Anne Bonny, pirate cat

This is the story of Anne Bonny, the kitten found on a highway in Adams County, Washington, September 19, 2023.

Staff from Adams County Pet Rescue just happened to be driving by and saw this 5-week-old kitten trotting along the road. She ran right up to them. They took pictures.

They wrote: “This little kitten needed help and by perfect coincidence, was in the middle of a county road when we were driving by. We named her Anne Bonny after a fierce female pirate. Don’t read further if you have a weak stomach. Anne Bonny had such an infected eye that once the gunk was cleaned off and opened up, her eye actually fell out onto the exam table. The good news is that she’ll heal up and will adjust to having only one eye. It’s tough on these cats with upper respiratory infections and all the pain it causes. This little one is one of the lucky ones.”

Once I saw the photo of Annie trotting down the road with her tail in the air, I knew she was the cat for us! I called Adams County Pet Rescue, made a donation for her care, and went to their website to fill out an extensive adoption form.

After interviewing all my references, they said we could adopt her—but that they wanted to wait several weeks until she was up to 2 pounds and could be spayed.

Our Seattle vet, Lisa, does frequent spay-and-neuter clinics for Adams County Pet Rescue. (In fact, she’s who had re-posted their post with Annie’s photo.) She went over that weekend to do a clinic, and brought Annie back to Seattle after assuring them that she’d spay Annie here.

Here we are picking up Annie at Lisa’s house:

Fortunately, we’d already purchased a zip-up doorway screen (attached with Velcro) so a closet in my office could be set up as the kitty room. We quickly installed the screen, got a small cat tree, and installed three cat beds and a Kitty Poo litterbox. Annie took to her new home immediately and astonished us by never meowing, even during the night. Of course, the other cats wandered in and out of my office and look at her, so she knew she isn’t alone.

Her second day we put pet gates over the stairs and let her loose on the main floor, which she explored enthusiastically. She soon had favorite toys (crinkle toys and a long fleece snake). By her fourth day, she was willing to sleep in my lap.

Most of our cats ignored her, but Toby was willing to play with her. We think they get way too rough, so only allow it when we can supervise:

Lisa consulted with veterinary eye specialists, and they will be closing up Annie’s empty eye socket when she is six months old (EDIT: they later decided one year). Until then, she will be on and off antibiotics to prevent infection. We do her meds morning and night and thus far she seems just fine with oral medicine and a topical ointment.

Annie, from a long line of feral/barn cats, has the most intense prey drive imaginable. Given a rabbit-fur mouse, she can focus on that one toy for as long as 90 minutes:

November—Annie is growing rapidly; everyone thought she’d be a medium-hair or longhair cat, but it looks like she’s going to be a very sleek shorthair. In this photo, she’s 12 weeks old, about 3.5 pounds.

Annie loves to race around on our furniture, so we’ve covered the sofa and chaise, bought her some cat trees, and this pirate ship, which also doubles as a toy chest:

November, 2023—My friend Janka brought flowers. Annie was interested, but careful.

Nov 7, 2023—Headed to the grocery store this afternoon, Tom went to put on his shoes and discovered that Annie had put her tiny toy mouse in one of the shoes. He removed the mouse and went to the store. When he came home and went to switch back to his slippers he discovered the mouse was now in a slipper. He took it out. When he headed out to get us dinner, he checked and, yes, there was now a mouse in his shoe.

2024

Jan 20, 2024—Five months old. We remember when she couldn’t climb into this cat tree! She’s scheduled to be spayed next week…

Jan. 22. 2024—Annie in the front window.

April 7, 2024—We bought this izakaya playhouse for the other cats last year, but they never showed much interest. Annie is taking charge:

April 15, 2024—Annie the Pirate Kitten is rapidly becoming Annie the Pirate Cat. Here, she’s contemplating going overboard.

April 19 ,2024—Annie is delighted to discover that her new catio comes completely equipped with bugs. It’s a 6’ cube; I’m in it in an Adirondack chair and we will be adding a cedar climbing structure for her.

May 1, 2024—We secure Annie in her screened room every night at about 10 PM. (This prevents her from chasing the older cats around the house all night.) Tonight Tom went to bed early and I stayed up late writing. At 10:10 PM Annie led me to her room, got into her cat tree, and waited for me to bring her fresh water and a little dry food and zip up the screen door. This is a remarkably easy cat to manage.

May 31, 2024—A little cat appeared in the sideyard today that looked just like Annie the Pirate Kitten. Unfortunately, it WAS Annie. We are debating how she got out of the house. And, of course, this happened on a day when there are two shipping containers on the street (the neighbors two houses down are moving to Australia). Knowing that Mr. Tippy is running around while people are packing shipping containers is nerve-wracking. We keep checking his tracking device.

June 18, 2024—Annie in atypical “rest” mode.

June 25, 2024—Annie gets a catio umbrella! Tom took this photo from his Adirondack chair in the catio.

Aug. 20, 2024—Annie has suddenly become a lap cat. She is extraordinarily good at it. The other cats, non-lap cats, are glaring at her. She also sits on necks and shoulders. Perhaps in her previous life she was a boa?

Sept. 10, 2024—Annie, recovering from her eye-socket-closure operation. Photo by Tom’s brother Charlie. (Annie did not seem to notice anything had happened.)

Sept. 18, 2024—Today we celebrate the one-year anniversary of Anne Bonny’s rescue out on the road in Adams County, Washington. The first picture is Annie at five weeks old, with a severely infected face, running up to their car for help. I saw this snapshot of her with her tail in the air and I knew we had to adopt her. Thank you, Adams County Pet Rescue

Sept. 30, 2024—An update on the Pirate Kitten, who is now a Pirate Cat. She had a successful operation to clean and close her eye socket, and is now stitched up. The post-op instructions were for her to wear a plastic cone 24/7 for seven days. She had it off the following morning—and never once touched her stitches. That’s our Annie!