kayla was very sick, weak, and starving. I tried to trap her, but because she wasn't eating, she wasn't tempted to go into the trap. Finally she was so weak I thought I could just grab her. I do NOT recommend doing that - cat bites can be very dangerous. But, I've got a lot of experience, and I had a little luck that day. With the help of a couple friends to corral her, I was able to grab her safely. I didn't know what was wrong with her, but it was obvious she was dying. From her appearance and symptoms I suspected pnuemonia and end-stage kidney disease. And she was covered in so much flea dirt she looked like she'd been rolled in ground pepper! She needed to be humanely put to sleep. I took her in to our vet and explained the situation. "But," I told Dr. K, "She's really weak. I think I can hold her. Can you just do a quick exam to see what is going on with her?" Dr. K said okay and we started in. First thing she found - her lungs were clear! All the noise and discharge was from a very bad cold. Second, she found her mouth was very infected. No wonder she couldn't eat or groom! As we stood there discussing what to do we heard a deep noise emanating from her. "Is she growling?" I asked in disbelief. A second later and we all said, "She's purring!!" That did it. She was going to get her chance. We got some blood from her and ran the tests - her kidneys were fine. Her liver wasn't so good, but that happens when cats don't eat. The "cure" is food, and lots of it! And, she was going to need medication for her mouth. But, she wasn't tame, and once she felt better I was not going to be able to touch her, let alone hold her. Also, she was FIV+ which meant her immune system was compromised. So, we didn't know if she was going to make it, but we were going to do everything we could to help her. We gave her fluids to help with the dehydration. She was given the medicine in warmed baby food. And, miraculously she ate it! She was on it for a long time, but she did recover. And, over time she learned to trust me. She welcomes being petted, and even tolerates being picked up.  She's one of my housecats now.  Luckily she likes living inside, and has decided that people are pretty cool. Her favorite game is to wake up the household at 2 or 3 a.m. playing with her toy mouse...and talking to it....loudly! We don’t mind (much) because we are so happy to see her enjoying life!