Every day this cat brings gift for woman who was kind to her
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00:00 She would scratch and attack.
00:02 I had bite marks and claw marks all over my legs.
00:05 My husband wanted me to get rid of her.
00:07 I'm Connie, and this is Juno's story for GeoBeats.
00:10 A family friend posted that this feral mother
00:13 had kittens under their house.
00:15 And once the kittens were--
00:16 I don't even think they had their eyes open.
00:18 They didn't see the mother.
00:19 The mother abandoned the kittens.
00:21 When we brought Juno home, she was always attacking.
00:29 [CRUNCH]
00:30 My veterinarian said, definitely there's some issues there.
00:33 And they said, well, you know, she's young.
00:35 She'll grow out of it.
00:36 But it never really seemed to happen.
00:38 We weren't sure how to handle them.
00:40 My husband actually wanted me to get rid of her
00:42 because he didn't like her interaction
00:44 with the dog or my daughter.
00:46 [MEOW]
00:48 When she was about three months,
00:49 I started taking her outside with us monitoring her.
00:53 And for some reason, that kind of relaxed her eagerness
00:56 to want to jump and attack.
00:58 Within six months, she became a more easier cat to be around.
01:02 And she looked at it like, this is where I need to be.
01:07 She became an indoor/outdoor cat.
01:10 There she is.
01:12 Hi.
01:14 In 2019, I noticed things showing up in my backyard--
01:18 kids' toys, balls, gloves.
01:22 I just really thought it was kids throwing
01:23 things in the backyard.
01:25 Then I heard this meowing.
01:26 And I looked, and she had grabbed
01:28 a pair of baby infant leggings through the pet door
01:32 and down the hall.
01:34 That's when I realized all that stuff that
01:36 was coming to our house and our yard were brought to us by her.
01:40 When we started hearing her meows,
01:42 we knew she had something that she was bringing home.
01:46 She brings it home, announces that she has a gift,
01:49 and letting us know that she loves us.
01:50 Oh, god.
01:52 Really?
01:53 The louder the meow, the more proud she is.
01:56 [meow]
01:57 [meow]
01:57 [meow]
01:59 [meow]
02:01 [meow]
02:03 [meow]
02:04 She will bring the things over the fence from the neighbor's
02:07 yard and drag them across the yard to the back door
02:10 and just meow for someone to come see what she has for us.
02:13 I had one neighbor say, your cat came and got one of my gloves.
02:16 Can I have it back?
02:18 And that's the only person that's
02:19 ever asked for any stuff back.
02:21 [meow]
02:22 [meow]
02:23 At one time, I loaded all the stuff in the wagon
02:25 and door to door asking any of the neighbors,
02:28 did this belong to you?
02:29 Did this belong to you?
02:30 Not anyone except one neighbor said
02:32 he had thrown a reflective safety vest in the trash
02:36 and she had gotten it out of the trash.
02:39 In the 4 and 1/2 years that she's been doing this,
02:41 she's brought home over 1,700 pieces of objects.
02:45 We live in a small coastal town.
02:47 Our population is like 14,000.
02:50 Everybody has embraced her.
02:51 She became our community cat.
02:54 [meow]
02:55 Most of them have enjoyed seeing what she brings home
02:58 and says that she's been helping them clean
03:00 the community up by her actions.
03:02 And if a cat can do this, why can't we?
03:04 We did have her do a run for honorary mayor.
03:08 However, she was disqualified because she wasn't of legal age
03:12 and she wasn't a registered voter.
03:14 We have everything in boxes right now.
03:16 Right now is our plan to change the way
03:18 that she's being treated.
03:20 Right now is our plan for 2024 to go through,
03:23 sort through, and use those things
03:25 that she's taken and give back.
03:27 Even the toys, we can actually clean those up
03:29 and donate those to homeless kids.
03:32 She is very independent.
03:34 Having an indoor/outdoor cat, you have to worry
03:36 about their safety, what they're eating and so forth.
03:39 But I haven't experienced a lot
03:41 with any issues of her getting sick.
03:43 When it's rainy or cold or the elements
03:46 are bad, she's inside.
03:48 She wants to find a nice spot inside to cuddle up.
03:51 She has chosen me as her person.
03:54 She's compassionate.
03:56 When I was going through my radiation,
03:58 she was there with me the whole time.
04:00 And that was a way that she was comforting me.
04:04 I'm getting choked up, I'm sorry.
04:06 I guess it's part of our bonding there.
04:09 She may bring lots of gifts home to me,
04:12 but she's my special gift.
04:14 You had me at meow.
04:16 [meow]
04:22 [music]
04:28 (upbeat music)