It's been five years since I found this thing in a safe trap
Happy Gargoyle Anniversary To All Whom Celebrate
A month into the 2020 lockdown, Della and I started to see many, many feral cats in our yard. One was noticeably pregnant so we did our usual thing to put out food and safetraps but try as might, we never ended up catching the one we meant to; instead - we caught this.
I've trapped more ferals than I can count at this point, and this instance was unique in that every other time the cat, upon seeing me approach, would hiss or attack the bars etc; this ball of grey fluff meowed at me. No hiss, no fear, just 'oh fuck please help me I am so hungry and my life choices have not been ideal'. Her vibes were so chill I didn't even use my safety gloves to get her out of the trap, which like could have been a nightmare. Hell, I let her roam in the bathroom immediately and there was no violence. It was a healing moment for me who was hospitalized by the first feral cat we ever got involved with lmao. She climbed into the window to sit completely still and stare outside for a few hours after eating (hence the name 'Gargoyle') but then determined conditions of her life had improved and came down to cuddle with Della and I.
She purred that first night.
Turned out she was pregnant also despite not being the one we were after, but the long hair and malnourishment in the wild hid it until the day she started behaving weirdly (read: in labor) and we had to look up what it meant. Of all the cat's we'd rescued and been involved with, this was our first in-house birth.
Again, she was incredibly malnourished in the wild and must have gotten pregnant as soon as she was like biologically able to, because she was tiny (and has stayed tiny as pregnancy in young cats can stunt growth). There was only one kitten in there. No stillborns, no 'born but didn't make it' - she literally only had one. As soon as the baby hatched, Smokey (one of the first cats we ever took in) decided Gargoyle was her wife and they moved in together taking turns watching the baby. True lesbian icons.
They've split since, but they're on good terms (Smokey mostly lives upstairs and Garg haunts the front room) - and their son is a fucking MONSTER but more on him when we reach his birthday in June. Here's them together before he got bigger than her and stopped looking like her clone
In fact, Garg's now hitched up with Lilith; Lilipants is one of the more feral of our bunch in that she lived in the wild for over a year before we finally trapped her. She loves the other cats but is v skeptical about humans. Her and Garglebargle have uhauled so hard and are rarely found apart from each other.
One of Gargoyle's other favorite things is to perch on the window AC unit.
Anyway she's an incredible cat. Tiny, weighs nothing, purrs and chirps when you scritch her belly, goes full Ponyo when ham is to be had, just an excellent creature all around. Can't believe I found it outside in the desert.
Happy Gargle Bargle day.