Pebbles came into my life during a cold season and the most heartbreaking situation imaginable!
Her mom died. She was left alone. She was a few weeks old and surviving in a parkade. I just had to find her. 🖤
There are no Kindred Comfort products featured in this post.
This post is all about Pebbles ~ and rescue efforts to save her!
Pebbles’ Rescue Story
Pebbles was only a tiny newborn kitten ~ crying for her mom, hungry, and completely alone. She was living inside the cold concrete hospital parkade where I worked, surviving among broken chunks of wet concrete and pebbles. That’s how she got her name.
Pebbles isn’t a usual cat name, but after months of searching for her and finally rescuing her, there was no question about what her name would be. I had found her living in a cold, dirty, damp hole in a concrete foundation, surrounded by chunks of broken cement and concrete pebbles. She was always meant to be Pebbles.
Her mom’s name is Paulee, named in remembrance of the parkade where she was also living.
This story all began months prior from my efforts in trying to rescue the cats living in the hospital parkade before winter set in.
One bitterly cold day, I was walking to my truck after work. I proxed myself through the parkade door and immediately noticed an animal control warden carrying a black-and-white tuxedo cat in a humane trap. I recognized her right away.
“Hi, I’m Rosemary,” I said. “I’m so glad you caught that tuxedo cat. I’ve been trying to rescue her for weeks. Where are you taking her?” The lady told me she was taking the cat back to the animal control facility north of the city. I knew exactly where that was
I told the warden I was trying to catch that cat to keep it safe and give it a good home. I was also trying to catch a black cat that was also living in the parkade. I saw both the tuxedo and the black cat many times. The black cat was next to be rescued ~ hopefully anyway.
But back to Pebbles.
I could hear the baby kitten crying, but I couldn’t find her.
For more than three and a half months, I searched for this tiny kitten every single day while working two jobs. I set humane traps with clean towels, food, and water. I checked those traps before sunrise, after work, and again before bedtime ~ every single morning, afternoon, and evening without fail.
After more than three weeks of trying to rescue that second cat, something very unexpected happened.
I was sitting in my truck with the front end of my truck facing a concrete wall with several holes in it ~ the exact place where I knew the cat was living, and where I had placed live cat traps in hopes of rescuing cats so I could bring them to safety. Suddenly, a tuxedo cat walked up to the trap beside my truck. What? Another tuxedo cat? Who knew? I had only ever seen one tuxedo cat before; however, looking back in time now ~ I may have seen them both, but obviously not at the same time!
My heart started racing.
The cat stepped halfway into the trap, backed out, then cautiously stepped in again.
Then, just before the trap door snapped shut, I saw something move to my left. I could not believe what I was seeing.
A tiny black kitten was slowly running toward the trap and caught up to its mother. My heart was definitely racing now! I could not believe what I was seeing! I did not know, in all the months of trying to rescue this cat, that she had a baby!
The trap door slammed shut with the mother tuxedo cat inside, and the little kitten bolted. Startled by the noise, she scurried around the trap, darted under my truck, ran out the other side, and disappeared through a small hole in the concrete wall.
I just sat there.
What?
What had just happened?
My mind was spinning.
The beautiful tuxedo cat that animal control rescued weeks prior had either a parent or sibling tuxedo cat living with it in the parkade.
The other thing on my mind was ~ now that I just caught baby’s mother, what do I do? Let the mother cat out of the trap so she can feed and protect her baby?
I had a situation! I had to figure this out.
I still had the second humane trap sitting beside me. It was around 11:30 in the morning when I caught the mama cat, and I waited in my truck for the next three hours, hoping the kitten would approach her mother and walk into the second trap.
She never did.
Eventually, I had to make a decision. The animal control office would soon be closing.
With a heavy heart, I loaded the mother cat into my truck and drove her to the animal control facility. I filled out an adoption form so that I could return to pick up the mother cat, but first I had to rescue her baby!
After completing the cat adoption paperwork, I wrote the cat’s name at the top of the form. Her name was Paulee, in remembrance of the hospital parkade name, where I rescued her from. I told the warden that when I returned with the kitten, I would adopt both of them. She told me that was a wonderful thing to do. I felt good about that.
