Thursday, June 10, 2010

Kitten Drama: What was I thinking?

A few weeks ago, Bethany discovered a mama cat and kitten underneath the shed of the neighbors. Every day the girls would go out and sit on our side of the fence and try to play with the kitten. For some reason, the kitten was very, very shy. Every time they tried to touch the kitten, it would run back under the shed. After about a week of perseverance and patience (of which, Bethany has very little), the girls were finally able to sneak in touches and pets. We even bought little toys to entice the kitten to play and food for the mama cat. Now the mama cat we have been seeing since we moved here, but she runs every time. She will not have anything to do with us.

The girls trying to see the kitten.

Here is the kitten poking its head out from underneath the shed.

On Tuesday, I went out to water the ferns on the front porch. As I approached the steps, I saw movement under the azaleas. It was the mama catd kitten. So I crouched down to see if the kitten would come to me. It really acted like it wanted to but kept a distance. The mama cat eventually ran off and left the kitten. I was very surprised by this.

The girls came out because they had never seen the kitten except through the fence. I finally enticed the kitten to the edge of the flowerbed where I was able to grab it. It hissed at me one time but then settled down and let us pet it. What a mistake that was!!!!

We took the kitten to the backyard trying to figure out what to do. The mama cat tried to come back but then ran off again if she saw us. Of course, the girls would not put the kitten down afraid it would run off. Myron finally talked them into putting it down in case it had to go to the bathroom. They wanted to keep it so bad.


I'm not sure what happened but it eventually started to run, and it ran back through the fence and under the shed. That is when the drama started. Bethany was devastated. We tried to reassure her that the kitten would be there the next day. That is where it has been living for weeks now. Well .... it wasn't. So now it is Wednesday and no sign of the kitten or mama cat. I was somewhat relieved. How do you contain a cat anyway especially if it is going to be an outside cat?
After dinner, I talked the family into a walk around the neighborhood. When we walked to the sidewalk, our neighbor, Billy, across the street yells "Hey, you want a kitten?" Curiously we crossed the street. He had been given a grown cat, beautiful, from his Mom blah blah blah .... anyway, we talked a little about all the cats we have seen and told him about the kitten we had caught the day before. All of a sudden I look at the girl (not young ... 20's maybe?) who is sitting on the porch and realize she is holding the kitten in her lap. Bethany got so excited. The mama cat was off in the side yard.
Anyway, long story short, we got the kitten back. Billy didn't want any of the cats except the one he has always had. Of course, the girl thought differently. She didn't want to give the kitten up at all but she did.
We put her in the garage with food, water and a liter box.
This morning (Thursday), the girls were up before 7 a.m. and outside checking on the kitten. They didn't even take the time to change their clothes.
We are still debating a name. At one time they had chosen Tiger. This morning they are saying Skittles.






1 comment:

Tonya said...

Awwww! She's beautiful!!!! Congrats on your first family pet!!!! GREAT pics by the way!