1999 C0-Rescue of the Year

The "Dumpster Kitties"

Meet Mark and Judy - two blue mackerel tabbies. On a very hot day in July 1998, while taking a break from a course at the Red Cross (where I worked), one of the instructors and I saw a tiny kitten crawl out of a dumpster and head in our direction.

Thinking it was a feral city kitten, we called to it - but expected it to turn and run. To our amazement, she (as it was discovered!) headed directly to us, crawled through the chain link fence, and let us pick her up. She was extremely thin and dehydrated, but purring her heart out. We took her downstairs to the classroom and my husband, Joel, and I decided to take her home with us.

About an hour later, we heard cat cries and saw another little kitten standing on the window well light (with a drop of about 20 feet) staring in at us! The other instructor ran and grabbed him (as we found out) before he could fall. So - now there were two kittens. Brother and sister came home with Joel and I that evening. All the participants in the class "adopted" the kittens, have stayed in touch with us, and periodically send catnip presents for the kids.\

After a trip to the vet, it was determined that they were about 8 weeks old, needed to be wormed (done!) and had ear mites (taken care of!). We named the kittens Mark and Judy after the two instructors who aided in the rescue and continue to act as "God- parents".

As soon as the two kittens were five months old, Joel and I started taking them to cat shows along with our other household pets and Maine Coons. They absolutely loved it! All the attention, excitement and people is like a treat to these two. It's comical to see them ham it up for the judges and audience.

The two kittens have grown into fearless, loving, social cats who share their lives with Joel and I, our dogs and cats. As one of the judges remarked: "One man's trash is another person's treasure." We are very lucky to have been found by Mark Mooch and Sweet Judy Blue - our special "blue dumpster babies".

GeoAnne Brandt
Harrisburg, PA


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Posted 07-Feb-01