So my plan was to adopt both cats – the mother and the baby, and bring them back to my home and give them a good life! What I didn’t know at the time was ~ my plan wasn’t going to go as expected ~ another important part of Pebbles’ history.
I left the animal control facility with a copy of the adoption papers for Paulee in my hands. I tucked it into my purse and headed back to the parkade in an attempt to rescue the baby next. As I drove into the parkade, I hoped the baby kitten would be in the trap.
It wasn’t.
I waited in my truck on the opposite side of the parkade, staring through the windshield and watching for any sign of movement for hours.
Waiting. Wishing. Praying. Hoping for any glimpse of a tiny black ball of fur.
She never showed herself that evening.
I finally left the parkade just before midnight after spending more than five hours waiting for her.
I was emotionally exhausted.
Within one week, I had unknowingly taken two adult cats away from a tiny kitten who was likely her only protector. I should say, I call Pebbles “her” but at this point in time I did not know if the kitten was a male or female.
I felt sick about it.
Over the next several weeks, I met several hospital staff members who were also trying to rescue the cats living in the parkade before the bitter winter weather returned. I didn’t ask most of the staff their names, but I did get one of them. Con, I’ll call you Con for short. Thank you for your time and efforts in trying to save some of the cats living in the parkage ~ you know who you are!
Months passed, and I was becoming exhausted. I never like to complain, because I believe the energy we portray comes back at us, but reality is ~ I was working 2 FTE’s, which I worked since 2017, and prior to that I had 5 jobs for the prior 8 years; but this was different. I wasn’t just workig a full time day job at the hospital, and a full time night job out of my home for a concrete construction company (which had me working 6pm to 9pm M-F and days Saturday and Sundays), I was also getting up much earlier every moring for over three months to check on kittie in the parkade before work, then returning again after my day job; and again after I closed down my night job around 9pm, so I’d leave my house between 9pm and 9:30pm every day to hopefully find kittie in the trap. It took me about 25 min to get to the parkade, and another 25 min return, so my quest every night to find kittie took about an hour and a half, returning between 11:00 and 11:30pm every single workday. Every single work day!!!!
I was burning out! But, I had to find kittie!
My exhaustion wasn’t as critical as the kitten’s survival, so I never once missed the morning run, afternoon run or evening run to and from the parkade!
Then, one more obstacle faced me that nearly ended my opportunity to rescue Pebbles! I cried that night! It was a very sad day!
I retired from the hospital in mid-July that year, which meant I lost prox access to the parkade where kittie was trying to survive. I had a trap buried inside a concrete foundation hole, and needed parkade access to replenish food and water, and rescue the kitten should it get caught in the trap. No one else knew it was there, so if I didn’t check the trap three times a day, and couldn’t get access ~ it could die a slow, painful death from starvation. That was never going to happen on my watch.
I either had to take the trap out of the parkade, or ask for continued access.
I asked for continued access, and was denied!
I then contacted Con, from the hospital, to ask if he could check the trap for me after I retired and lost parkade access. He said he would do so if he could; however, he was going to be off work, so he was unfortunately unable to help!
I spent the last several days before my retirement communicating with the parkade manager, who was adamant about not extending my parkade access. I felt crushed ~ I was between a rock and a hard place.
I went to the parkade on the morning of the 13th ~ my last work day was on the 15th, so I had two days to rescue the kitten! Kittie was still not in the trap.
I downloaded some photos of the baby kitten from images captured by my game camera and sent the photos to the parkade manager.
The photo you see on the right was taken several weeks later
After about a week of communicating the the regional parkade manager, and promising him I am not asking for parkade access to park in the parkade ~ I merely need to go in around 5:30 am before work, 5:00 pm after work (after my new day job ends), and at the end of the evening between 9:30 and 10:30 pm ~ each for about five to seven minutes to check the humane trap, clean up any spills and top up food and water, then leave, he finally authorized me access for a one-week extention.
I HAD ONE WEEK MORE! OMG!
