A Tale of Two Kitties
The trouble began on Sunday, July 21st. I was away from home at the start of a literacy conference when Hubbie called to tell me he thought there were kittens in the little abandoned lot next to our house. He said he let Wiley out at night, who saw a cat and started barking. The cat would not budge, but rather hissed and growled, and Chad said it seemed like she was protecting kittens.
I did what anyone animal-loving tender-hearted person might do. . . panicked. I frantically told him that in the daylight he'd better look into it and take care of it before I got home. I know Hillside SPCA, where we got Wiley, accepts all cats and is a no-kill shelter, so I told him to take them up there immediately. I did not want to come home and deal with taking the mom and kittens to a shelter. I knew I wasn't strong enough emotionally, and I was certain Wiley couldn't handle keeping a cat. Plus Hubs and I both have allergies.
I thought about it all day the next day, and then he told me he went over the fence, looked around, and neither saw nor heard anything. We assumed she had moved them once Wiley barked, and though we were sad she was on her own, we figured our part was done.
Flash forward to August 19th. It was the day after we had taken Amy to college, and I had even written here about how I was already concerned about Empty Nest Syndrome. I came home after work and let Wiley out only to hear frantic barking. I looked over the fence and saw two very tiny orange kitten heads poking up out of the weeds. Their eyes were open but they were really struggling to make their way back to the safety of their hidey-hole. Wherever Mama was, I could hear her growling at Wiley but could not see her. I dragged him back inside and said a number of curses I won't say here.
It's amazing how an intelligent person can still delude themselves with stupidity when they want to badly enough, and so I convinced myself maybe those kittens were just passing by with their mom on the way to somewhere else. I didn't see them the rest of the day, nor on Tuesday, and thought I was home-free.
On Wednesday I came home and before I even went inside to let Wiley out, on a whim, I called for the cat. I couldn't see her or hear her. Something just told me that she was still there, and before I introduced a loud crazy dog into the scenario I just quietly went "Psst-psst. Here Puss." Immediately Mama started meowing, came right out of her hiding place, and jumped on a cinder block pile to get closer to me. She was beautiful, purring loudly, and was skin and bones.
I picked her up and was talking to her when the neighbor came home. He has an indoor cat and offered to get some food for the mama. She was very grateful and could not eat fast enough.
I didn't see the kittens anywhere but I could tell she was still nursing. I text my friend Sarah who worked at Hillside SPCA in the dog section, and she checked with the cat side who told her to have me bring them in. She said I could even use one of the shelter's carriers.
Well, as it happened, Luke and Kim were at the shelter that day to walk dogs, and I asked her to send a carrier home with Luke and he could drop it off. I felt better knowing I had a plan and resolved to take them to the shelter, hoping that I could coax all the kittens out.
Well, they came out on their own, looking for Mama. They were still very tiny, and were attempting to eat the food I had, somewhat successfully. I texted Luke, letting him know about the cat carrier from the shelter, but I didn't hear back from him, which I thought was strange.
As it turns out, that's the day he made the decision to bring home Fanny, and in all the excitement the carrier was forgotten. Well, I wouldn't have it any other way for Fanny, but that left me with a cat and two kittens to worry about.
So readers, what do you think? Are you the slightest bit intrigued? I can't tell you how the story ends, because it isn't over yet. I can tell you there is more to the story than what I shared here, and I will be adding Part II soon. In the meantime, keep Wiley and these cats in your thoughts and prayers if you are so inclined, not to mention the humans who are trying to take care of them. ;-)
Don't forget the whole purpose of the Rescue Dog Blog. . . we promote rescues! Share your happy Rescue Story here. Email me at pabibliophile@gmail.com.
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