By Darlys Murray
9/25: A very pregnant tortoiseshell, whom I call Missy (short for Miscellaneous), has taken over our back yard. She is on time for all meals.
9/30: Born to Missy (unwed, we're afraid), five kittens. One orange and white, one yellow, two grey tiger, one black and white; mother and children are doing well. It seems, in addition to being unwed, Missy was not very selective.
When she first appeared, obviously pregnant, we resurrected an old, unused dog house. We put a box in it and started feeding her there. She entered it reluctantly. It may have had the faint odor of long ago canine tenants. When we added carpet and removed the nesting box, she agreed to eat there, but no lingering. So we were very surprised to find her there last Sunday morning with her newborn kittens. After three days, though, she moved them into the thick ground cover under the bathroom window, also under the downspout. Yesterday, with rain predicted, we put the kittens in the nesting box and back in the erstwhile dog house. Either Missy also sensed the approaching storm or she is biding her time while finding the right place. At least the kittens are still there this evening, and the predicted rain has arrived.
10/30: The big project this morning, taking precedence over mere business affairs, was the relocation of the kittens. They are now too frisky to spend all day cooped up in a doghouse, and too naive (stupid?) to come in out of the rain. We made a playpen in the shop area, complete with toys for climbing, batting and hiding under things, as well as a sleeping box. So far, they have specialized in hiding-under, and have elected to sleep in their litter box.
11/19: Two of Missy's offspring have already found homes and will go next week. One small, energetic female, whom I call "Ditto," because she's a minor edition of her mama, has learned how to escape the pen we fixed in the shop. We foiled her for awhile with an additional barrier, but now admit defeat. When we walk by, if we happen to surprise her, she arches like a Halloween cat, her tail puffs up and she hops sidewise; a tiny defensive spitfire. Surely the others will figure out soon how to follow her. They'll have to move on before they become a hazard to us and our employees, as well as being in danger themselves.
2/11: Missy has become the office cat. She sits on top of the Xerox machine and keeps an eye on all activities. We've explained to her that she was only welcomed indoors in the first place because it was too rainy outdoors to raise kittens, but she turns her head and ignores our comments. We had the last word in one matter, though. She made a trip to the vet's a month ago. She thinks she had her tonsils out, but we know what really happened. I honestly hated to have Missy spayed. She was a good mother. But it really upsets me more to see the number of homeless cats in this area. We don't intend to add to those statistics.
My daughter, Colleen, decided to toilet train her cats. She saw, in the pet store, a device to fit over the toilet stool. You start out with quite a bit of litter in this bowl-like container, and keep decreasing the amount until the cat is using the proper location without any sand. A drain is uncovered, and presto, your cat is potty trained. Said we, pessimistically, "lots of luck." We awaited a progress report before we rushed down to the pet store to invest.
One day, while Colleen was phoning us, she suddenly shouted, "NO! NO!" then to us, "Just a minute." We could hear, via telephone receiver, a rather strident conversation between her and one of her cats, Bart. When we finally got an explanation, we learned that Bart had tired of the diminishing sand arrangement, and had realized the soil around a rather large potted plant had potential. When Colleen rushed to rescue the plant, Bart, distracted from the business at hand (loosely speaking) turned toward Colleen, giving her the full benefit of the stream. There have been no further reports.
About the Author
Darlys is a 92-year-old animal lover with an overgrown funny bone and a love of writing. She currently lives alone, peoplewise, but has the company of her indoor cat Freowlein. She has lived with a wide variety of pets over the years, but cats have always been her favorite. With their independence and unpredictability, she feels they are kindred spirits.