So happy, but yet so panicky! It was a rollercoaster of emotions, to say the least.
Over the next few days, I continued my rotation of early morning, after work and before bedtime runs to and from the parkade, and that first weekend, from around 7:30am to after midnight Saturday and Sunday ~ sitting in my truck in the parkade… literally all day and all night, watching and waiting.
I had a few game camera discs so every time I checked the trap, I would switch out the disc in the game camera that I also set out. The game camera was propped up against a chunk of concrete brick on the left side of the “hole in the wall” which you can see in the photo above. The trap was in the hole on the right. The game camera was in the hole on the left.
Still no kittie!
Although I had been given one more week’s access to his parkade! Monday came and went!
Tuesday came and went!
Wednesday came and went!
Thursday too has come and gone!
Friday came and went!
I still had parkade access as of Friday at around 5:00pm ~ another relief of emotions.
Saturday morning, I got up early and drove to the parkade ~ I got in! I pulled into the parkade and backed up my truck on the left side of the lower-level ramp, facing the hole in the wall where kittie was living, as usual.
I checked the trap, and water had spilled, and food was gone, but no sign of kittie.
I waited for hours ~ still no sign of kittie. The morning passed, and I was getting hungry, but I was prepared, thinking that if I lost parkade access, I would not be able to drive out of the parkade and get back in, so I packed a lunch, coffee, bottled water and extra snacks. I didn’t think much of it when I was making my lunch and snacks, but I needed it! I spent the entire day there without any luck in seeing kittie.
Around 2:00pm, I left my truck in the parkade and walked about 4 blocks to a McDonald’s restaurant to use the washroom, then walked back to the parkade. My plan was … if my prox card no longer worked for me to access the parkade, I would wait for a hospital staff member, volunteer, physcian or other healthcare employee to open the door. Medical staff, including facility workers, protective services workers, porters, nurses, physicians, and others, walk to and from the parkade regularly throughout the day and night, so I knew I would eventually get back into the parade on foot. I just didn’t know whether or not I’d get my truck back in.
I stayed in my truck, with the window rolled down, listening for any sign of kittie, for the next 7 to 8 hours. Insane, I know!
I had several staff walk up to me asking what I was doing there ~ some saw me sitting in my truck on their way to work, then saw me still sitting in my truck on their way back to their vehicle after their 8 or 12-hour shift. I started to feel like a criminal ~ up to no good, but I just told anyone who asked questions ~ “I’m trying to rescue a baby kitten!”
Saturday came and went!
I left the parkade after midnight that Saturday, feeling depleted! I was so sad, and honestly, I will admit ~ I was mad at myself. I took what I believed to be the baby’s mama and papa away from her or him! Likely, the only protectors the baby had were at animal control, and I was to blame!
Okay, I didn’t take the first cat, which I believe was a male tuxedo cat, but I did take the mother tuxedo cat, which was definitely baby’s mama! You get my sadness!
Then there was Sunday!
I remember sleeping in that morning, not by choice, but I was exhausted and literally slept through my alarm! I got up around 10:00am, got dressed, put on coffee to go and headed out the door in anticipation of what I might ~ or might not ~ find in the trap.
I got to the parkade, and the overhead door opened! Oh, Thank God! My exact words!
I got in!
Another very long and exhausting day came and went! No baby kittie on Sunday!
Monday, I had to work so once again, I set my alarm for 4:30am and headed to the parkade and to my surprise ~ the overhead door opened! I got into the parkade, again! What a relief! Anticipating whether or not I’ll be locked out of the parkade was a roller coaster in itself, if I can be honest.
I did have a backup plan if I got to the parkade to find out that my parkade prox card access was shut off, which was to talk to any one of the several Protective Services officers at the hospital, whom I worked with for many years ~ all of whom know me, to ask them to walk me back to the parkade so I can check the trap! Any one of them would do so ~ I believed!
Since I knew my access to the parkade was running out ~ and I was most likely overdue on my access, I sent the parkade manager a few more photos. I can’t recall exactly which ones I sent him, but I did send him a few more asking for more time! He knew the good intentions I had, and I knew that he understood I was not trying to gain access to park there ~ I was simply trying to rescue a baby kitten.
