17 August 04
Da Capo
Where I sit, now, is pretty much where I always sit when I set out to write a blog entry. It’s at a 12” iBook on a white tile counter (cluttered with papers) that separates the kitchen from the living room, and it faces the kitchen window. Through this window I can see an English walnut tree, in full leaf with the fruits coming in, and a wall of corn. The cornfield is now about 11 feet tall. This is the first year they’ve planted corn in this field; before now it’s all been tomatoes, squashes, maybe sorghum that reached a maximum height of about four feet.
I’ve never lived in a jungle but I’m starting to get a sense of green impenetrability, and I don’t relish it all that much. I didn’t before Sunday.
Then, on Sunday:
A light fawn kitten emerged from the cornfield.
There’s only one word for this, really: shit.
Last night we watched as this kitten AND a more orange sibling emerged to eat the food we left out for what we thought was ONE kitten, which we thought we had a chance to catch. We’ve even bought a humane trap to do this. With two, it’s a lot harder.
What do we do? We have one bathroom which, when it’s not being used as a kitten nursery, we tend to use. We have two kittens, now permanently indoors, that have been de-wormed, tested for FHIV and feline leukemia, neutered, treated for intestinal parasites, vaccinated, and are healthy; these two new kittens are so much like them in every way but size I can’t help but think they’re siblings who got left out of our grand roundup back in May and are stunted from a lot less to eat. But for sure they have worms, coccidia, respiratory stuff, the works, most of it contagious and all of it unpleasant. And they’re not sterilised—my biggest priority. We cannot stretch this household further. Quite apart from the fact that if they really are four months old, they’re almost certainly too old to be tamed.
I wish I had the meditation gene.
I guess this feels like enough of a rerun to qualify for the Ecotone Wiki’s RePlace.
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I don’t suppose you have an outbuilding you can convert a bit, so you can use your bathroom again. Cat litter on wet bare toes is such a bummer.
I laughed at the “shit” expletive. I’m sorry, but I just did. It’s sort of the universal expletive of choice when a new cat or kitten shows up just when things seemed under control.
And what a surprise!
More cats….. I hope you find a solution for this… [problem?].
hugs!
Alley Cat Allies, for what it’s worth, is strongly in favor of Trap-Neuter-Release, which is increasingly SOP these days but which has some significant drawbacks (as Pica well knows). Sometimes euthanasia is indeed the most humane option.
In either case, let us know if you want to use Thistle’s old hutch as temporary lodging.
For example, in my area I set up off-site adoptions downtown and at Barnes and Noble etc. so people who rescue cats can find homes for them rather than get stuck with them. It’s hard work finding homes for shy cats.
Trap/Neuter/Return does have some baggage if you are a person who is also concerned about the local wildlife. Of course, fewer cats outdoors is better than breeding cats. But 40 cats in the house should be avoided at all costs. :)