My sister-in-law, Carol, and I both sell real estate. Carol called me
one day in early summer, 1993. "Vicki," she said, "there's a mother cat and three kittens living behind the fence of my model home and they
can't stay there." Carol and I and our husbands went to see if we could
catch the mother and kittens. As we looked for the family, we went on
the property behind the fence. We found a barn, four mother cats,
twelve kittens, and one extremely large goat. The cats were all very
thin and there was no food or water in sight. One of the kittens had a
front leg that was bent in half. I picked up that kitten and my husband
and I took her to the emergency vet. In our area, regular vets are not
on call, after hours there are veterinary emergency rooms. We left food
and water for the remaining cats and kittens.The little kitten was all gray except for a tiny white spot on her chest. She didn't seem to mind her first car ride and stayed snuggled in my lap until we arrived at the vet. The vet x-rayed her leg and put it in a splint with a lot of soft bandaging. He advised me to see my regular vet in the morning.
My husband and I put the kitten in a spare bedroom so that she wouldn't injure herself any further. She looked so funny with that big red bandage and walked like someone with a peg leg, so my husband named her Peggy Sue. Peggy Sue didn`t like the idea of being left alone, so she screamed until I stayed in the spare room with her. We spent the night sleeping on the floor (I was afraid the kitten would fall or jump off the bed) with Peggy Sue curled up on my neck.
The next day, Peggy Sue and I went to our regular vet, Dr. Banta. Dr. Banta rewrapped the leg and gave Peggy Sue her first shots. The bandage had to be changed several times over the next two weeks, so that the circulation wouldn't be cut off in the growing kitten's leg. Peggy Sue got around very well with a big, red leg.
Within the next few days, Elayne Early, Beverly Criss, and I made several trips to the barn. Carol fed the cats and the rest of us took kittens and cats to the vet. We located the person in charge of the barn, Ruby, through someone boarding a horse there. Ruby said that the cats were in the barn when she took over the lease. Ruby felt that the goat must have stepped on Peggy Sue and broken her leg. It was agreed that we would nave the mother cats spayed and they would return to the barn to keep mice down. Ruby would have the male neutered and provide food and water permanently. Ruby was able to tell us which kittens belonged to which mother and provide birthdates. Peggy Sue's two littermate sisters and one half brother came to live with her. We named them Pewter, Emily, and Wheezer. The other kittens went home with Elayne and Beverly.
In the fall of 1993, Elayne and I started showing our barn kittens in TICA. Peggy Sue seemed to enjoy going to shows. In January, 1994, Peggy Sue began to be shown as an adult at the TICA show in Raleigh, N.C. She turned into a beautiful, shiny, blue cat with a small white spot on her chest and is often mistaken for a Korat. Peggy Sue ended the 1993-1994 show season in TICA as a quad grand champion and 13th Best Household Pet in the Southeast Region.. In her first show of the 1994-1995 show season, Peggy Sue became a Supreme Grand Master.
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