Monday afternoon I messaged the regional parkade manager again to say thank you! You know who you are! I still thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting in me and my efforts to rescue the baby kitten. Thank you for allowing me a little more time to access the parkade to try and rescue the kittie.
I got one more week of parkade access ~ THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Tuesday ~ came and went! Wednesday ~ came and went!
By mid-week, I returned to the parkade after work, which I had been doing for a few months now, and had this small male cat in one of the traps. He was the black cat I was trying to capture for so long. I was so happy about that.
I transferred him into a portable kennel I had in my truck, so I could leave the cat trap inside the parkade. In order to get him from the kennel and into my truck, I tossed the green towel, which you can see in the photo, over his head and carried him. He struggled to get away, but I was not letting him go. This beautiful cat was going to have a warm place to live, with lots of food and safety.
I am so happy to say that he was adopted into a home by someone who wanted to care for him. The animal control facility would not tell me if he was adopted by one person, or a family or possibly a couple, but that didn’t matter. He was safe.
As I signed this cat into the animal control facility, I asked to see Paulee, but they would not let me in the back to see her.
I told the warden at the front desk that I would be back, hopefully soon, with the kitten, at which time I would adopt both of them ~ Paulee the mother, and the baby kitten, who did not yet have a name. Then I left.
Thursday, I got up early as usual, around 4:30am, but again, no kittie! I went to work ~ which reminds me, I don’t think I told you yet that after retiring from the hospital, where I worked 27 years, I took on a day job at the University of Saskatchewan, so I still worked!
I went to work that Wednesday, and after work that afternoon I drove straight to the parkade to check on kittie to no avail. I knew the kitten was still alive because I could see it on my game camera, as you can tell from the photos. It was also eating the food and drinking the water I set out. Kittie would go into the trap, step over the trap lever and back out again without triggering the trap door trigger. This kitten was the cleverest kitten ever ~ or maybe just overly cautious and living in survival mode!
Then there was Thursday, the early morning and later afternoon passed without any sight of the baby kitten. I drove back to the parkade that evening, after finishing up my night home office job, which was about 11:30pm, not expecting any results whatsoever.
I drove into the parkade, backed up against the right side of the lower level parkade wall, got out of my truck to walk towards the opposite side where the hole is in the wall, and instandly hear a noise.
Something rattled!
I walked up to the hole in the concrete wall, and there was instant panic!
The cat trap was rattling; something was inside of it and freaking out. I knelt down and shone a flashlight inside and saw a black cat. I couldn’t tell if it was the baby or another cat.
I put on a pair of gloves, reached in, grabbed the trap, and wiggled the trap out of the hole in the concrete wall. The entire time I maneuvered the trap to get it out of that cold concrete hole, the animal frantically flipped around in fear. I felt horrible that it was so scared, but I had to keep doing what I was doing to get it out of there, and to safety.
I got the trap out of the concrete hole, but to get it out, I had to tip the trap over at an angle so the trap would fit through the hole, and as I did that, the cat inside was tipped onto its side, along with the food dish and water that had spilled out. But, I had to get it out, which I did.
It was a baby!
It was a black baby!
I cried! Literally, as I picked up that cat trap in both hands, with my gloves still on, and carried it to my truck ~ I was crying. I don’t even recall my thoughts, other than I was crying and had to get it home! I didn’t even remember to grab my game camera, which I knew all along to do if I caught the kittie. But at that point in time, I was mentally and physically exhausted, and I didn’t even remember I placed a game camera there!
I put the trap and kittie in the back seat of my truck. Seats were raised, so kittie was on the floorbed, but in my back seat area. Finally safe from harm ~ hunger, thirst, prey, cold ~ safe!
I started my truck and quite quickly realized how smelly the kittie was. She was stinky to say the least.
I rolled my window down the entire drive home because the smell was so strong. She was so dirty, I can’t even explain how poor a condition she was in.
