Hard Felines Spokane Couple Try ‘To Friendly Up’ The Many Wild Cats That Call Their North Side Property Home

Growly Boy was the momentary focus of attention down in a lower part of the pen.

So the cat lady didn’t see it coming. Orange stuck a paw through the chicken wire and sank a claw into her hand.

“Owwww,” said Jean Axtman, turning to confront the culpable cat. “That hurts, you know.”

Orange didn’t look at all contrite.

“He smells that canned food on my hand,” she said with no hint of anger. “He’s wondering where his is.”

It wasn’t the first time she’s been scratched. Won’t be the last.

But for Axtman, the occasional scrape is a small price to pay for the satisfaction she derives from helping some of society’s four-legged outcasts.

“Sometimes they’ll just look at you with this deep, soulful look,” she said. “It’s like they’re saying they appreciate what you’re doing.”

Axtman and her husband, Jack, provide a refuge for stray cats.

Their cluttered back yard in the Chief Garry neighborhood on Spokane’s North Side is home to an amazing array of junk and objects of interest, ranging from a 1963 Studebaker to a couple of chickens and an injured crow they insist is a raven.

It’s also a halfway house for homeless felines.

When asked how many cats she has, Axtman doesn’t stop to count. She just says she doesn’t know.

Operating to an extent under the radar of officialdom, she - like others doing similar rescue work in Eastern Washington and North Idaho - is not eager to invite unwanted scrutiny. And besides, it would take a while to do a headcount.

There’s Sweetie Pie, Emmy, Screamer, Wild Tom, Blackie, Blackie Junior, Pepper Kitty, Granny, Fluffy Girl, Nash, Feisty, First Born, Cross-Eyed Girl, Raggy Muffin and, well, you get the idea.