Remember them? Well they were sitting on my front porch looking up at me when I raised the blinds a couple of mornings ago! Initially a delight, I do love cats but no longer own one, but when reality hit I recalled what we've been faced with twice before when the same feral mom cat gave birth. This time there appear to be four, possibly five, kittens who are living under my neighbor's garden shed! As they are about 5 weeks old, mom must have left some to play on my porch in the early morning sunshine while she went in search of breakfast.
After talking with my neighbor we decided once again to call animal control and have them come with a gentle Havaheart trap which was set Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday morning we found these three cuties, feisty and hissing when we approached. Mom was playing around with another black kitten, apparently not too concerned for her now caged offspring.
Yes they are adorable, but no they can't be left here to join several others already roaming our neighborhood. The officer came and, while trying to get them transferred to another cage, the sweet little grey one escaped!
We managed to corner him/her in a bush but boy was he mad - never heard a kitten with such a loud voice. She eventually picked him up and as you can see he wasn't worried about his mittens, just her gloves!
The trap is reset, another little can of food awaits..............and of course I'm out there in the warm and sunshiny garden every five minutes to see what's happening.
Yes, it's sad to take them away, but the alternative is worse as we have several foxes wandering through the neighborhood and a permanent hawk perched on a telephone pole awaiting its next meal.
I could easily fall for this already independent grey, blue-eyed kitty but, and there are so many buts, off he went with the siblings as I dried a tear and wished him well.
All this starts with pet owners not being responsible. By allowing their cats to run wild without spaying or neutering, the feral cat population can explode within a couple of years. If you decide to offer a home to a cat, please make sure it is fixed before being allowed outside.
Later: Surprisingly, after a couple of years of trying, the mom was caught in the trap yesterday afternoon and removed by the officer in a stylish burlap bag! Sadly there is at least one more kitten left however another trap has been left, with plenty of food, hopefully this morning we will have that one too.
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