Diana the Wonder Cat wants to raise awareness for rescue animals, and she’s doing it as fabulously as possible.

With the release of the new Wonder Woman movie, I thought it fitting to have Diana the Wonder Cat as our Friday feature. She stands for truth, justice and free treats for all! Okay, so I made that last bit up, but Diana and her family are strong advocates for rescue animals. We’re proud to share their story with you.

“We have 4 rescued furry little girls in our home and each came from a very random yet urgent situation.”

Anne is the fur mom in the house, and her now fiancé Joe was a little hesitant to become an instant cat dad to four little ladies when he first met Anne. Luckily, they won him over, and he is now wrapped around their toe beans!

 “Our eldest at the ripe ‘old’ age of 11.”

Bailey came to live with Anne when she was about a year-and-a-half old back in 2008. She had been returned to PetSmart adoptions from a pretty abusive situation, and one of Anne’s classmates had tried to adopt her after hearing her story. Unfortunately, this classmate already had three other cats and they began to pick on Bailey pretty aggressively, so she asked Anne to take Bailey in until she could find another home for her.

Well, once an animal enters Anne’s house, they are there to stay. Anne fell in love with sweet Bailey and wanted to help her learn to trust again. It took a while, but Bailey became one of the friendliest and most outgoing cats Anne has ever owned. She is a little quirky and slightly klutzy, but she is incredibly affectionate. She also has adopted the mother role with the other cats.

“These little black beauties are affectionately referred to as ‘the ninjas’ and are now 7 years old.”

Anne is a psychologist and one of her first patients found these two when their stray mama cat gave birth to them in her garage. Anne helped the patient get the mother cat spayed and agreed to help find homes for 3 of the 4 babies (the patient kept one – a Siamese).

The other three were a male Siamese and these two (Minou, or “Minnie”, is the tuxedo and Bijou is all black). The male went quickly but nobody seemed to want a black cat, so they became Anne’s and she couldn’t be happier with the decision to keep these little sweethearts!

Bijou Noire means “black jewel” and Cher Minou means “cherished kitten” in French, but they got their ninja nickname from the first night in their new home. Anne had put them in the guest bathroom while she waited to get them cleared by the vet. She went downstairs to grab some food and water for them and when she came back, all 3 of the kittens had disappeared!

The bathroom door was still shut, toilet lid was closed, they weren’t in the tub or cabinets… All of a sudden, she heard tiny meows and discovered they had all crawled through a small hole UNDER the cabinets. She tried to get them out with tuna and was about to grab a crowbar when they finally crawled out. Obviously, she had to kitten-proof the house pretty quickly! The ninja name still fits because they both tend to be a bit skittish around others.

Enter Diana The Wonder Cat

Anne was moving from St. Louis, MO down to South Carolina for her first job after her post-doctoral residency. She stopped at a rest area in Metropolis, IL (home of Superman and Wonder Woman) to take silly photos with a Supergirl cutout when a tiny kitten ran up to her, meowed loudly to her, and then took off across traffic into a bush on the other side of the rest stop.

It was already dark and Anne got worried that the kitten would be hit by a car, so she followed it and coaxed her out of the bushes. The kitten instantly let Anne pick her up and she fell immediately to sleep in Anne’s arms. The poor little thing was exhausted!

Anne tried to contact the local police to see if they could bring the kitten to a no kill shelter. Although the officer was very nice, he said they did not have any city ordinance for picking up animals, so the kitten, who was named Diana the Wonder Cat (after Wonder Woman) [middle name] Louise (after St. Louis) later that night, became Anne’s 4th baby girl.

Based on the area of the rest stop and several inferences from the vet, it seems as though someone had dumped this sweet baby (possibly along with her litter mates) at the rest area. [Diana] was pretty malnourished and had probably been surviving on bugs and rain for a few days. She was guessed to be about 8 weeks old at the time and just turned 4. She is always attached to Anne’s hip, and she has one of the funniest personalities, [providing] constant entertainment!

Creating Awareness For Rescue Cats

Anne created the Instagram account @dianawondercatandfamily (and her Facebook page) to promote awareness of pet rescue.

“There are so many animals out there that need good homes, so Diana and her sisters’ mission is to help people see that you can adopt/rescue really great animals from many different situations, as well as to help them find information and resources about spaying and neutering or where to take a found animal that they cannot keep. Basically, these 4 sweet faces want to promote animal welfare and prove that all lives matter and deserve love!”

We couldn’t agree more!

You can follow Anne and the Wonder Cat family at the links above or visit their Instagram at @dianawondercatandfamily. For more information on how you can become an advocate for stray and feral cats, visit Alley Cat Allies or your local humane society.