Journal Entry: The Animals in My Life Part III

Much to my chagrin, I came to the realization that we were soon going to have an indeterminate number of kittens to care for. As exciting as this unforeseen event was, it was also extremely overwhelming. We couldn’t possibly keep all the kittens that would be born, but in good conscious I couldn’t bring Mommy and the kittens to an animal shelter. Now things slowly started to crystallize; perhaps this is why we had no response to our poster blitz and advertisements. After much discussion, my husband and I decided to care for Mommy through the birth of her kittens. Once the kittens were weaned we planned to find momma and her brood a good home. Additionally, we thought that the birth of the kittens would allow us to broach the subject of “the talk” with our children. As the weeks went by, Mommy continued to sleep in the garage at night. However, she was let out and supervised during the daytime to keep her from instigating a fight with our other pets. In her free time, Mommy followed us everywhere we went. She became my husband’s constant companion when he worked outdoors. She seemed quite comfortable in her adoptive domain – a large fenced in yard with lots of places to hide. She stalked our acreage, ran along the tops of the fence and in and out of my children’s jungle gym, snoozed in the sun on our lawn furniture, and even pounced on the dog as she passed under trees the cat had climbed. As expected after a few weeks, Mommy began to slow down because her belly had started to distend. One morning I let her out onto the back porch and she just sat there looking around. I assumed that she was soaking up the morning sun and would soon seek out some amusing activity to pass the time. I was in the midst of grinding beans for a pot of coffee when I heard a curious noise. I went to look out the sliding glass door and to my amazement there was Mommy. She had climbed halfway up the sliding glass door’s screen. It looked as though she was trying to find a way back into the house. I managed to open the screen just enough to squeeze through to the outside. The next task was to remove Mommy from the screen without ruining it in the process. After much cajoling, I managed to get her retract her claws and let go. It was then that I noticed her water had broken. Calling the troops into action, we readied for the arrival of Mommy’s babies. My husband set about organizing the garage, moving out the car, plugging up areas where the cat could hide, and laying out a larger bed for her. My children hovered over her like nervous mother hens. For poor Mommy, the supervision was obviously overbearing as she started to swat and cry at anyone who came near. It was at this point, that we decided that it was best that she be given her private time so that nature could proceed on its own schedule. Being that it was a Saturday, I had tutoring commitments. I left the house for a couple hours and when I came home; my children met me at the front door with ecstatic smiles. Three tiny kittens –two black and one black and white - had been born in my absence. I look back on the weeks that followed quite fondly. It was wonderful to have three tiny newborns to cuddle and love. My children spent every free moment they had observing Mommy’s interactions with her kittens. I must have answered a million questions for them. It was a great learning experience for all of us. Sadly, the day came when the kittens were weaned and eating solid food. By this time, they had already been named and my children were begging to keep them all. Our original pets- Liebchen and Ember had adjusted as best as could be expected, but I couldn’t picture myself with 6 pets. My husband and I agreed that two animals were enough; however we were still debating whether or not to keep Mommy once she was fixed. All of this was carefully explained to our children, who at first thought we “were big meanies” for not keeping the kittens, but they eventually understood our point. Subsequent to having Mommy under our roof for ten weeks, we called our local vet to arrange to have the kittens placed with other families. After oodles of kisses and hugs, my husband packed up the kittens and brought them to Dr. Keish’s office. Within a week, all of the kittens had been adopted. However, we still had Mommy on our hands. We tried for several more weeks to get Mommy to interact positively with our cat and dog. Unfortunately, we finally had to admit that she belonged in a household with no other pets. No one in our immediate families was in a situation to take on a new pet, so we put another advertisement in the paper. A few more weeks went by and it seemed that no one was interested in Mommy cat. It was then decided that we should bring her to the facility where we had chosen Ember. Luckily, this facility does not put animals down if they are not adopted within a given time frame. So, after arranging for the children to stay with my in-laws for the day, we packed up Mommy and her meager belongings and traveled to Newington, crying the whole way. After dropping Mommy off with her new custodians, we headed for the car. It was at this point that my husband made me promise not to take in any more strays. Two days passed, and I decided to call the facility to check up on Mommy. My husband and I had agreed that if she was not taken in a timely manner, we would go back to get her even though it would mean a disruption in our home life. To my joy, I was informed that she had been adopted by an elderly lady whose cat had just passed on. It seemed like the perfect fit! Additionally, since the kittens were placed through our family vet I occasionally get updates on them as well. It seems all of our temporary adoptees found happy homes. Luckily, I haven’t had any pregnant cats show up on my doorstep again, but this doesn’t mean we haven’t had some interesting animal adventures since. My husband jokes that he sometimes feels like Dr. Doolittle. We have had turtles, rabbits, turkeys, skunks, and even gorgeous red foxes show up in our FENCED YARD!