I got her home, put her in my bathroom, let her out of the kennel and she raced around in pure panic for several minutes – up onto the toilet, up onto the counter, under the counter, up and in the bathtub, and to my surprise, she jumped so high up onto the bathroom bathtub tile wall, she almost made the jump up to the upper raised window in the shower! But it was to high for her to reach so she fell back down with a thug.
Poor kittie.
I tried to catch her without luck, so I sat down and stayed still for a bit until she calmed down. I eventually caught her, held her tight in my arms while I filled the bathtub with warm water and a small squirt of my mild shampoo.
She was so filthy, so stinky, her fur was wet and cold, she scratched both of my arms and scratched my stomach through my clothes, all in an attempt to get away. I felt horrible for her, but I knew she was safe with me. This terrified, cold, hungry and frantic kittie did not know the beautiful life she was about to live!
Pebbles ~ WELCOME HOME!
Pebbles’ fight for survival was over!
I gently bathed her, wrapped her in warmth, and gave her a quiet, safe place to rest. The photos above are taken immediately after her bath. She calmed right down and ended up falling asleep on the towel. She obviously was also exhausted from whatever ordeals she went through after her mother was taken ~ by me ~ I know!
That night, after she finally ate and drank, I knew she was going to make it.
The next morning I called animal control to tell them I caught the baby kitten and was going to bring her in for a health check and adopt her and her mother. To my surprise, I was told the mother was not adoptable. She was a feral cat, and for that reason, she was no longer adoptable.
I left the kitten at home and drove down to the animal control facility to ask them to please let me see Paulee. I told them I have another cat that was believed to be feral, and I rehabilitated her. I told them it was important to reunite the mom and baby so they could be together again. It was at that time that I realized my plan to adopt Paulee was never going to happen.
I was told that the mother cat was no longer at the animal control facility. I asked where she went, and the lady said she was likely put down.
They euthanized the mom, even though I had brought her in myself, and had filled out the adoption paperwork! I even named her. I am so sorry Paulee, and I am so sorry Pebbles! So sorry!
Let’s move along to happier thoughts!
Today, Pebbles is thriving.
She is playful, affectionate, adventurous, and has become the sweetest little camping companion imaginable.
Every time I look at her, I think about that tiny kitten crying alone in a cold concrete parkade and how close she came to never being found.
Then I smile, because somehow, after three and a half months of searching, we found each other.
And that’s why her name is Pebbles.
Look At Me Now! 🖤
Pebbles has a new story ~ a new beginning! 🐾
The frightened kitten who once slept among freezing concrete rubble now curls up in warm cozy blankets in a DIY cat room with two other kind-hearted cats ~ Kenzie and Talula.
Pebbles came into my life shortly after I lost Shawnee, my beautiful, kind, patient and loyal point siamese cat, due to stage 4 kidney disease. I was heartbroken when I lost Shawnee. She was 15.
Pebbles did not replace Shawnee, but she sure did fill a hole in my heart and eased the pain in loosing her.
Pebbles had a difficult start in her journey, but she is now surrounded by safety, comfort, toys, love, and peace.
Her bright eyes now sparkle with curiosity instead of fear.
Her tiny body no longer shivers from cold nights alone.
Now she naps beneath soft mobiles, cuddles into cozy beds, follows me camping beneath the stars, and fills our home with so much joy.
Every rescued pet deserves this kind of ending.
Pebbles reminds me daily that healing takes patience, love, consistency, and hope. Rescue animals may begin their stories in darkness, but with compassion, their lives can transform into something truly beautiful.
And honestly?
Sometimes the animals we save end up saving us too. 🐾🖤
Hi, I’m Pebbles! I love my cozy home and am so happy with my new life! 🐾🖤 🐾
Pebbles, I love you so much!
I am so relieved that I was able to rescue you from the bitterly cold, dirty and wet concrete parkade.
I love that you are settling into your new cozy home with me and the other pets, and finding comfort here!
I love that the other black cat, which could have been your dad, was also rescued and is living with people!
I am hopeful your story will encourage others to help rescue other cats and kittens in need.
You are special, to say the least!
To our readers ~ from our home to yours, we hope you find comfort here too! 🐾🖤 🐾 ~ Rosemary
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