One of the "benefits" of living in the Ghetto is that we have a lot of pets without owning any pets.
We have lizards all over our back fence that I watch as I do the dishes. They are fun to watch.
I recently discovered we have gophers in our back yard and I just saw one poking his head out as I was doing the dishes the other day. More fun!
As you may recall we had a wounded bird that Shane attempted to nurse back to health for a night. All kinds of excitement.
Well, our latest "friend" is a mangey orange, black & white cat.
You may or may not know that I am NOT a fan of cats. At all. (Morgan adores them).
This mangey cat has been hanging around here for awhile.
I have shooed it off many times.
A few weeks ago it was on top or our shed and I had a stare down with it. (It was intimidating).
Usually, I can get it to go away, but yesterday, no luck.
The dang cat sat outside my back door and meowed ALL day.
It went back and forth between my back door and my shed. It kept looking in my shed and peering through the crack, but it would not go away.
I had laundry to do and needed to get in the back yard to do it, but I was afraid of the cat. (I know that sounds dumb, but you should see the looks this cat gives).
I looked at it and it looked really skinny. I started to feel bad and think maybe it was hungry, but I didn't want to feed it because I didn't want it to stick around.
Finally Shane came home from work and he went out back to scare the cat off again.
The kids were watching intently from the kitchen window.
It hissed and barred it's teeth at Shane. Totally freaky.
He came in the back door with big eyes and said, "Dixie, no wonder the cat won't go away. She had kittens in our shed!"
WHAT?!?! How is that even possible?
Well, we figured it out.
Shane had left the shed open on Sunday after taking my bike rack off the car and putting it back in the shed. In that time the mom cat found her way in and dropped a litter. Sometime on tuesday or early wednesday I closed the shed while the mommy cat must have been off somewhere. When she came back she couldn't get to her kittens and she was TICKED!
It's amazing what this did to me. As soon as I knew she had kittens in there I felt sick for her. I told Shane to hurry and open the shed so she could get to them and feed them. I just hoped that they hadn't been stuck in there away from her for too long.
Immediately one kitten came out and started nursing. A little while later another one came out. We've only seen 2 so far and don't know if there are more. We also put out a bowl of milk for her so she would have enough food to produce milk for her babies.
While she nursed she kept her paws out in front of her kittens and starred at us with intense eyes, letting us know we'd better not mess.
My heart went out to this poor cat and I couldn't believe I was relating to a freaking cat! But I was. She wasn't just a cat, she was a mommy and I know how it feels to want to protect your babies from everything.
As I watched my babies look at her with her babies it was an interesting moment. I realized that our instincts are the same. This cat and I have more in common that I ever would have guessed. I admired her for doing her best to take care of her babies in a scary situation.
I suddenly became quite protective of her and her situation. I wanted to make sure she was safe and that she had enough to eat and that her babies were okay.
Who would have guessed that a mangey stray cat could have such an impact on me?
To me, that was the real surprise.
p.s. Anybody want a kitten?
10 comments:
Hillarious and touching but cats are still gross, so no thanks.
My Primary President serves as a foster parent to kittens until they are old enough to be adopted at like 6-7 weeks. I bet she could give me the number for this company that deals with these cats, maybe they could take over guardianship of the cats so that you can continue safely washing laundry!!!
So are you now the proud owners of this stray? I bet she isn't going anywhere. Your narrative was scary and touching all at the same time. I'm not a cat person either but maybe the mother instinct in me would help me relate. However, I think I'll leave the practical experience up to you and learn through your stories. Keep 'em coming.
I hate cats too, but I can definitely relate to that cat mama. If you lock my baby up in your shed, I'll totally pace in front of your door, hiss at you and bare my teeth until you let my baby out and I can feed it. Just thought I'd warn you...
Another great post, way to go. It is alarming that one could EVER relate to a cat in any way, as they are the devils animal. Ewww, I just hate them. But, I DO feel bad for her mangeyness and the starving kittens. Thanks for sharing the story.
Loved this post! Now I totally understand why I go from being the WORST pet owner on the planet to doggy-doter of the year. Honestly, Sadie has puppies and I get all crazy buying her special food, cleaning her bed, protecting her from anything and everything.....heck, I even pet her. ??? Oy, this mother instinct thing. Who new it trasended species?!? BTW, 5 sweet little pupplies will be ready to have new homes in about 4 weeks!! :-)
wow. cool story.
Oh my goodness. When I first started reading this post I was going to tell you how much I can't stand cats and that they scare me because I think the devil lives inside of them, BUT then I felt like crying for her being locked away from her babies. I'm glad you are feeding her even if Satan lives inside of her:)
My neighbor had a bird lay 5 eggs in her BBQ. They are now hatched and growing, but she hasn't been able to clean it out because of that whole "mommy" thing. It's been a great teaching moment for all of the neighborhood kids, though. I just say, "fire up the grill... we're having dinner!" (just kidding!)
I can't believe how many people hate cats. I too dislike them. I blame my allergies but I really just don't like them. We have 2 cats that love to hang out in our backyard, I sure hope they don't have kittens back there because then I would be in the same boat as you. Great story as usual.
Post a Comment