Spring of the Cats

Spring of the Cats

 

    We live out on the edge of a farm near a barn, so we do not get too surprised when a stray cat shows up on our doorstep. This first happened six years ago when a skinny orange striped cat whom we named Tansy made her appearance. One year later, our very funny Abner came meowing. Several years went by before a CATastrophic event ocurred during the Spring of 2007.

 

 

    The "Spring of the Cats" started very innocently when a small black cat with white spots followed my husband and kids home from a walk. We felt sorry for him because he was missing an eye, so we immediately decided to keep him. We had noticed another black and white cat that looked like our neighbor's cat following at a distance. The following day, the second cat planted himself on our doorstep and we noticed a third solid black cat lurking in the bushes watching us. On the third day, a fourth black and white cat appeared! Then a fifth gray cat came calling!

 

 

    By this time I felt overwhelmed with the crowd of kitties who were pleading for food and attention. We were also apalled because we mistakenly thought that two of the cats belonged to our neighbors who were away on vacation. They actually own a black and white plus a gray cat, so we thought that they had left their two cats to fend for themselves! We were wrong. The neighbors' cats and our two house cats were gleefully peeking out of windows watching the kitty saga that was unfolding outside.

 

 

    The cats appeared to be siblings and they were at least six months old. I was worried that we would have a further complicated case of multiplying cats, so I rounded up three of them to be spayed and neutered at the travelling low cost vet. We thought that it was best to take care of that potential problem while we decided what to do. I then began calling no-kill animal shelters and the humane society to see if someone would take them because it was very difficult for us to provide shelter and food for so many cats.

 

    Keep in mind that someone had loved these cats. They were all extremely friendly and loving. Two of them loved to ride in the bottom of our kids' jogging stroller when we went out on long walks! They were obviously used to children. We assume that a family had owned the cats, but had to move or for some reason couldn't continue to take care of them. Instead of taking them to the Humane Society, they abandoned them at the barn near our house in the middle of the night. I suppose they thought that the cats would have a better chance as barn kitties rather than being euthanized at the Humane Society. Since they were loving cats who wanted to be with people, they went searching and found us!

 

    All of the shelters that I called were overcrowded and overflowing with cats, so we began asking aquaintances and friends to adopt a cat. One of our coworkers kindly adopted two! We were very thrilled that two of them would have a good home and could be together there. We continued to try to find homes for the remaining three cats, but could find no takers. Needless to say, we have fallen in love with each one. They are all very friendly and love children. We are planning on keeping them as outdoor cats, but will have to think about how we will shelter them during the Winter. Meanwhile, we have noticed another stray cat hanging around. Here we go again!