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10/03/2005: "The Mews-letter"
It was 10 in the morning, the second day of the movie shoot, on location in downtown Los Angeles. This was also the second day of the big Chatsworth fires and the temperature was already at least 95 degrees and climbing when Todd heard the mewing coming up from the alleyway between the old red-brick buildings. He peeked out the window and saw a little patch of grey fur dragging itself lamely down the alley, mewing as loud as its tiny lungs possibly could. Todd had to go through six different people from the building the shoot was in and the building next door to get the big padlocked gate which blocked off the alleyway opened so he could slip in and scoop up the kitten, saving it from certainly being baked in the hot sun.
Of course everyone squealed and fawned over the little kitty when Todd brought it inside, but the squeals faded to expressions of sadness when they soon discovered that her little back legs didn’t work, they were just floppy and she apparently had never had use of them in her short little life. But yet she tried to motor around, dragging them behind her, her big round eyes curious and full of feistiness.
This is when Bryn, the director, aka my boyfriend, called me at home asking me to look up the local animal shelter, telling me only that they had found a kitten that couldn’t walk and surely would have to be taken in. A short bit later, numbers and addresses in hand, I showed up. He asked if I had seen the kitty and I said no, and that I really didn’t want to. I was expecting, from the tiny bit of info I had, to see a mangled, dirty, half-crushed kitten who needed to be put down and my heart certainly wasn’t up for that on this hot Thursday morning. I wandered into the kitchen where most of the crew was hanging out having bagels and coffee and said hi to everyone. Kari, the assistant production manager and a friend of mine asked me if I had seen the kitty yet and as I said no a little grey head popped up from between the miniature cereal boxes and bagels. I squealed. She was so cute. Those huge slate-blue saucer-eyes looked at me and I melted. Once I realized her will to live and her energy I knew this kitty, back legs or no, would not be going to the pound. 
We all started calling everyone we knew (in the movie biz there are a lot of soft-hearted animal rescue types) determined to find someone who could adopt her or find her a home. Unfortunately there were few return calls due to the rescue operation with the Chatsworth fires. Everyone on the set wanted to adopt her but all of us already had 3 to 5 rescue cats of our own at home. As the day went on she had earned the name Drag Queen (for obvious reasons) and had become the shoot mascot and a furry little bit of sanity in the scorching heat. She would slide around on the floor, legs behind her. The strange thing was that she could twitch her tail around, which made us wonder if she wasn’t really paralyzed like we had thought.
One of the actresses, Cindy, came in and proclaimed her love and vowed to take her home. She had many rescues at home and said she would take care of her. We were a bit wary, not of the actress or her care but of the fact that this was a special-needs kitty and the general concern was that this kitten needed a human with a no-cat or one-cat home who could commit the time she needed. Cindy and her boyfriend were set to take her home after her scene was done for the movie.
