THE ALAMO CAT

THE ALAMO CAT is a true story of a cat that lived at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The story begins when the night guard Zira found a kitten in a tree. He knew it was against the rules to have animals living on the grounds, but he decided to let the kitten stay for one night. The kitten ended up eating his dinner and came back the next night and was waiting for Zira. Zira decided the kitten needed a name so he named her Ruby. Word spread that Zira and Kensey, another guard, were the only two that could touch the kitten. It was agreed that Ruby could live at the Alamo as long as she had her shots every year. Zira agreed to take her to the vet that night. Ruby would wait at the gate every evening for Zira to arrive, she would walk the grounds with him and then share his dinner. One day Zira noticed that Ruby was getting fat, the very next day a veterinarian visited the Alamo and said Ruby was pregnant. Once Ruby had her kittens birth announcements were sent to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The kittens had many visitors including people from the newspaper and the television station. As the kittens grew older, they had to be given away and Ruby had to be spayed. They had no trouble finding homes for the wonderful kittens. After her kittens were gone Ruby made the rounds with Zira again. One night she even protected him from a raccoon and fell into the water ditch. Zira chased the raccoon away and worried about it returning. The next night Zira had off of work, in the morning he received a phone call from Kensey. He told Zira they found Ruby drowned in the ditch, they were not sure what happened to her. Some think the raccoon came back and killed Ruby and others think the mockingbirds chased her. Ruby was buried and given a headstone at the Alamo. Some say you can still hear and sense her presence there.

I chose this book because I live very close to San Antonio, and have visited it many times. I also think it is a very interesting story.