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Last year, on the day before Thanksgiving, a friend of mine was waiting for his car when one of the parking valets complained a cat was crying in the garage.

"How long has it been up there?" Norman asked.

"Two or three days."

"What! You can't leave a cat up there," Norman fumed. "There's no food or water source and it's freezing out."

Norman went up to the garage, and after a few calls of "psst psst", a tiny kitten popped out from beneath a car. Norman said her fur had been turned a grayish color by the exhaust fumes. He tried to grab her, but she kept darting underneath cars.

Eventually, he saw some rattan furniture the hotel was moving out and rubbed his nails over the cushions. No kitten could resist that sound, and when she came running up, Norman snatched her and took her home.

At first, she was bewildered by her new surroundings and terrified of his Pomeranian. Still, she was grateful for a large bowl of food and water before taking a long nap.

When she woke up, the kitten's true mischievous personality emerged. Far from being scared, she took to riding the bewildered dog all over the house in a feline version of horseback. Since she was feeling better, Norman gave her a bath. Clean, she proved to be a long-haired white calico with a bushy, orange tail any fox would envy. At my suggestion, she was named Toulouse, for the street where the parking garage is located.

Norman and his wife meant to keep Toulouse, but she couldn't resist tormenting the family parakeets. At every opportunity, she leapt on their cage and tried to poke her paws through.

I was happy to take Toulouse, though she and my own black calico, Sasha, experienced instant hate. Nowadays, there's a grudging peace treaty where each ignores the other's existence.

Other Thanksgivings are great, but nothing could match finding the wonderful, sweet cat that came into our lives last year. 

Story submitted by Trisha from New Orleans, Louisiana.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!