Remember the dumpster kittens we rescued here and here?
There I am, happily pounding away at the keyboard, when Chris meanders by with a bemused look on his face and states, apropos of nothing,”Don’t mow the grass.”
He then grabs his car keys and wanders out the front door.
I blink, but Chris is our fathers son, so I go back to typing a particularly lurid sword-fight, get a bit thirsty and hop into the kitchen.
As I am pouring my cuppa, I happen to look out the kitchen window — and there’s a face staring at me from under the lawn mower.
*blink, blink*
I go outside, look under the lawn mower, pause and go back inside the house. Chris has just arrived, bearing a large yellow bag.
“Chris,” says I, “Why do we have a four-pack of kittens under the lawn mower?”
“Because it’s ever-so-much more dangerous than a dumpster?”
Okay.
Seems like the daft mama of the kittens previously rescued — twice — has done had her another set. And this time, since we’re obviously not dangerous (dumb, but not dangerous), she has stashed them under the lawnmower on the driveway outside the back door.
*sigh*
Mama cat either isn’t really a feral cat, or she’s decided that the feral life sucks:
And our driveway — with it’s dearth of dumpsters — seems to be prime kitten-raising ground:
As would the living room, if only we’d bow to the inevitable and open the damned door:
*sigh*
LawDog
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Thank you. You make me giggle. I too have bowed to the universe and allowed (he comes in the dog door, and the dog lets him) a cat into the house. My hubby and son are both allergic, but I’ve caught both of them petting the cat when they thought I wasn’t paying attention. The will both probably be hooked on Tylenol Allergy but Cie la vie.
If you’d open the door you’d find a very good foot warmer when ever you needed it 🙂 this from a guy who has 3 cats who sleeps on him most of the time….
I second taking the kittens in (and getting them tamed and adopted out). Once the mother is done nursing the kittens, you might consider catching her and having her fixed. You can them release back outside. This will prevent more litters and other cats moving into her territory.
Resistance is futile.
Or Mew-tile!
She is moving in… learn to accept it! 🙂
Lawdog,
what a CATastrophe!
you know she wants you to open the door.
Open the door Lawdog..if she could make a fist she’d be knocking..incessantly.
Good luck with them all!
When you finally let her in, make sure you get her fixed.
…and where would one be able to read said particularly lurid sword-fight?
Dammit, I LEFT my comment….somewhere in cyberspace, I guess.
Anyway, in about 4 weeks, anyone want to adopt a 1) black and white, 2) yellow tiger-striped, 3) calico, 4) white with black blaze on nose, or 5) even Mama Calico?
LawMom
If I was in that area, I would totally take one of the kittens once it was weaned.
I agree with the rest – take them in and get them fixed. Mama looks friendly, and the kittens, when they grow up around people, will likely be great pets (says the girl whose mother used to do this sort of thing all the time, and who still has the great company of kittens from a feral mother). 🙂
I first read the line, “Chris is our father’s son” as “Chris is our sons father”. There’s a big difference! You had me wondering for a minute there.
LawDog, LawMom & Chris, ya just gotta face it – St. Francis has passed the word, and you’re now the {proud?} companions of Mama ……………. she’s trusting you to help her raise her babies to young cathood ;-)………………. seriously, there should be an organization nearby {mayhap a neighboring county?} that can assist with vaccinations/spaying/neutering all before adoption ………………….. and as a FWIW, if you keep Mama around after she’s spayed, she’ll keep snakes away from garden areas – she’ll probably keep snakes COMPLETELY off your property ………………..
Ok. I have now read the current tome, and having picked myself up off the floor from a fifteen minute howling fit at the idea of the Dog actually MOWING THE GRASS?!?-oh, don’t get me started again.
Ok. Take a look at the new Chevy pickup ad on t.v. Then take a look at the four-footed hulk in the cab, who isn’t about to get out of it and into the truck bed.
This is an approximation of Eliot Kareem Bey.
The El, as he is known, wasn’t exactly feral when we acquired him, through the local animal control officer who knows my weakness for largish puppies who haven’t the ghost of a chance of being adopted.
So, we acquired a pup who had been dumped and who was nearly starving and still growing when a gauger picked him up out at Bugscuffle.
He went through several owners, and right away, we came to know why. He’s very smart-if you catch him in the act. Not before, not after: during.
