I would like to thank Barb Gee, an Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County foster in East Village, for agreeing to take on the little orange kitten I caught, as described in the following, hair-raising adventure.

While I was returning from a doctor's appointment in Reston, I saw an orange tabby male kitten about 8-12 weeks old, running through the intersection of New Dominion Parkway and Town Center Parkway, Reston, Virginia (http://tinyurl.com/29h7jk).  He continued running east down the middle of New Dominion Parkway--a six-lane divided highway--in moderate traffic.

I turned onto New Dominion Parkway and parked my car in the highway with my emergency flashers.  I approached the cat on the lawn beside a parking garage.  He ran toward some trees.  I continued to approach and he jumped a retaining wall into the parking garage.  He was crying loudly.

I climbed into the parking garage and tried to approach it, trilling and calling "kitty kitty."  He continued crying but did not allow me to come closer than 15 feet.  I got down on all fours to try to reassure it.  He ran from under a car to a corner of the garage.

Some women entered the parking garage who had apparently also seen it, and one began to approach him on foot.  He ran back under the car by the retaining wall.  I tried to slowly approach it, blocking the path to the retaining wall.  He then squeezed into a wall crevice between concrete slabs, and I was able to grab him by the scruff and pick him up.  He was still crying, but did not claw or bite.

One of the women helped open my car and unzip the flexible cat carrier I always keep strapped to the rear seat lap belt.  I put the kitten in the carrier, and she zipped him back up.  Then I withdrew my hand and zipped him the rest of the way.

I provided her my email address and website, http://SeniorPetsProgram.org.  She said she could not take him home, because she already has two adult cats.  I said I am a volunteer for the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County, and would see if the kitten could enter the new animal intake system.  I told her to email me for updates.

I wanted to get the cat home immediately, to get him water, a litter box, and a little food if he wanted any.  He appears to be healthy and is continuing to meow.  At a later date I can return to put up "found" posters in the area, and on the Borders community bulletin board nearby.

I am tentatively calling him "Apollo," since he was racing down the highway in broad sunlight.

Apollo loves canned Sheba fish cat food, and was hungrily devouring canned IAMS chicken cat food when I left him this morning.  He plays with a detached squirrel-tail toy from a cat teaser, rolling on his back and kicking it with his rear feet, and bats around a little cat ball.  He peed in his covered litter carrier, then tried to cover it by pawing at the wall.  Finally he got the hang of it, and is now very neat and tidy:  a proper little pooper.

He still cries a good deal--even sometimes while he's eating.  He chirps like a little bird when he tries to cry while he's purring.

The little fellow has been transferred to AWLMC Barb Gee, who will be taking him in for his first vet visit next week.  The Fairfax County Animal Control department has also been notified of a found cat in their jurisdiction.

Our hardworking fosters deserve absolute gratitude and recognition for performing as kitty taxis, veterinary nurses, clean-up crews, adoption presenters, and a thousand-and-one other grueling, invisible duties each and every day of their never-ending commitment to ensure the well-being of every kitty who comes their way.

Visit the League's new, revised website, http://awlmc.org, for more information about the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County (AWLMC), Maryland, or donate at http://awlmc.org/donate.html.

Dave O'Connell
American Senior Cats
Montgomery Village, Maryland