As I was driving up to get the mail and newspaper today, a black cat jumped out of the bushes into the road. It looked just like our small black cat, Mo, who is known to wander, so I pulled over and got out to go get her. Up by the mailboxes is just waaaay too far away for her to be wandering. Mo has a pink tracking collar to help us find her, but I didn't see it as I was getting out of my truck.
When I got out, the black cat started running away, up the road, and two tiny kittens jumped out of the bushes to follow her. Definitely *not* Mo, I thought. Being out in the wild, and on a road, is far too dangerous for little kittens. I cursed the owners that would let them out to run like that. The mom and a black kitten continued to run up the road, but the little grey tiger-striped kitten was closer and chose to dive back into the bushes, and towards a block fence/wall. I went to get her and she started screaming and trying to jump over the wall. Each jump, going straight up, she would make it about 3/4 the way up the 3 foot tall wall and fall straight back down. After three or four jumps, I was too close and she decided to hide in the bush so I wouldn't see her.
But I saw where she fell to and reached in to grab her. She started screaming and shaking, but I held her to my chest and talked softly to her to calm her down. The neighbor that lived behind the wall came out and said that the mother and the kittens were stray/wild and the mother had been running loose and having litters for 2 or 3 years! He even suggested that I give him the kitten and he would wait until he saw the mother wander by and he'd put the kitten back out into the wild to go back to the mother.
Of course, I hated the idea of taking her away from her family, but being out in the wild is no place for a kitten, or a mother, for that matter. There are far too many foxes, cougars, bobcats, owls, predators out here in the country, so I said "No." and went to see if I could locate the mother and the black kitten, but they were far gone into the hills. So I brought the little girl home. I didn't see that I had any other choice but to bring her to safety and keep her. I'm a sucker for little kittens anyways.
She's so tiny! My big girl, Shadow, likes her and allows her to snuggle up. I think the kitten really needs to hear a big purr, so she settled right in to Shadow's tummy.
She's adorable
Here's a better picture with Shadow. The difference in size is remarkable.
And such gorgeous big eyes.
Yup, that's it for me. I'm keeping her! And if I could, I'd catch the mom and brother and keep them safe too!
June 30th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Just went through some kitten drama myself. We used to have dogs (but they got old & died after having a great life at casa del Beckman) and so we did not have an issue with feral cats then. No sooner than the last dog checked out and the feral colony moved in. About a month ago DH heard mewling and we found 3 newborn kits cooking in the AZ sun. I moved them to the shade and waited for mom to come retrive them but after 14 hours she did not come. DH and I stayed up and fed the wee ones every two hours for days. 2 of them died sleeping on DHs chest, I found a nursing momcat, but the third one died & broke the foster mom's heart too. So I resolved to deal with the feral cat population. We trapped 6 cats in all, 2 adult females, an adult male and three kittens. Momcat, Turtle, Dad Cat, Blackie, Stockings and.. we also now have a Shadow. We got them all fixed and turned them back loose. We are in the city so there is less of an issue with wild predators & they chose our fenced overgrown backyard for a reason; it is relatively safe. So DH & I have quasi adopted and are feeding 6 ferals in addition to the 2 indoor ijit cats, Cindy Lou Who & Chuy the Butt (who wants to be a hutt), which we rescued from the irrigation ditch when *they* were kittens. I can relate to kitten time. Taking kitty vision breaks on a pretty regular basis these days. 🙂
June 30th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Wow, yup, you've got the kitten bug too!!! Our previous adoptees was a litter of abandoned Maine Coon kittens - 5 of them! We have them all still, they're about 3 years old now. I've trapped and fixed some here too. If I was closer to the mail boxes, I'd be trapping that black mom, fixing her and keeping her and her little black kitten too, but I haven't seen them again, and I'm about a half mile away, so they don't come this far here. I used to have a cat, Crystal, who would make sure every two hours, I took a "Crystal Break." I'm hoping the new one is as lovey as Crystal was. The Coonies like to spend the day outside, so I don't get much snuggle time from them, and I miss it tremendously!