Tale of Two Kitties...with apologies to Mr Dickens
Last spring, a feral cat gave birth to 5 little kittens. They were born to a gray/beige splotchy mother, and were fed all spring and summer by the Isobel's bakery staff. But fall came, and the bakery closed for the winter. With no reliable food source, they were obviously hungry. The mice and chipmunks had begun to hunker down for the winter, severely cutting into the kitties' food source. Mr Knits began tending to this group of homeless kittens who now resided in our garage across the street from the shop. I was originally very much against this idea, and wanted to trap the little sweeties and take them to the Napanee animal shelter. Mr Knits would have none of that! He persevered in caring for them all by himself, but he actually got me to buy their food around Christmas time. I was beginning to soften in my harsh attitude. You see, I was concerned that if we kept feeding these cats, that by this spring we would have a colony of 40 or 50 cats depending on us. We'd be known as the crazy cat people of Northbrook!
The kittens and their mother were all afraid of us and would scatter whenever they saw us approaching. They stayed in the garage all winter, and sometimes it just broke our hearts to see them shivering in the cold. Mr Knits bought a heated water dish after seeing them drink the salty water from the road and a heated door mat for them to get warm on. At first we were feeding a group of about 7 assorted cats and kittens. We lost 2 to the highway, and one froze to death. We cried a little over that. So we were down to 4 in March. We had given them all names - Bruiser (a huge grey guy), Frankie (because she has blue eyes), Ascot (a big fluffy black kittty with a white spot on her throat) and finally Itty Bitty (the tiniest, homliest black/brown splotchy kitty I have ever seen). We spent many hours this winter watching all of them out playing in the snow. But they would never let us come near them despite our attempts to socialize them.
Gradually, two of them (Ascot and Itty Bitty) became less afraid of us and would wait near the food dish while we filled it. We could tell Ascot was pregnant and we wondered if Itty Bitty was too. As the warmer weather arrived, Bruiser and Frankie disappeared. I hope they are okay.
Now we are down to two of the original 5 kittens and their mother. Socializing them was becoming an obsession with us. We spent hours sitting on the chair by their food dish, just talking to them while they ate. They knew the sound of our cars and would come out and wait to be fed every morning too. About a month ago, we were able to actually pet Itty Bitty! She is quite affectionate. Ascot is still stand offish, but doesn't run away anymore when we approach. Last week, for the first time, I was able to pick her up and snuggle her for a few seconds. She was very pregnant! At this point, I can admit I was very much in love with her and concerned for the impending delivery.
On Sunday, when I arrived at the shop, she was waiting for me by her empty food dish. She was a mommy! Itty Bitty had delivered her kittens sometime between 5 pm on Saturday and 5 pm on Sunday, so I am declaring the 15th their birthday. I have no idea how many she delivered, and we are anxiously watching her activities so we can get our first glimpse of the babies.
Although I originally had decided to not have any interaction with these feral kitties, I am quite smitten with Itty Bitty. She is so very affectionate and talkative. The whole time we visit with her, she's meowing and purring to us, telling us all kinds of stories. Now our plan for her is once the kittens are about 4 weeks old and mobile, we are going to trap them and bring them up to our cabin and care for and socialize them. We shall find homes for the kittens, but I think we are going to keep Itty Bitty. We'll spay her and keep her in the guest cabin as I don't think Purrl and Stinky will like another intruder in the house. (Mr Knits and I are intruders enough for them)
Yeah, I know I said I didn't need another cat. I also said that when I took Purrl in. But this little black cat needs me. Honestly, she does. However, if there is someone out there who might like to adopt a loving, but quite homely little cat (and she is tiny) I would be willing to give her up.
Maybe.
The kittens and their mother were all afraid of us and would scatter whenever they saw us approaching. They stayed in the garage all winter, and sometimes it just broke our hearts to see them shivering in the cold. Mr Knits bought a heated water dish after seeing them drink the salty water from the road and a heated door mat for them to get warm on. At first we were feeding a group of about 7 assorted cats and kittens. We lost 2 to the highway, and one froze to death. We cried a little over that. So we were down to 4 in March. We had given them all names - Bruiser (a huge grey guy), Frankie (because she has blue eyes), Ascot (a big fluffy black kittty with a white spot on her throat) and finally Itty Bitty (the tiniest, homliest black/brown splotchy kitty I have ever seen). We spent many hours this winter watching all of them out playing in the snow. But they would never let us come near them despite our attempts to socialize them.
Gradually, two of them (Ascot and Itty Bitty) became less afraid of us and would wait near the food dish while we filled it. We could tell Ascot was pregnant and we wondered if Itty Bitty was too. As the warmer weather arrived, Bruiser and Frankie disappeared. I hope they are okay.
Now we are down to two of the original 5 kittens and their mother. Socializing them was becoming an obsession with us. We spent hours sitting on the chair by their food dish, just talking to them while they ate. They knew the sound of our cars and would come out and wait to be fed every morning too. About a month ago, we were able to actually pet Itty Bitty! She is quite affectionate. Ascot is still stand offish, but doesn't run away anymore when we approach. Last week, for the first time, I was able to pick her up and snuggle her for a few seconds. She was very pregnant! At this point, I can admit I was very much in love with her and concerned for the impending delivery.
On Sunday, when I arrived at the shop, she was waiting for me by her empty food dish. She was a mommy! Itty Bitty had delivered her kittens sometime between 5 pm on Saturday and 5 pm on Sunday, so I am declaring the 15th their birthday. I have no idea how many she delivered, and we are anxiously watching her activities so we can get our first glimpse of the babies.
 |
| the new mommy |
Yeah, I know I said I didn't need another cat. I also said that when I took Purrl in. But this little black cat needs me. Honestly, she does. However, if there is someone out there who might like to adopt a loving, but quite homely little cat (and she is tiny) I would be willing to give her up.
Maybe.
Comments