|
Those readers who may have read an earlier article of mine, Mitchell Hendon (1994-2009) My Final Dog, are aware of the loss of my little Rat Terrier. In the article, I did not mention the fact that we lost our cat about the same time. I did not mention him simply because he was pretty worthless to us. But he was a pitiable creature. We were given him as a small kitten, and when he got around a year old, we took him to the vet and had him neutered. I don't know what occurred while he was there but when we brought him home, he was like a wild cat. He still was half comfortable in our presence, but he absolutely went wild when the thought he was confined. So, we had a screened in front porch and we fixed him a bed out there, thinking he would be alright since he could see out. Wrong!
He would be calm most of the time, but when any activity took place on the street, our yard, etc. He would climb the screen wire and fling around like Tarzan in the jungle, screaming. So we finally let him outside and he ran like lightning. He would come up to the house at feeding time and we'd feed him, but he was constantly jerking up and looking behind himself, and when he finished eating, he flew again. That went on for about ten years and he remained scared of his very shadow.
But my wife still loved him and always saw to it that he had food and water. He would allow either of us to rub him but never to pick him up. He lived a horrible life. Well, he disappeared about a week before Mitchell did. Then he came back a couple of days after Mitch disappeared, broken down in his back, dragging his hinder parts, and barely able to move. After he drank a lot of water, my wife tried to feed him but he would take no food, dragged himself about ten feet from the water bowl, lay down and stretched out. So I had to have him put down.
So our animal days had suddenly come to a disastrous end. But all was not lost. For about a month prior to this, a scrawny black cat which someone had dropped off I am sure, kept sneaking up to scrounge for food that might have been left by our cat or Mitch. I had begun to put out a little extra since I or my wife could never stand to see an animal hungry. I had always disliked black cats because of their Halloween image with back up and tail erect, snarling.
But as soon as this cat found that I was actually leaving some food for her benefit, she became quite bold and was waiting at my back steps every time I went to feed the others, and she ran one step ahead of me meowing loudly, then circle back underfoot , all the way to the spot where I placed her food. But the poor thing was literally starving. She would dive into the Purina dry Cat Chow as if it were a sirloin steak.
I wondered if it would frighten her if I rubbed her, so I decided to try. When I started to rub from her neck down her back, she boosted her back up for the rub and you could tell she was happy about it, but she still did not miss one gulp. So my wife and I both fell for her even if she was a Halloween cat. My wife, who is knowledgeable of such things said she was expecting kittens, so we began to feed her all she would eat. I began to open the back door and let her in to eat and she didn't hesitate for one second. She bounded in and began eating as she always did outside. We had no idea as to when she would give birth, but one evening, she did not show up for food.
The next morning, she again missed her meal and I knew that we would be blessed with a litter of kittens if we could only find her. After scouring he neighborhood we went back home and found her at our back steps wanting food. You could tell that her abdomen was not protruding as it was. While she was eating, we went back inside and peeked out to watch where she might go.
When she finished eating she walked across our yard to our own tool shed and went inside. After giving her a few minutes, my wife went out and looked. It took some time in our junked up outbuilding but she found her in a near hidden cozy section, with four little kittens, three solid black as she was and another black with some white markings. The weather was pleasant, so my wife decided to let her stay there for a couple of days until the kittens became a little more stabilized. She then fixed a box with bedding in it in our main guest bedroom which has a half bath, where she placed a litter pan and brought them inside. (Probably the only cats in town with a private bath)
Tillie has proven her intelligence and great instincts by caring for the kittens with a mother's love and passion. She has also proven to be extremely near, care free. She stays with the kittens about 20+ hours per day, coming out only to be fed, petted and groomed. Nadine cleans her with kitty between-bath damp shampoo cloths daily and brushes her glossy black fur also. She has been a real blessing for us during the period while we were missing our other animals so much. She has a very pleasant disposition, never jumps up on anything, including our laps, but does crave a lot of attention and cannot get enough of caressing and rubbing. She is constantly, when with us, making the pleasant cat sound of a low guttural cat word.
The kittens were found by my wife 3 weeks ago today. They have grown enormously, their eyes now open and round as the moon, their legs are developing and getting stronger by the day. My wife and I both spend several minutes with them a couple of times per day, getting them acquainted with being caressed and tousled.
But now comes the real problem. We don't need five house cats! I have a sister who has asked for one, and my wife wants to keep one (plus the mother). I believe we will be able to find a place for the other two. Then we plan to have our two neutered and live happily ever after. The photos were taken when they were 5 days old.But to add a little side story to this, we have a neighbor two doors down from us who has a mostly black cat which gave birth to 5 kittens the same night that Tillie gave birth. When I was searching for Tillie when she had disappeared, the lady showed me their litter. Four black ones and one solid gray (not striped like a tabby). This family left the next day for a 3 day trip to Tennessee. I do not know what they may have left for the cats (they had others).
They returned late one afternoon and the next day the lady appeared at our door with one little pitiable, scrawny kitten, the gray one. She told us when they returned from their trip, the mother cat had abandoned the litter and 4 of the five were dead. She wanted to know if we'd see if our cat would accept this miserable little kitten. We placed it in the box with ours and it first appeared that Tillie was about to pick it up with her mouth and we feared she was going to move it out of the box.
But she didn't and she began to talk softly to it and lick it. Soon, she laid back an allowed the little one to have dinner with her four. The little fellow has progressed well but is much smaller and seemingly less mature, his eyes are not fully round like the others and he cries more, is not able to maneuver as well yet. It's as if he is only two weeks old rather than three, as he really is. This is another reason we have fell so in love with Tillie. She is everything a person could want or expect from a cat.
We have concluded that we really don't need another outside animal. It requires our attention twice daily feeding and caring for them, regardless of weather conditions. And as weak and wobbly as I have become, each trip down those doorsteps is a potential disaster. I think sometimes just how fortunate Tillie was to have found and received our care and nourishment (especially with her being in a family way), but then, I realize that we are also the recipient of good fortune to have gained this lovely member of God's creation.
|
tweet this!
