TINKERBELLE REMEMBERS: The Beginning

The Finding of a Therapy Cat: a series about Tinkerbelle, Registered Pet Partner Therapy Cat (retired) and our journey together.

By Mollie Hunt

Part 26: The Beginning

For something different, I’m going to do a way-back, to revisit the very first moment I saw Tinkerbelle at the Oregon Humane Society. The scene was the waiting room of the foster office. The occasion was the beginning of a month-long foster of a sick and elderly stray who had been turned in to the shelter. As a foster parent, I never knew what I was getting to foster until I arrived to pick them up. When I heard the name, Tinkerbelle, I pictured something else completely.

They brought out the carrier with Tinkerbelle inside. I’m not sure what I was thinking- maybe a white cat, or one of light color. A will-o-the-wisp thing, like Peter Pan’s little fairy friend. But when I saw a black nose attached to a black furry face and a very black, very furry body, complete with mats, flakes, and hair loss all down her front, I admit I was shocked.

“This isn’t a Tinkerbelle,” I said to myself. Then I looked in those eyes! Those beautiful gold-green eyes!

Even sick, I saw she was special. As her black fur grew sleek and soft, I didn’t know how I could have imagined her any other way.

About Tinkerbelle:
Tink served for four years as a registered Pet Partner Therapy Cat, visiting assisted living facilities and hospice patients. Tink is now retired and living the quiet life. Check out her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TinkerbelleTheTherapyCat/

About Mollie Hunt:
Mollie is the author of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series, featuring Lynley Cannon, a sixty-something cat shelter volunteer who finds more trouble than a cat in catnip. Mollie is a member of the Oregon Writers’ Colony, Sisters in Crime, Willamette Writers, the Cat Writers’ Association, and the Northwest Independent Writers Association. Two of her short cat stories have been published in anthologies, one of which, The Dream Spinner, won the prestigious CWA Muse Medallion this year.

Like Lynley, Mollie is a grateful shelter volunteer. She is a longtime volunteer for the Oregon Humane Society where she socializes sad, fearful, and behavior-challenged cats. She also fosters sick and elderly cats in her home. In 2014, she had the privilege to work with cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy on a particularly thought-provoking case.

You can find Mollie on her Website: http://www.lecatts.wordpress.com/, her Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/molliehunt, and her Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MollieHuntCatWriter/.