Kittens at my doorstep
26May20
So, it's been awhile because everyday is pretty much the same when it comes to feeding cats. That is until yesterday morning.
The only foreboding that something was unusual was our guy hadn't come home. He's usually at the door between 4 to 6 am. And here it was after 7am and no cat. I always worry when he exhibits any minor change of behavior.
David opens the door to take his walk and says, "What the hell is this?"
I heard this peeping and my first thought was birds, then I saw these little things by the steps and thought mouse. Then I realized our young mother finally had her kittens.
Our hallway is something like this. Our door is in the middle. Looking out our door to the right is the cat lover. To the left lives a holier than thou my shit doesn't stink cat hater. The stairs are straight ahead. Well, young mother decided to drop her young ones right in front of Miss HTTMSDS cat hater's door. She had two. A orange and white one and a black and white one. The orange and white one was still on the door mat of Miss HTTMSDS. The black and white one had fallen down one step. They were both going peep, peep, peep.
Little mama seemed very confused. I picked up the black and white one and sat it next to the other kitten. I sat down with her and petted little mama. The kittens continued to peep. I encouraged little mama to lay down and nurse. Immediately the kittens crawled on her belly. The orange one seemed to be doing okay, but little mama seemed to be rejecting the black one.
I'm thinking the orange one looks like her brother which she likes, but the black one looks like the cat that raped her which maybe she doesn't like so much. Who knows.
Anyway, the poor black one couldn't seem to find a teet, even when I put his face right next to one.
While I'm baby sitting little mama, I see big eyes staring at me from around the corner. It's Bag-arama checking to make sure everything is okay. He stays at the bottom of the steps just watching for quite awhile.
I'm sitting out there in my nightgown, and she seems to be calming down, so I get up to get dressed. When I do, she jumps up and follows me inside. I get dressed and encourage her back out to take care of her kittens. Someone had put a big bowl of food for her, but she didn't seem terribly interested in the food.
Fully dressed, I go back in the hall and sit next to her and put the kittens up to her teets. She seems okay with lying there as long as I'm around. The good neighbor who loves cats came out and told me she had dropped sometime last night around 2am and that our cat had been at the door wanting in. Of course, we had been asleep at that time and didn't hear a thing.
Our guy still hadn't made an appearance.
She also said she was concerned that the black cat might not make it.
When David came home I decided to go look for our guy. Mama has to follow me. I found him and he was very nervous about coming upstairs. We get him past the kittens and once inside, he's too nervous to eat or drink.
He finally settles down and I go out to feed the rest of the monsters -- they are all entitled monsters.
When I go down with food mama goes down with me. I feed everyone one looking out for Loper. Loper is the grandma and loves kittens. She would be a good one to help the little mama. But I see everyone except Loper. Little mama and her brother follow me upstairs. I guess I left the door open and our guy makes a beeline to go back outside.
I settle little mama back down and again put her kittens at her teets. They must have found pay dirt because mama got all calm and sleepy eyed. I went back to find our guy and couldn't find him. David went to find our guy and couldn't find him. At least mama had settled down, I went inside the apartment and started my day.
Every other Monday is Thai massage day and this was one of those Mondays. I was going to have to leave again, but this time little mama didn't follow me. It was good to be away from the kitty drama.
The other cat hater in the building lives on the second floor, she's an old Romanian who always scolds me for feeding the cats. When I leave, I come back prepared with a can of sardines for the monsters to share. I had given everyone a piece and saved one for the little mama. To my surprise little mama had moved her kittens down to the second floor right in front of Romanian cat hater. Of all the doors in all the apartments in all of Haifa and she has to pick the two doors where cat haters live.
I'm thinking the Romanian would literally take those kittens and throw them in the trash. I fed little mama last sardine and took her kittens downstairs, outside and found a nice quiet place where they would be safe and no one would bother them. When little mama finished eating I showed her where her kittens were. She promptly picked up the orange one and dropped it back in front of the Romanian's door.
No, no, no, no.
I went back to my apartment and found a box, placing it closer to my door than Miss HTTMSDS. I went down and gathered up the kittens and put them in the box. Little mama followed me up and jumped right in and started nursing. The good neighbor put a soft cloth in the bottom of the box. And little mama is starting to be a good mama.
But our guy cannot deal with kittens.
Apparently while I was gone, he came home. David had to coax him indoors and he told me Miss HTTMSDS started bitching at him for putting food in the hall. David told her he didn't put it there, but that wasn't good enough. She made him take it out of the hall because she's too good to do something like that herself.
But at least our guy was inside. He's been all needy and insecure. Which in some ways is kind of nice because he's all snuggly and lovey-dovey. But he didn't go back outside until about 9am today and didn't use his litter box the entire time.
We had the brain child of moving his food someplace else, because the cats right outside the door make him very nervous. No can do, his food has to be where he always eats or else.
But anyway, when he did get the courage to go out, I opened the door for him and he cautiously goes out. He peers around the corner saw little mama nursing kittens and gave a startled jump, hissed and ran down the stairs.
After lunch, when I was going to the market, he was ready to come back inside. He was outside meowing really loud. I coaxed him back upstairs but when he was little mama, he turned and tried to bolt. I picked him up and brought him the rest of the way, and he's struggling out of my arms and hissing at little mama. Once inside, door closed he's fine.