So, he learned not to pee on the recliner-after he’d inundated it just twice, with enough to rust out the innards; he learned not to jump up on the cabinet, the cooktop, the oven, the fridge just because something in/on it smelled like the El would like to eat it-having been caught in the act of noshing a four-pound beef roast; he learned, sort of, not to do the famous six-foot, sideways, Anatolian wolf leap on people-after knocking one of the pudge patrol on his-ah-derriere; BUT, he did not learn that you aren’t supposed to kill and try to eat small furry creatures-particularly cats.
Add what is now 90 pounds of the El to the fact that Boojie is violently allergic to cats-like emergency room bound-this is not the place for those trusting gorgeous little varmints.
So, HELP! We need someone to really give these tiny beauties a good home.
LawMom
For those who don’t know, the cause of the allergy to cats is an enzyme in their saliva, not their fur or dander. ‘Course, those items ARE coated with it! The amount of this enzyme varies from cat to cat. (plus how often and how much they groom themselves)
Recently saw where someone in L-A, Calif is breeding cats to develop an enzyme-free line. Now, when they can figure out how to keep them the size of kittens, they’ll hit the big time!
The colder weather will be coming in soon…
I hope you let them in before then. I’d offer to add them to my clan, but I’m a bit far away.
Oh my, if only I left the canyon for more than a few hours any more – I would surely adopt the calicos as a minimum. I hope you find wonderful homes for ALL of them.
All right. You people who would adopt these babies if you didn’t live so far away, where do you live?
LawMom
I don’t know if they operate in your area, but here in TN there is a group called “Snip & Tip.” Through donations and volunteer work they take feral cats and spay or neuter them. They then snip off the tip of one ear to make them readily identifiable, patch them up and release them whence they came. It might be worth looking into.
LawMom, we’re down NNE of Houston – howsomeever, my spousal unit would ……………….. not be pleased, were I to add to our {GULP!} 8 in the house and various strays I feed outside – we’re currently living in a trailer in a trailer park – and one “neighbor” has threatened to kill one of the strays I feed, because Big Red has the temerity to climb on his vehicles – my attitude is, don’t live in a trailer park ………………… 😉
Semper Fi’
DM
If you are within 30 mls of Austin and are so inclined, my sister will catch mom, get her fixed and bring her back…free, though a donation for their group isn’t turned down…let me know.
I had a kitten adopt me. I am now her butler/maid/cook/and general dogsbody. She is a sweet pet.
A follow on to Will‘s comment:
If your allergy to cats is not severe then get a kitten. They’re small enough that they don’t produce much saliva (with it’s allergy inducing enzyme). Your system will probably be able to handle their output. As they grow and produce more allergens your system will adapt. Pretty much everyone who does this winds up with a cat they’re not allergic to. Many wind up with their cat allergy cured. Well, desensitized really – I’ve also heard that not having a cat for a while can make the allergy come back.
Some people are too allergic to adapt to the kitten, and others find their systems simply can’t keep adapting, but it works for most people.
I’m way too far to the North to adopt one of these cuties, unfortunately. That, and we’ve got 40 lbs of cat around the (smallish) house already who are unlikely to want to share. Only two cats, but they’re big boys.
Lawmom,
If I lived closer, I would. I’m in Pennsylvania, so it would be a bit of a hike for me.
kateykakes
So how do you feel about receiving a cardboard box with air holes punched in….?
LM
LawMom,
I was just about to suggest a small box,firmly tapped with small holes. I’m in Indiana, but would take another boy if you have one. Word is you have experience mailing critters.
Lisa
My family has a photo of one of our kittens coming out of the discharge chute on our mower . . .
We rapidly developed the habit of moving the mower before starting it!
–Webfoot Logger
Lin – when I come out to see you in NM, I’ll bring you a passel of Dallas cats if LD doesn’t have a fresh crop to send along to you. How’d that be?
Cute cats — and no, the mom’s not feral. Feral cats don’t want to have anything to do with humans, except maybe getting fed. She wants to be petted; she’s not feral.
Well my Brother and Sister-in-law came to a partial soltion on the cat absorbtion problem. Fereal/stray cats in the back yard get collected by havahart traps and are taken to a cat friendly vet to be neutered at no charge. neurtered strays in the backyard are permitted to be fed but can have no house privileges. In turn the house can only have a maximum of four cats.
“No charge?” Crikey, we need to move. A visit to a local vet costs approximately the same as one of our visits to the medic around here.
And then there were our friends who had a pet feral hog….
LawMom