Tuesday, October 16, 2007

It's a sad day when kittens jump

Here we sit at 11:30 pm in silence. No kitties meowing. Mama cat sad. The story goes like this.
In June we bought our home and moved in. Along with it came a stray young cat. It kept coming up on our deck. It was so skinny so we fed it. We noticed we were feeding it well because it grew fast. Realization came that this sweet cat was pregnant. Great! I thought. I did not even like cats. We are allergic! We had a Siamese once a couple years back but with that breed we had no problems. That cat died from a chocolate ice cream overdose when my 19 yo son left his big custard container in the driveway when he came home from working at Culver's. After that I swore (opps, swearing again. I know, I vow to never swear again) we would never do cats again.
So, here is this fat mama cat. What do we do? Should we call the human society? I did. They keep cats in no kill but are back logged. Some cats and kittens have been there for years! In cages, for years. I would feel terrible if I let this mama cat and kittens live in cages. So I went door to door asking if someone lost a pg cat. they said "If she is pg it isn't ours!"
That kills those options. The day came where she was to deliver. Mama cat lost one kitten (Lolly) that was the runt and the other 5 were fine. Those five turned into the sweetest darned cats ever. I think we fell in love. - yes - I am still in denial you know. Panther (Jed's), Bubbles (Josey's), Poet (Wynter's), Garfunkel (Cheyenne's) and Elmo (Gabby's). The oldest kids each had their own kitten.... for a time. Only for a time we said. They would grow up and find new homes. That day approached and we were getting ideas on what to do with them. Cheyenne's friend wanted Panther so he is on hold until Sunday which is his pick up day. Today was the big day. Why today? The kittens are jumping out of their play center that Dan built in our garage. He made a pen out of dry wall and they had their own little home/area near our garage door. Who knew that at 7 wks they could jump 2.5 feet.
I hated the thought of them getting injured because of jumping over the edge that was a big fall or getting into something in the garage. We put the thinking hats on. We took 3 kittens to the school in a box and walked into the superintendent's office. I told him to take a couple. He declined but it was a good try. Shot down! We drove to the Ford dealership where my husband manages. I called him on my cell telling him that I had a delivery. I told him to take them to his employees and each one who takes a kitten would get a raise. Dan said that would be illegal. Darn! But... a bonus wouldn't be illegal, right? So, as we sat in the van Dan took the box of kittens in. We saw these men ooo'ing and awww'ing over those 3 cute kittens. Dan came back out in 5 minutes and said he thought 2 for sure were taken. By the time I got home Dan called saying to bring more cats because he ran out. lol. All 3 were taken. So still left were Panther awaiting his departure and Elmo. Elmo is a disabled special needs kitty. He has growth problems and a bad rear leg. He loves people and he just wants cuddled. I am not sure what will happen with our lil' Elmo. And poor Sugar. (Yes, we named mama cat Sugar cause she is so sweet). She felt so sad when I came home without her other 3 kittens.
While it is a sad and quiet night I am very relieved and thankful that we found them good homes. My kids were thinking up some serious schemes. My daughter told me about what her friend does to give away free things. It got them thinking. Their parents own the local Little Debbie distribution and when they have extra Little Debbie's they take them to their church and put them under the free sign that is up. Her friend said that they all get taken right away. My kids knew that Little Debbie was a good incentive to get people to take things so they were really contemplating putting these kittens inside of some empty Little Debbie boxes and putting them under the free sign at church. Hmmmm... would that be false advertising? lol On the fun side though, a kitten might have been named Little Debbie!

1 comment:

De said...

That's so funny! I can hear it now..."why is the swiss roll box meowing?!?"

I got a new project in the works over here in my corner of the world. If you get some time you should come over and visit. I'll give you a sneak peak before it hits my blog.