It's going to be a difficult summer.
So, it's been awhile because everyday is pretty much the same when it comes to feeding cats. That is until yesterday morning.
The only foreboding that something was unusual was our guy hadn't come home. He's usually at the door between 4 to 6 am. And here it was after 7am and no cat. I always worry when he exhibits any minor change of behavior.
David opens the door to take his walk and says, "What the hell is this?"
I heard this peeping and my first thought was birds, then I saw these little things by the steps and thought mouse. Then I realized our young mother finally had her kittens.
Our hallway is something like this. Our door is in the middle. Looking out our door to the right is the cat lover. To the left lives a holier than thou my shit doesn't stink cat hater. The stairs are straight ahead. Well, young mother decided to drop her young ones right in front of Miss HTTMSDS cat hater's door. She had two. A orange and white one and a black and white one. The orange and white one was still on the door mat of Miss HTTMSDS. The black and white one had fallen down one step. They were both going peep, peep, peep.
Little mama seemed very confused. I picked up the black and white one and sat it next to the other kitten. I sat down with her and petted little mama. The kittens continued to peep. I encouraged little mama to lay down and nurse. Immediately the kittens crawled on her belly. The orange one seemed to be doing okay, but little mama seemed to be rejecting the black one.
I'm thinking the orange one looks like her brother which she likes, but the black one looks like the cat that raped her which maybe she doesn't like so much. Who knows.
Anyway, the poor black one couldn't seem to find a teet, even when I put his face right next to one.
While I'm baby sitting little mama, I see big eyes staring at me from around the corner. It's Bag-arama checking to make sure everything is okay. He stays at the bottom of the steps just watching for quite awhile.
I'm sitting out there in my nightgown, and she seems to be calming down, so I get up to get dressed. When I do, she jumps up and follows me inside. I get dressed and encourage her back out to take care of her kittens. Someone had put a big bowl of food for her, but she didn't seem terribly interested in the food.
Fully dressed, I go back in the hall and sit next to her and put the kittens up to her teets. She seems okay with lying there as long as I'm around. The good neighbor who loves cats came out and told me she had dropped sometime last night around 2am and that our cat had been at the door wanting in. Of course, we had been asleep at that time and didn't hear a thing.
Our guy still hadn't made an appearance.
She also said she was concerned that the black cat might not make it.
When David came home I decided to go look for our guy. Mama has to follow me. I found him and he was very nervous about coming upstairs. We get him past the kittens and once inside, he's too nervous to eat or drink.
He finally settles down and I go out to feed the rest of the monsters -- they are all entitled monsters.
When I go down with food mama goes down with me. I feed everyone one looking out for Loper. Loper is the grandma and loves kittens. She would be a good one to help the little mama. But I see everyone except Loper. Little mama and her brother follow me upstairs. I guess I left the door open and our guy makes a beeline to go back outside.
I settle little mama back down and again put her kittens at her teets. They must have found pay dirt because mama got all calm and sleepy eyed. I went back to find our guy and couldn't find him. David went to find our guy and couldn't find him. At least mama had settled down, I went inside the apartment and started my day.
Every other Monday is Thai massage day and this was one of those Mondays. I was going to have to leave again, but this time little mama didn't follow me. It was good to be away from the kitty drama.
The other cat hater in the building lives on the second floor, she's an old Romanian who always scolds me for feeding the cats. When I leave, I come back prepared with a can of sardines for the monsters to share. I had given everyone a piece and saved one for the little mama. To my surprise little mama had moved her kittens down to the second floor right in front of Romanian cat hater. Of all the doors in all the apartments in all of Haifa and she has to pick the two doors where cat haters live.
I'm thinking the Romanian would literally take those kittens and throw them in the trash. I fed little mama last sardine and took her kittens downstairs, outside and found a nice quiet place where they would be safe and no one would bother them. When little mama finished eating I showed her where her kittens were. She promptly picked up the orange one and dropped it back in front of the Romanian's door.
No, no, no, no.
I went back to my apartment and found a box, placing it closer to my door than Miss HTTMSDS. I went down and gathered up the kittens and put them in the box. Little mama followed me up and jumped right in and started nursing. The good neighbor put a soft cloth in the bottom of the box. And little mama is starting to be a good mama.
But our guy cannot deal with kittens.
Apparently while I was gone, he came home. David had to coax him indoors and he told me Miss HTTMSDS started bitching at him for putting food in the hall. David told her he didn't put it there, but that wasn't good enough. She made him take it out of the hall because she's too good to do something like that herself.
But at least our guy was inside. He's been all needy and insecure. Which in some ways is kind of nice because he's all snuggly and lovey-dovey. But he didn't go back outside until about 9am today and didn't use his litter box the entire time.
We had the brain child of moving his food someplace else, because the cats right outside the door make him very nervous. No can do, his food has to be where he always eats or else.
But anyway, when he did get the courage to go out, I opened the door for him and he cautiously goes out. He peers around the corner saw little mama nursing kittens and gave a startled jump, hissed and ran down the stairs.
After lunch, when I was going to the market, he was ready to come back inside. He was outside meowing really loud. I coaxed him back upstairs but when he was little mama, he turned and tried to bolt. I picked him up and brought him the rest of the way, and he's struggling out of my arms and hissing at little mama. Once inside, door closed he's fine.
It's going to be a difficult summer.
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