Cat lived in horrible conditions, but here's why rescuers found her on top of a cabinet

Dax lived in a home neighbors referred to as "the paint house." From the outside--which was adorned with old paint buckets, abandoned furniture, tires and other junk--it was obvious all was not well inside.
The picture below says it all. As sometimes happens in these situations, numerous felines also made their home at the ravaged property. Whatever issues the residents were dealing with, they liked cats. Unfortunately, the family managed the cats in the same way they did their other affairs, meaning not very well.
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Luckily, things were able to take a different turn.
Cathy Enns
By the time a local rescue group was called in, the feline population was well over the two dozen mark.
Cathy Enns
The rescue group teamed with similar organizations to begin to evaluate the cats and kittens and place them in foster homes and adoption centers. The group worked through the felines a few at a time from outside to inside the house. They found the kitchen to be one of the most devastated areas of the place, and that's where Dax made her home. But the rescuers almost missed her altogether.
Cathy Enns
Poor Dax was so unsettled by the condition and activities of the house that she had retreated to the cabinets in an attempt to find some calm. The last day the rescue group was slated to be at the paint house one of the team finally spotted her peering out from a cupboard door and scooped her into a carrier, earning a hiss and a swat from a huge, six-toed front paw in the process!
Oh dear--was the cat antisocial? That would make her difficult to place. The rescue organization was further alarmed when a former resident of the house explained that Dax had been known as "grandma," not just because she had given birth to many of the cats in the house, but because she tended to be crabby as well.
Fortunately, Daxie did well in her foster home. She calmed down and began to feel better about life without the chaos of the paint house all around her. It was obvious she had a mind of her own and definite opinions about how things should be--but isn't that what being a mama cat is all about?
Cathy Enns
Mary Jane, a professional woman with a small ranch, stepped forward to adopt Dax. With an accepting attitude about people and animals, Mary Jane let the cat be herself. You may have guessed the first thing Daxie decided to do at Mary Jane's house: rule the kitchen cabinets! She checked them all out and claimed them as hers, inside and out.
Cathy Enns
Of course Daxie enjoys lounging all around Mary Jane's, since she doesn't have to worry about the uncertainties of her former home. But wherever she chooses to hang out, Dax makes it her own. Mary Jane says her new companion enjoys keeping an eye on all corners of the home and has given herself the job of "making sure everything is all right."
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Cathy Enns
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