Overrun by Felis Catus (L.)
We had no cats. I am allergic to cats. Six months ago, I said yes to one cat. We now have eight cats. How does this happen?
I’ve got a wife and two daughters who absolutely love animals. So, when “Our Spotted Friend” showed up in our neighborhood six months ago looking cute, skinny, and pathetic, my wife and daughters were immediately smitten with her. The deal was sealed when my wife gave her a can of tuna one day. From that moment, she was “our” cat.
Despite my allergies, I agreed that we could take her in on a trial basis. If I became a sneezing, wheezing, snotty-nosed mess, we would have to find her a new home. Otherwise, she was welcome to stay.
I didn’t become a sneezing, wheezing, snotty-nosed mess.
A few weeks later, a teacher at my kids’ school brought in a beautiful Russian Blue who didn’t have a home. Having said yes to one cat, I had lost all of my leverage by the time the second one came around, so we became the proud owners of “Grace” as well.
When we acquired Grace, she hadn’t been fixed and before we could take care of that particular matter, she became great with child. In fact, she became huge with child. Grace isn’t the biggest cat to begin with and by the sixth week she was almost wider than she was long.
On top of that, since we weren’t quite sure when she’d had her fling, we didn’t really know her due date. For the last three weeks we’ve been telling the girls, “Grace will be having her babies any day now.” I think they stopped believing us quite a while ago.
Well, last Thursday we were awakened by a persistent squeak that sounded like someone rocking back and forth on a rubber duck. For a while, I thought the sound was coming from outside, but then I realized that it was coming from somewhere in the the room. “It’s Grace!” I mumbled frantically, wiping the drool from the side of my mouth. “She’s having her babies!”
I stumbled out of bed and tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. At first it seemed like the sound was coming from the closet so I started rummaging through my wife’s 127 pairs of shoes. But after working my through the first layer of Doc Marten sandals, I figured out that the sound was coming from under the bed.
I peered under the bed and there was Grace, ever the tidy cat, “queening” on a plastic Nordstrom bag. The first kitten had already been born and was squeaking/mewing louder than I would have thought possible from such a tiny body and the second was on the way.
I slid the plastic bag out from underneath the bed and went to wake up the girls. We watched the process for the next hour as numbers 3-5 were born, after which the girls went back to bed while my wife and I stayed awake until the sixth and final kitten was out.
So, even though I was cat-free less than six months ago, the next 9-12 weeks will find us overrun by eight members of felis catus (L.). Thank goodness the little tykes are as cute as buttons…
Comments
Julie
I Loved your story about the birth of your kittens. I’m so glad to find that I am not the only one that is such a “softie” when it comes to animals. About two months ago we aquired “Star” a beatiful black and white cat that seemed to of adopted me! I was shopping at my local Target when out in the garden department comes this poor little lost soul looking up at me with these eyes that said,”please take me home with you!” I could not say no, so home she came. Six weeks later we noticed “Star” starting to enlarge in a most unusual way! My daughter Hannah said “Mom! I think she’s going to have kittens! Sure enough, I took her to my vet and she concluded that yes indeed, kittens are on there way! As I now sit up at three in the morning with “Star” in labor waiting for the blessed event to arrive, I find myself quite excited and even a bit nervous. So I thought I would search the web for any bits of helpful information when I found your artical “Overrun By Felis Catus”. It is nice to know that there are others, like myself that are willing to help out a poor little creature that didn’t ask to be put in her situation. Thanks for caring and good luck in finding GOOD homes. But PLEASE ask ALL of the new owners to be responsible pet owners and SPAY and NEUTER our friends, so less will end up on our doorsteps needing loving care! Thanks, Julie ;)