Ellie’s Story
On August 24th 2009, I (Martina Clements) had just come home from work and saw a very pretty, but pathetic looking kitty run across the parking lot. I decided I would try to see if she was friendly and offered her my hand. She came over and checked me out but was quickly scared away by some kids skateboarding. I then called my husband and had him bring some dry food down to see if I could interest her as well as a cat carrier so that we could take her to the Humane Society. She came quite easily for the food and we put her in the car carrier. I then attempted to take her to the Humane Society, but they would not admit her as she was a stray. So I begged my husband to let us keep her until we could get a rescue to take her.
Unfortunately (but definitely fortunately), there were no rescues that could take her. After three days, I finally convinced my husband to take her to the vet to get her shots so we could introduce her to our other cats. We were blessed to get her a clean bill of health and this dainty little southern belle we decided to call Ellie-May entered our lives.
At our vet visit, we were told that they couldn’t tell if Ellie was pregnant, but they didn’t think she was, however she should cycle into heat within three weeks, so we should be able to tell. Three weeks came and went and there was no heat. I decided she was pregnant – my husband still didn’t believe. As time passed, it was quite evident from Ellie’s size that she was indeed pregnant, so we fed her well and fattened her up and watched our little mama grow (and I call her the little mama because she herself was only eight months old when we found her).
On October 17th, Ellie woke up acting a little bit strange. She had always kind of yelled at us and never really meowed, but she was giving us the sweetest little meows we had ever heard. She was also extremely uncomfortable and shifting around whenever she would lay down. It was amazing because we could see the kittens moving and it looked as though she was having contractions. Ellie then started acting very strangely and tried to bury herself under my shoes in the closet. It was then that we knew she was in labor. Despite the very nice “birthing room” that I tried to give Ellie, complete with her own box and blanket, she was headstrong to do things her own way. Ellie decided that she wanted to give birth to her kittens behind our sofa in the guest room. And so it was.
Ellie gave birth to Dominic (at that time Domino since we weren’t sure of the sex) at around 2.30pm (and she didn’t sound like she was too happy or comfortable) and immediately took to being a mother. About 50 minutes later came baby #2, who we affectionately called Sarah (at the time, we called her Pinky because she looked so small and pink). My husband was convinced that she was done, but I swore that there was three kittens. Over an hour later, Ellie gave birth to the runt, our little Cole and so the happy family was formed.
In seeing this wonderful miracle and in witnessing Ellie’s transformation from “feral” cat to sweet mother-of-three, my heart saw a huge need to help stray and feral animals get spayed and neutered and prevent kitties like this from ending up on the street. While we knew that Ellie was a wonderful Mom, we also wanted to take care of and provide for her and the kittens, even though we were “Not The Mama”. So the idea for Not The Mama was born.
Formation of Not The Mama
About a month after the kittens were born, I felt strongly that I needed to start an organization to do several things:
- To provide spay and neuter services for “feral” cats and dogs.
- Eventually taking overflow from kill shelters and placing animals in forever homes.
- Making sure that no animal is left behind or forgotten, regardless of their situation or behavior and realizing that no animal will ever be put down as a part of Not The Mama for behavioral issues. (See Oreo’s Law)
At that point I contacted a good friend and fellow animal lover Samantha Whelan. I told her about my desire and what I was looking to do and asked how she would feel about being the Vice President of Not The Mama. She said yes and Not The Mama was born. Our vision is to have facilities within the next ten years that can house animals (from domestic to farm animals) for rehabilitation, medical care and temporary residence until they find their permanent home, but with the understanding that Best Friend’s Animal Shelter exists by, which is that if an animal can not find a forever home with a family, they will be given one at our rescue.
