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I was playing with my dogs in my fenced-in front yard after work at about 1 a.m. when they stopped to listen. I heard it, too: an insistent meow coming from the darkness. I put the dogs away, opened a can of tuna, and put it down on the sidewalk just outside the gate. A young kitten appeared out of the shadows, devoured the tuna, and stood there staring. I filled the empty can with water, and it drank most of that, too. Then it went away.

The next night when I came home from work, the kitten was sitting next to the gate. This time it calmly ate the tuna while completely ignoring the dogs who were still in the yard just behind the fence. Oddly enough, none of the six barked. The third night, I didn't see the kitten. I roughhoused with dogs for a while, put them away, and just as I was about to turn off the porch lights, I heard it again, VERY loud.

PHOTO: ALICIA GELABERT

Started out with more tuna, but the kitten was just outside the door, and when I opened it, she ignored the food, went past my feet into the house, drank from one of the dog bowls, and informed me that she wasn't a cat at all but a dog born in the wrong skin, and she became part of the pack.

My dogs were all rescues and different sizes, so while there was a large dog door leading from the garage to the back yard, there was also a tiny one from the garage to the laundry room through which only the two small dogs could fit. This was so they could get away from the big dogs if they got too rambunctious. The cat-dog quickly learned to use both doors and leave through the dog areas and over the fence into the front yard where she preferred to do her business. Even though she sometimes slept inside the house, she disdained the litter box I set up in the utility room.

I had a heck of a time getting her to eat cat food instead of dog kibble. She's older now and I'm retired, but she still prefers to go out during the day and come in at night. And to play with the four dogs that are still alive. I tried introducing her to the neighbor's cats (all, including mine, are fixed, of course) but she just hissed and ran away. Doesn't want to be reminded of her catness.

PHOTO: ALICIA GELABERT

Story submitted by Alicia Gelabert.

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