Sometimes life gives you kittens.19:55 Jan 02 2022
Times Read: 101
A lot has been going on for me, lately.
I've been in a pretty bad place, preparing to move, attempting to re-home a cat I love dearly but can no longer provide for. I had a big scare because I thought I was going to just be homeless, which was not a good time for me. The possibility of becoming homeless is bad enough on its own, but it's significantly worse when you're trans. I'm very lucky a friend offered to let me stay at his place for a while.
I was praying to Bast for my cat one night, because I've been worried sick about him and where he might wind up. People like to adopt kittens- they're far less likely to adopt grumpy old man cats.
The very next night, I heard meows coming from the front yard. Or at least, I eventually realized it was the front yard. I initially thought my roommates cat was meowing outside my door again. For some reason, it's hard to place which direction meows are coming from in my room. When she meows outside my door it sounds a lot like meowing from outside. Eventually I realized the meowing was in fact coming from outside, and I dashed off to the door, thinking she had gotten outside again. But when I opened the door, she was inside at my feet.
It turned out there were kittens in the yard, meowing their heads off but too shy to get near me when I was outside. I left them food and water, and started a makeshift shelter box to leave them. Every night I returned to bring them more food and water, and I used some of the little money I had left to buy them some pine bedding for the shelter box. Ideally, a cat shelter should have straw- fabrics like blankets and towels can freeze if they get wet and cats can freeze to death that way. I wasn't sure where to even get straw, so I bought the pine bedding for small mammals from the grocery store.
After a couple nights I finally got a glimpse of them- two grey tabbies, just like my cat. I do not see any of this as a coincidence. I was meant to help these kittens with what little I can do. So I've kept at it. A couple nights later I got to pet one of them, and it warmed up to affection right away. After several minutes, it started climbing my legs, purring away in my arms, riding around on my shoulders. The cuddly one disappeared after that night, but the very next night, I found a black kitten in the shelter box with the remaining grey, like a changeling.
I think someone must have taken in the original kitten- it was far too clingy and sweet after discovering it liked to be petted and held. The black kitten turned out to be the most timid of the bunch, so it was probably lurking around out of sight before.
I spent time with the kittens each night, and quickly started feeding them more often when I saw the food wasn't sitting out too long anymore. I'd had to be cautious with the amount of food left out at first, due to the risk of attracting coyotes. I started socializing them, slowly. They soon reached a point where they would consistently sleep in the box together, the grey in front of the timid void. Then they started keeping to the yard at all times, the grey approaching me willingly while the void kept a few feet away, yet within my sight.
My roommate took a trip for a Christmas vacation a few days later, and when he returned, he built them a nicer box. The day after that, he spoke to his vet about them, and told me he'd be setting them up with an adoption program through his vet, and bringing them indoors in the meantime.
This made me feel a tremendous relief for them- I would have loved to just bring them inside in the first place, but I don't own the house and we have other cats to take into consideration. He cleared out a room for them while I stayed outside with two open carriers. They spent some time exploring the carriers on their own, and eventually I was able to shut them both inside.
They are happy in their room, and have blossomed with the socialization they've been getting. The grey kitty likes to be petted, although he's been slow to get used to being picked up and held. He has a big personality and a lust for life. He loves to dive into food, and will push his sibling's head away on occasion- he's a sweetheart, but he's also a jerk! I named him Gemini, on account of the dual nature of his personality.
The black kitten is still shy, but much happier and allows me to pet her a little now. She's made big progress! She loves playing and exploring with her brother, and is the cutest little changeling cat. I call her Spooky Cookie. It just felt like a good name. Originally I had called her brother Casper, after the ghost, but I just had to change his name when I saw what a brat he was at mealtime.
They're going into their adoption program in a little over a week. I've got a lot of feelings about it- relief, happiness, excitement, but even though helping with them is a bit of a handful, I'm going to miss them. Seeing them blossom into happy housecats was a true blessing.
But, as I mentioned before, I don't believe coincidence was at play here. So I'm trying to have faith for my cat. The kittens came to me almost like an answer- "I will help your cat, now you help these kittens for me." I think help will come for my cat, too.
COMMENTS
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FynyxWolf
07:21 Jan 13 2022
I wasn't expecting to have cats like i do after my cat loki got hit by a truck.so i went to the animal shelter thinking that maybe loki was there ended up adopting a black male kitty and ended naming him salem.Then i took in a a pregnant black kitty I ended up naming her karma.And she ended up having eight kittens, only four surived three found homes.One was born stillborn and i brought her back to life.An oreo has been a blessing.then a freind brought me a male kitten and i named him anubis, and he's my little purr machine. And i now have three cats. Our roommate has the fourth cat because he fell in love with her.So i have anubis, salem and karma. After getting a divorce, i had to leave my cats behind. Which completely broke my heart. i miss Luna and roagnar every day. But in the end.I ended up with two solid black kitties and a black and white one. It was a blessing in disguise. Never thought I'd end up with three crazy fur babies.But i'm truly blessed to have them.And I hope things get better for you.Just have faith and you will find a way through the darkness.