Kittens

We discovered some kittens in our back yard a few weeks ago--5 of them. They are the cutest things! The mama cat is a wild stray and won't let anyone near her. Several of the kittens are also very skittish and won't come near. At times, they have come and gone from our yard--to where, I have no idea. But, they came back several days ago and we've been leaving food out for them. Emily and Anna would love to keep them, of course, but we already have 2 adult cats and it just wouldn't work.

Two of the kittens are black and the girls dubbed them "Midnight" and "Licorice." There is a smoky gray one they call "Dusty" and two gray and whites. One of the gray and whites has a "milk mustache" over its mouth, so they call that one "Whiskers." They call the other one "Sprinkles" because it is gray and white all over. I know--it is always dangerous to name animals. All of a sudden, there is an attachment. But, how do you explain that to kids?

Well, we've been trying to tame these kittens and have had success with Dusty and Midnight. They are pretty friendly, especially after you give them a little food. We've been able to pet and hold them. So sweet. But, alas, we can't keep them. Today we were able to catch those two and we took them to the Humane Society. I have great hope that they can be adopted. However, it was pretty traumatic for the girls. They have become attached, no matter hard they tried not to. They cried, and I almost cried, too. We keep telling ourselves that it is for the best. I don't know what we will do about the other three. Whiskers and Sprinkles won't let us get anywhere near them. The one time I managed to catch Sprinkles, he scratched and bit me. He was just scared. We've held Licorice a couple of times, but lately he has been running away. I'm hoping I can trap them somehow. They really need to be caught, because they are still pretty young. They could probably fend for themselves, but I don't know. Mama Cat isn't coming back. Brian saw her get hit by a car the other day. It's sad, but a fact of life with a stray cat. I just hope we can save her kittens from a similar fate.

Update ( July 11):
We were able to catch the other three kittens. What a job. Licorice turned out to be fairly easy and we got him first. Then we noticed that Whiskers was investigating inside our garage so we quickly closed the door and were able to corner her. A little bit later, we got Sprinkles the same way, although he was much harder to catch. He is a fast little turkey! He is also very feisty and put up a fight when Brian caught him. Fortunately, Brian had thought to put on heavy gloves! By the time we had caught them, it was after the Humane Society had closed for the day, so we had to keep them overnight. We made them as comfortable as possible for the night and took them in shortly after opening time. It was hard to say good-bye to them. They have provided us with entertainment for awhile now. But we hope that they will all find good homes and a better life than they would have as strays.