Hi, Everyone!

I'd like you to meet Maple, my amazing girl who I found on the campus of the local community college where I work, earlier this spring. She was tiny, dehydrated and could barely utter a sound when I discovered her laying on her side on the hot concrete after surviving a fall from about 8 feet up - it had appeared that Mama Cat had secured her kittens in what she thought was a safe place away from coyotes and raccoons, but her littermates might have accidentally pushed her out of their nest. We would soon find out after locating a ladder that there were a total of five kittens, but mom was nowhere in sight. We realized that Maple must have been the runt of the litter, as her sibblings were significantly larger.

My kind coworkers scrambled together kitten milk replacer, bottles, a blanket, and I had a carrier that would eventually become her vehicle to bring her to and from my house every day since she needed to be bottle-fed and stimulated every few hours and my boss (a saint), allowed me to attend to her between my duties at work.

So yes, I kept her! In the past few months she has grown into a beautiful young lady, with just that right balance of sweet and feisty to keep me on my toes. My coworkers joke that her one white leg looks like she put on a tube sock with a hole in it...She has come a long way since that warm April afternoon, and now she is of the age when she can have her surgery to get spayed.

I have found a local organization with whom I scheduled her spay, though despite that it is classified it is low-cost, will still make a dent into my monthly budget.

I have set this account up in the hopes that whatever donations come Maple's way will offset some of the cost of her surgery and medications that she will be on. Maple and I thank you in advance!