It was in June (2010) and we knew we had feral cats around but now we see they have 6 kittens. Then one night when we were sitting on the porch we see the Mother Cat and the Father Cat bring them in front and they are looking around the grass for stuff to eat. Even the adult cats looked very thin and we feared they wouldn't make it so we started feeding them.
The mother and father would show up nightly and every once in awhile I would see this same kitten (the one that looked like the mother....black & white). We haven't seen any of the other kittens. I named the cats Mama, Papa and Kit Kit.
July and Aug I try and find a place that will take these kittens however no one will take feral cats or kittens. They either have no money or any resources to deal with feral animals.
As Aug. and Sept. go by I end up at least finding someone who will trap the adult cats. At least I can get them fixed so this cycle won't happen any more. With me feeding them so much I have them coming every day so trapping them should not be that difficult. Kit Kit (now getting big) is scared but now friendly to me. It will come over to me to get pet so I pick it up and bring it in the house. Naturally the only room I can put it in is my scraproom as the dogs have run of the rest of the rooms.
Oct. is here and the Mama and Papa cat now bring another kitten to eat. I haven't seen this kitten since it was very little, right after they were born. I sit on the porch and watch them all eat but then the Mama and Papa do something I thought was strange. They leave but when the kitten goes to follow them they swat at it and hiss. They walk over to where I was sitting on the step and so the kitten follows and sits on the sidewalk right at my feet then the Mother and Father leave. I waited over a half and hour for them to come back and get this little kitten but they never show up. I have to go in and I wasn't about to leave it by itself so I pick it up and bring that one in the scraproom too. I call this one Fluffy since it was very fluffy.
Oct. is coming to a close and the man shows up so we can trap Mama and Papa Cat. Papa needs medical attention since he has a sore on his front paw and is limping. Six traps are set in all the places I see them traveling in and waiting for their food. This is when I found out that I had it all wrong from the start. Seems Mama is really Papa and Papa is really Mama. I had it backwards. By the next day every trap was full. I didn't even realize there were that many cats around here. One trap had a skunk in it so we let that go and the rest all went to the vet. They all got shots and spayed/neutered. I could tell when we trapped them that Papa was not liking the house very much and didn't take to well to the cage. Mama was scared at first but calmed down afterward. The other three were not liking the cages much either. So when all the vetting was completed, I let all of them go again except Mama. I brought her into the scraproom too.
Nov. and both kittens went to the vet and they had their shots and spayed. They all had worms so I got medication for that from the vet. I found Fluffy a home! Fluffy was gone maybe a week and I go out to find another kitten. I am not sure who's kitten this was as it could have been one of Mama's and Papa's but this one was very friendly and it is getting so cold out so in the scraproom that one goes. Then I notice it was declawed. Who in their right mind would declaw a kitten and let it outside? I watched the newspaper and called the pound but no one reported the kitten missing. Butterscotch is what I called her and I found her a home.
Papa is outside and cries for Mama. Mama is in the window and cries for Papa. The two of them were always together and it breaks my heart to keep them apart. I was thinking about trying to get Papa in the house again but after talking to the man who traps the cats he said that Papa wouldn't adjust to indoors and around people. I don't think he will make it out in this cold so I buy him a heated dish for water and a heated pad for cats and then run out to Walmart and buy some big plastic bins and cut doors out. I turned it upside down and put the heated mat in one and the water dish in the other. I noticed Papa coming and laying on the heated mat. Hey, that isn't Papa....there are two cats there! Finally got a good look at the other cat and seems Papa forgot all about Mama and now keeps warm with this black cat that I named Blackie. Blackie is one of the cats I had spayed when we trapped them. (I can tell from the ear being tipped).
Spring is here and we had a record snow fall and the bitter cold....but Papa and Blackie are fine. They come for their food and warm in their make-shift house. I was so worried they would freeze and so grateful to see they are fine. I even feared they got buried under the snow when we had 3 feet but they didn't. I don't know where they were but they showed up a couple days later looking for food and their warm bed.
I never was able to find Kit Kit a home as she is not the friendliest of kittens. I resigned myself to the fact that she is my kitten. She will play with me but no one else. I started calling her Brat Cat because she is so bad. If I am scrapping on my desk and go to the bathroom, I come back and everything is on the floor or chewed up. I can't leave anything out or she is into it.
Mama is very laid back and don't bother anything but she is not very interactive with people, even me. She lays around and loves to watch me, sometimes even coming over for a pet but that is it. I also resigned myself that she will be my scraproom cat until her days are done. No one will want a cat they can't even pet and I am not about to put her outside again. She plays with Kit Kit and enjoys laying around and watching me. She doesn't cry any longer for Papa (nor he for her) and she seems very content with her life now....so that is how it will stay.
