We’ve had an odyssey of sorts with some feral cats in our yard. Well over a year ago, we had a small cat come up and we felt so bad for it, we started feeding it. That kept up for several months and then it left, but came back with a little kitten. It was so so cute. These cats were all black and one of them had extra toes on its front paws.
Well, we started feeding the kitten and the larger cat stopped coming by. Then there was a gap and then the former kitten brought two more little black kittens with it. You could tell they were all related by the coloring and again, one of them had more toes.
We vowed to take them in for spaying and didn’t realize how quickly cats could breed. About two months ago, an air conditioner repairman warned that there were some feral kittens by the air conditioner and that they didn’t look too good. Sadly, there were 5, including one solid grey cat. By the time we got there, two were gone and sadly the other two passed that night even as we tried to take care of them.
It was a very sad and sobering moment. As for the grey one, it was larger than the four that passed and the mommy cat came and took it away.
Little did we know there were two other kittens as well. Over the weeks we’ve continued to feed the mommy cat and her sibling. About two weeks ago, the sibling brought up the grey kitten and left it at our door, much like cats do as a gift. We were baffled by that behavior and did our best to protect the little one by placing it in a cat bed where it curled up to sleep.
Luckily, mommy cat came about half an hour later and took the kitten back home.
We knew that if we had any chance of domesticating these kittens, we could not wait long to capture them and get them to the right people/shelter. Also, we do want to get the older cats spayed so as to avoid more feral animals.
Last night, the entire family was playing and hanging out on the deck, but as I passed by later that night, I noticed the grey one all alone and curled up in a pot.
I went over and it was sleeping, so I thought, time to see if it’s okay and if so, bring it in.
Well, it is okay and adapting to being held, etc. It could be that the kittens see us petting and taking care of the older ones. They started coming to the door to feed yesterday and have been spending a lot of time on the deck.
We’ll have to figure out what to do with them later. For right now, we’ve got a new kitten that we’re getting adapted to indoor life and we’ll have to take him to the vet. It is a him which will be new for me. I’ve always had female cats.
So far he has no name. We’ll have to decide on one later! Any suggestions? He’s all grey and the runt of the litter for sure. In the second picture, you can see that he fell asleep trying to climb back into the bed.
When I decided to write a story about twentysomethings who had to make tough choices, it was difficult to find the kinds of professions where the hero and heroine might have to choose between love and their careers.
