Thursday, May 29, 2008

WE HAVE CATS!!

Really, it's true. If you remember, there has been a black cat that has lived in the street gutter for a very long time. Well, it turns out that cat is a female and she decided to have her kittens in the space underneath my shed! There are 4 kittens; 2 black, and 2 tabby-colored. I think they are weaned because they look half-grown, but they are really adorable.
I first realized that we had cats on Tuesday. I was looking out the window at the kitchen sink when I saw all 4 of them out playing and the mother cat was just laying sunning herself as the kittens played around her. My yard seems to be the local hangout for the neighborhood cats, but that was when I realized that the occasional cat I saw in our yard was a little more than that!
Anna wants to befriend them, but they are wild and only run if we come near. We have put water out for them and I gave them some chicken and they seemed to appreciate it, but they are just too wild to be caught, which is fine with me since I am allergic anyway. I guess outdoor cats is the closest I'll come to having cats at all.

9 comments:

Carynanne said...

DUDE! That is so cool. Just let them live outside-- you don't want a litter box.

They are very helpful in keeping the rodent population at bay; I am constantly finding dead mice and chipmunks out in the yard. I got really mad at Titus the other day because he was chasing a chipmunk around (I think he just liks to play with them) and then he chased it into the house. I brought him in, caught the chipmunk and tossed him out, and waited a while to let Titus out, and then later that day I found another dead chipmunk in the back. Evil cats.

Colleen said...

Yeah, that's why I like having them, and because they aren't tamed, they have no inkling of bringing such 'gifts' into the house. It's like the best of both worlds!

Shannon said...

Awww...eeewwwww cats. God's curse to mankind. He should have fit them in after the Garden of Eden blunder..."pain in childbirth and cats". We have no animals or otherwise in our "yard", but we do have spiders and ants inside, so I will be calling Terminix today to remedy that.

Carynanne said...

We have issues with sugar ants getting in, but as long as I keep them sprayed, I don't have a problem. It's only in the summer. Supposedly the only way to kill spiders is to spray them directly-- you can't just spray an area and expect them to not come back. That's because they don't clean themselves the way insects do, which is the reason you can spray across the doorway and if a cockroach walks in he'll eventually die. Don't you all feel smarter now?

Hey mom-- I had a thought. If you don't want more litters of cats, you may wish to consider having those ones spayed.

Adena said...

Yeah, otherwise you'll be the million cat lady (and nobody wants to be THAT lady). Hehe

Have you named any of them?

Adena said...

eh... cockroaches clean themselves? With what, Poo water?

That doesn't make me feel smart, it makes me feel itchy and creepy.

Colleen said...

I have not named the cats because they aren't really 'pets'. They are feral and I have no intention of going near them for any reason. If the mother cat wants to have more kittens, I can't do anything to stop her because there's no way to catch her. And I don't want to call PAWS because I don't want to have them put to sleep, so as long as they are functional and keep the creepy-crawlies at bay, I'll let them. If we have a population explosion of cats, then I will be forced to call PAWS, but I doubt they will all stay around here.
As for cockroaches and spiders, the only good insects are dead insects! I say, 'Kill 'em all!' and I feel no remorse over it. Anna still catches insects and lets them go outside, but I have no such mercy on the critters.

Anna Farley said...

They are really adorable cats. I set out another can of chicken for them the other day, and they devoured it and practically dragged the can under the shed with them. It was pretty hilarious to see four little kittens trying to push their noses into a tiny can all at once.

Mrs. F said...

I have to go with Shannon on this one...Blech-cats. We have a patch of weird sandy stuff in our back yard and it REEKS of cat feces. It is like a big huge litter box for cats that are not ours! Anyone got a BB gun I can borrow? (joking, of course!)

~~Paloma~~