Kitties Galore!

For the past week or so, the dogs were barking and digging at the shed at the corner of our lot.  I looked under the shed with a flashlight but couldn't see anything.  The dogs kept at it so I kept checking until one day I saw two little kittens under there!  The shed is too low for me to get under it and it is bordered on 2 sides by the split rail fence and lattice.  I can't figure out how the mother got in there but later on I figured out the mother probably had them under the workbench I have behind the shed (adjacent to it) and they crawled through the fence and under the shed.  Anyway, Lucie and I tried to get them out with tuna fish and steering them along with poles.  Nothing worked.  We just decided to leave them alone.  I looked for them the next couple of days but they seemed to be gone.  That didn't sit well with us - what kind of life would they have running around in the woods?  Then Monday morning the dogs were at it again.  So I pulled back part of the lattice and let Britni the beagle go under.  She rooted around but came back and focused on one corner of the shed.  But she was looking beyond the shed.  So I went around the back on the outside and there sat a gray kitten!  I picked it up and put it in a plastic pet crate we had.  I figured the other one was around somewhere so I went away and came back and sure enough, there was a black one in the same spot - sitting on the fence rail!  So I put that one in the crate too.  Then I went online to figure out their gender.  Both males.  I figured my work was done but the dogs kept barking.  So back I went and found TWO more!  Oh my!  The whole gang got put in the crate and they were happy to be together again.  They looked nice and healthy and well fed.  All blue-eyed with their ears standing up which put them at about 4 weeks old.  According to my inspection, there were two males, and two females. The gray one we named Smoke Monster (from the show Lost), a black one we named Hisser (he hissed a lot but never bit), the other black one Olive and the striped one Tiger Lilly.  Couldn't find the mother.  Some friends came over with dry cat food and I got some kitty formula from the pet store.  They lapped up the formula and ate the food.  I left them outside in the bench by the pool with the lid open overnight but mama cat never came (that I could tell).  They snuggled together under the towels we put in ther and it wasn't very cold.  We couldn't find anyone to take them and I wanted to be sure they weren't euthanized so I did a lot of research only to find that the SPCA is now considered no-kill.  So, after initially not contacting them, I called them and they were the best!  Took them right in and really loved them.  They said they would be adopted really quickly.  Oh, it turns out I mis-identified Tiger Lilly.  Turns out she is a he so we re-named him Tiger Willy.  When I got home, mama cat showed up - looked just liked Tiger Willy.  I have a catch and release trap out there with some tuna in it.  The SPCA said they would take mama if I caught her.


I wish I knew how their lives would turn out and what lives would be affected by them.  I do know they are better off there than trying to survive in the woods.  And us keeping them was not an option.  I was their first human contact and they got a lot of loving from the family and friends who came over.  One lesson learned from this whole experience had to do with the shelter search.  I was originally told the SPCA would take the kitties but then euthanize them.  It wasn't until after I had looked at all of the other options when I was told, by a specialized animal hospital (where we had taken Britni for her eye condition) that the SPCA had become a no-kill shelter.  And when I called them, they were the most sincere and honest and compassionate of all the places I had contacted.  It was simply the right place for them to be.  Had I not done all of my research, I would have missed an opportunity to do the right thing.  Lesson learned.