God's Sense of Humor.

There is a saying (I'm not good at memorizing exact words) that says something like, if you want to know if God has a sense of humor, just make plans. Let me stretch that to include the statements we make. Only three blogs ago, I wrote a blog called 'About Cats' and stated that I don't really like cats and why. Was I tempting fate or giving God some kind of nudge toward humor?

Earlier this summer, two young kitties showed up on our deck and stayed. I ignored them as long as I could. Bear and I both agreed (I thought) we did not want kitties. This deck must have given them some sense of safety, because they wouldn't leave. And I realized they were starving right in front of my eyes. Then I saw one kitty nursing and the other very small cat was her mother, though they were nearly the same size. The neighborhood cats and strays that I've mentioned before are double the size of these two.

I couldn't let them starve. Even though I knew they would never leave if I fed them, it didn't look like they would leave anyway. I don't know anything about cats. Really. But food is food. I broke up a slice of our oatmeal bread, added a small amount of my favorite tuna and stirred it up with some milk and set it on the deck. It didn't take them long to devour that. This went on a few days. I soon learned that when I fed them, I had to sit on the deck too or neighborhood cats would chase them and eat their food. We somehow gradually started calling them just Mama and Baby. I still didn't want cats, especially in the house. I don't have the typical allergy of sneezing and red watery eyes, but I do have a skin reaction of itching and actual little stings all over my body that keeps me away from cats for any extended period. (A shower will fix it.)

My next step was taking pictures of them and sending those photos out in e-mails to everyone near enough to take them or know someone who might. Meanwhile I also made calls and found an organization who would spay and vet treat them inexpensively. At least I wouldn't have more litters around here. I really believe this little mama cat wouldn't survive another litter and her size probably explains why there is only one baby now. The papers that came back from the vet with the kitties after spaying tell me Mama only weighs 5.2 lbs. and Baby is 4.3 lbs. (And that was after I'd been feeding them about two weeks.) Once I started feeding them the nursing stopped. It looks like Mama would have given of herself till she died to save her baby. But they were dropped off near the deck of the lady who doesn't like cats......but couldn't watch them starve. Yup, God must be laughing at me.

Next blog title will be....'We've Been Adopted.'