Today was a first for me. We turned away a cute, cuddly black and white kitten. She tried all of her tricks... "mewing" in that pathetic, high pitched tone; curling up into a little ball in our flowerbed; befriending our other cat Pockles and looking forlorn without her mother.
My neighbor pointed her out to me early this morning when I returned from my doctor's appointment (all is well there, by the way! Baby on August 13th or sooner...). Our wild cat Pockles, who can't be contained for long inside the house, had made a new friend. An impossibly small kitten was roaming between either the flowerbed or under our front porch.
We have no clue where it came from. There used to be a stray black cat that lived in our other neighbors garage - but she hadn't made any appearances this summer. Regardless, here we are with another cute stray kitten on Broad Street. My neighbor and her son put out food and water for the cat, but since she had taken residence under our porch AND befriended our cat (fleas and all!) - we had to do something about it.
Looking at my current situation, (1) very pregnant, (2) daily chasing two crazy kids, (3) occasionally chasing an overeager Beagle who escapes down the street and (3) three cats deep into the litter box already... this poor little kitten had to go.
So I became the kind of person who drops a flea-ridden baby cat at the Humane Society. Thankfully, they take any and every animal (instead of being super selective like Animal Friends). But it's still gut-wrenching to bring any animal into the "surrender" room and know that they might sit in a cage for months or be found to have some untreatable feline disease. I filled out the paperwork, signing that I wasn't really the owner and just trying to find an easy way out of cat ownership and guiltily handed over $20 as a donation.
Ayla had a difficult time coming to terms with the recently found new "pet" going to stay with the animal doctors. She literally threw herself in despair, saying that "I don't like three cats, I want FIVE!" .But once we explained that the little girl kitty had fleas from living outside and needed a special doctor... she was content to say goodbye and good luck to our dirty little friend.
Even if that cat is cursing us for turning her away, I'm not quite sure we shouldn't be cursing her. We may not have caught this new friendship in time... and Pockles could have brought fleas into our realm. I'm sure Pockles couldn't resist cuddling with his new buddy. But what's summer without wrestling all of your animals into a flea bath with protective gear on your face?
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