Little Wild Animals

Our neighborhood cat had kittens a few weeks ago. 

She's not really a stray... more like communally owned, inasmuch as she is more or less housed, and certainly adequately fed, and she's friendly with people.  But nobody has full responsibility for her, which means she has no healthcare, which includes, of course, spaying.  Apparently she's had a litter a year in one of the garages along the block, popping out 5 to 7 kittens every summer.  The neighborhood is good about feeding and housing and finding homes for the kitties, but nobody wants to pony up to have the poor old girl spayed.

This litter started out at seven, but we lost one last week to unknown causes, so the number is down to six.  They mostly live in our next door neighbor's garage, but occasionally the mommacat attempts to relocate them to the next garage down.  Those neighbors are in the process of moving, so they move the babies back.  Poor little guys keep getting dragged by the next back and forth across the yard.

Mostly their healthy, fat little balls of fluff.  But a couple have had eye issues. Their eyes get gummy and seal shut, so I go over every evening with a warm damp rag and check them out. I soak their eyes open if their gummed over, and give them a general clean-up if needed. There's one I've been a bit worried about:  a little runty white one whose eyes looked pink and cloudy when I get them open.  And they seem sunken in the sockets.

Anyway, I worry over him.  Over all of them, really.  We'll need to find homes for them, and everyone knows the world does not need seven more kitties.  When we first moved in, there were two wild cats semi-inhabiting our back yard, until the dogs made a go for them, cornering the smallest against the fence. I got there in time to avoid injury to either side, but the kitten was wet all over and spitting in terror.  They haven't returned... wisely.

Kobi escaped the yard and went next door last week to check out the mommacat and babies.  I heard her yelp and saw her come out, tail down and eyes squinting from the slash she received across the face.  She had it coming.  She too has not returned, and I hope it keeps her from harrassing the kittens any further.  But they are only just now big enough to begin exploring a bit (when their eyes are not gummed shut).  So I hope there's no trouble when they are big enough to be bouncing around the yard like fluffy balls of bait.

And that day is coming up very soon.  Last night at about 10:30, my neighbor rang my doorbell, and when I opened the door she just said "you gotta come see this."

Well, all the kitties were out in the driveway, chasing and pouncing and rolling over one another. I had not seen them so active, and in fact just early that evening I'd had to pry open the eyes of two of them. But they were all wide-eyed, healthy and playful, with clearly not the slightest fear of people.  So I sat down right there on the concrete and let them all pile into my lap.

There is just not much that a lapful of 4-week-old kittens can't make you feel better about.  Not that I have any reason to feel sorry for myself just now, but I do sometimes get a little lonely.  But these little balls of play reminded me again of how good life can be.

For one thing: I have a neighbor who is nice enough to adopt a litter of homeless kittens, and a neighborhood that is nice enough to make sure they are fed and safe and healthy. And people who recognize the value of a lapfull of kittens enough to be willing to ring my doorbell at 10:30 at night to be sure I get a chance to enjoy it.  There's a lot to be thankful for.

UPDATE:
This is an old post that I forgot to upload.
The kitties are all thriving.  The momma moved them again to a new garage (possibly to get away from all the kids playing with them all the time), and the nice Cat Lady that lives there took in the whole litter and the mother, so they are all indoors now, cared for and fed.  We haven't seen them since then, but we know where they are.  Again, it's nice to have nice people around.