Every Cat Deserves A Warm Safe Loving Home...

[Jezme]

I have always been stringent about having my cats "fixed" and vaccinated, I remember the kittens that were born year after year to homeless mothers that everybody fed. Most meeting tragic endings but there were always more. I was just a kid and seemed to be the only one affected by it. Many tears were shed over something i had no control over.

I have always adored cats and have always had them in my life...one or two at a time, until I moved here eight years ago. It's a long , infuriating, heartbreaking story but I will try not to turn this into a novel.

This small neighborhood i moved to has a different mindset when it comes to pets. Most on this short cul de sac have pets, they have dogs. They were brought home at one time as cute puppies but as they reached maturity they were tossed out to the back yard where they now live. Hot or cold, rain or shine. For those that brought home kittens, they just disappeared after the peak of cuteness. None of these people have experienced the joy of watching a baby cat or dog, grow and evolve into an entity, with a definite personality and so much love they forever become anchored as an important member of the family!

One cat, however, did not just disappear, they just stopped feeding her, I assume in hopes she would just go away. She was never fixed or vaccinated and by the time we noticed her (she lived halfway down the street) she was near death from tending to a litter of kittens on little to no food. It was actually a few of the kittens who had discovered our garage which we always left a bit open with clean water and food bowls for my 2 cats. My cats also have food and water in the house and because we live in the cul of the cul de sac and they don't leave the yard, they have access to in and out.

The mother was once a beautiful kitty, she looked to be at least part Flame Point Siamese and used to have a little bell on her collar. After months of struggling to feed herself as well as a litter of kittens, it was too much and I believe she came back to where she was once loved to die. She was laying under a truck in the driveway where she once lived. I have NEVER seen something look that bad and not be dead. I went to the door, no answer. I asked the neighbor who the cat belonged to (in case I was mistaken) and they verified it once lived there. Her fur was filthy and stiff and you could see her bones. She was alive but didn't really react when I touched her. I swear I burst into tears of rage and frustration and ran back to my house and mixed some high calorie wet food with a lot of warm water and brought it back to her with a dropper.

~OH NO, THIS IS GETTING LONG... SHOULD I CONTINUE?
i imagine many of you have experienced similar or worse which is partly why I'm here.
I have so many questions....So, may I continue?

 

[Ardina]

Please do! You can't leave us with a cliffhanger like that!

 

[kashmir64]

I understand what you are saying about puppies and kitten. I, however, cannot wait until mine gets older and is no longer terror kitty.
And please continue....I want to know what happened.

 

[Jezme]

I'm glad you're understanding.....
I went back to that house three times that day with the wet food just dribbling it into her mouth. Each time i went I went to the door first because i wanted to take her back to my house but because she was under their truck on their property I thought I had better talk to them. Turns out I should have just taken her.
The second day she was lifted up a little and could drink the mush on her own but was still under the truck, That evening she ate the wet food straight and went to the lawn to relieve herself. I was excited, Her kit-kats (thats what I call them when they are not really kittens anymore but not quite cats) were watching me from a safe distance the whole time. The next day I noticed the neighbors truck was moved into the street. I ran down there and the two tiny saucers i was feeding her with were gone and so was she. I started calling her and calling her until the neighbor across the street came over and said if I was looking for that ratty cat the Humane Society had picked her up that morning, her owners had called.
I couldn't believe it, I had been at their door more than a half a dozen times wanting to ask if i could take her. I went home and called the humane society, i went to the animal shelter to look for her... nothing. I didnt want to think about what really happened to her so I turned my focus to her kit-kats. One, a long haired Flame Point Siamese, did not act at all feral or unsocialized and was easily caught and taken to the vet. He was vaccinated and fixed and has become a very loving boy whom we call Chauncy. His two sisters, one a Tuxedo we called Felix and the other a Siamese mix we called Libbey were not as trusting. They completely ignored the traps and even if we removed the dry food and put sardines in the trap, they would leave and either not eat or got food elsewhere. Naturally, the next thing to happen was they both turned up pregnant. Chauncy was the only one who seemed to be at our house most of the day but Felix and Libbey only came to eat. They always went back in the direction from where they came.
We never saw Libbeys kittens, she would come to eat and we saw her go from pregnant to really pregnant to not pregnant. We could see she was nursing and would try to watch where she went but she was too clever. Where ever it was she went, she went by way of the back yard walls. Felix on the other hand had her kittens in a neighbors RV. They used one of her kittens as bait and caught her, i went over there and caught the rest of the kittens and took them all to my house. I bought a Xtra large kennel cage and put them all inside. Felix was miserable but resigned to her fate and didn't fight it. The babies were about 4-5 weeks old and we kept them for a few weeks to get them used to being handled then took them to a no kill shelter in another city. All four were adopted within two days. Felix was vaccinated and fixed and let go. She continued to come for food and even started spending more time with Chauncy. Libbey came to eat and only eat. At this point we discovered 2 more cats we believe might have been two other litter mates but they were more frantic than Libbey and would only come to eat after the others had eaten.
Libbey turned up pregnant again this time having them in our garage. A few days later the lady that lived next door to where I found the original mother came over and told me the weird looking cat has babies in front of her house. i follow her over and in a bush up against the front of her house is one kitten. She tells there were three a minute ago and we needed to find them and take them all back to my house. i told her that i had tried to trap that cat a zillion times and she said i had better do something because if her son trapped her she didnt know what he would do. i thought well if he is able i will take her...
Weeks go by and Libbey brings the three kittens back. She has trained them well and anytime a human entered the garage they would vanish. Everyday I would talk to them while i put out their food but it wasn't until Chauncy came in and took over... he became Uncle Chaunce and those kittens crawled all over him, he nurtured them, let them pretend nurse on him and i think tried to show them i wasn't a bad thing. It was really touching to see, they followed him everywhere. There were two tabby cats that had big white splotches and a small brown tabby we called Rose

Libbey got pregnant again and I was nervous, I couldn't get near her. She had them at the neighbors peoples house, the lady came over and said she had them in their old shed in the back yard. About 3 weeks later i see her bringing one to our house. It seemed too little to be walking 4 house lengths but they made it. She must have been moving them again because when she went back she had the smallest brown tabby from the previous litter with her. She must have brought a second kitten and gone back for the next taking Rose with her but we never saw Libbey or Rose or anymore kittens from Libbey again. After three days of her not showing up for a single meal, a friend of mine went to the house to ask if they had seen her. The woman's 40 something year old son answered the door only to holler there aren't ant cats here! And slammed the door. I can't tell you the rage I felt and that was only the beginning of discovering the ignorance and cruelty around me.

 

[kashmir64]

That's a bittersweet story. Glad you could save and help the ones you did, but sad because obviously, the son had to kill something helpless to make himself feel like a 'man'. And let's face it, we all know he did.

 

[Jezme]

Libbey, Chauncy and Felix