Miss Kitty arrived at Critter Care in May of 2000 as a small orphaned baby. At first Miss Kitty seemed exactly like any other orphaned baby, but as she grew up something seemed wrong. Miss Kitty’s legs weren’t growing like they should. She also started having seizures. Test determined that Miss Kitty had epilepsy – which accounted for the seizures, and her stunted growth was caused by having distemper in vitro. After much debate it was decided to keep Miss Kitty at Critter Care as a permanent resident. She would have never survived in the wild.

For the next 11 years Miss Kitty would serve as a surrogate mom to over 50 orphaned raccoon babies. Each year, once hand raised babies reached a certain age, they were integrated in with Miss Kitty and she would show them how to eat slugs, snails, and catch fish. When the babies would get out of hand Miss Kitty wouldn’t hesitate to break up fights and put them in their place. If you tried to catch one of her babies to vaccinate or medicate, Miss Kitty would protect them. When it was time for the babies to be released they were always capable little raccoons.

As the years passed, Miss Kitty developed arthritis. It became harder and harder for her to move around, and she would just sleep most of the time. Miss Kitty’s medication helped prevent her from having seizures, but with old age more health problems emerged. One day in June 2011, when staff went to check on Miss Kitty they realized that she had had a stroke. With heavy hearts Miss Kitty had to be put down.

During her time at Critter Care Miss Kitty touched the lives of many staff, interns, and volunteers. Her presence is constantly missed.