CuteKittyPix.com
Title
Cats - The Fab Five - Cat Photos - Fun - Games - Apparel
Description
ne quiet Sunday as I was slumped on the couch reading the paper, I heard my neighbor, Barbara, calling “JAYCIE, COME QUICK, COME QUICK” I ran outside. “THERE’S A TINY KITTEN HERE, SO TINY IT WIGGLED THROUGH YOUR FENCE!” She ran down the driveway. “ I was driving by when I saw a white ball of fur in the street with a squirrel sniffing at it, and when I stopped, I saw that it was a kitten!” Tweaker (as he later became known) was high up on the hill next to the fence. I got a ladder, climbed up over the wall and up through the ivy until I was able to grab him. Hissing and spitting, all teeth and claws (how could he know I wasn’t going to eat him!) I managed to wrap him in my T-shirt and climb back down. He was much too small to be out on his own, and easy prey for a hawk. We took him into the house, petting him and talking softly to him to calm him down. Barbara had to leave, so I made a place for him in my big old bathtub with a makeshift bed, food and water, so he could eat and rest.
As I had many chores to do outside, I went out and began to work. I could hear Tweaker’s high-pitched meowing and what seemed to be almost an echo meow. As I listened, I began to realize that there must be another kitten up on the road! I ran up the street, and sure enough, there was another white ball of fluff, soon to be known as Tashes, curled up in the dirt by the side of the road. I scooped him up and reunited him with his brother. Now, I began to worry: Were there more??? I walked the neighborhood calling “Here kitty kitty” as I went. Because it was Sunday, and quiet, it was easy to hear. I found no more kittens and no mother cat. Where did they come from? How had they gotten here? Did someone hoping they would find a home dump them? To this day, it’s a mystery. I put up signs and an ad in the paper, but no response. Did I want two six-week-old kittens to take care of? NO!!! Did they win my heart? Absolutely!
In the summer of 1999, July 4th weekend, to be exact, I started seeing a black female cat in my garden. Because I put food out for them, there are great many birds at my house, and she was trying to catch a bird to feed herself and her small black kitten. At first, I thought they might belong to someone who was away for the long weekend, but sadly this was not the case. I began putting out dry food and water for them, which they seemed so grateful to have. I called her “Fleur” and the kitten “Fleurette” which is French for “flower” because they were like two especially beautiful flowers in the garden. I saw Fleur occasionally after that weekend, though I never saw Fleurette again. I continued to put out food and water every day whether I saw her or not. Some months later, I saw her with another kitten, a tabby. I then determined that I would try to catch them in a humane trap, and have them neutered to stop the proliferation of kittens. Where I live, there are coyotes, bobcats, foxes, hawks and owls all looking for small animals to feed themselves, so young kittens don’t have much of a chance living outside. Much to my surprise, I caught the kitten right away! She was about three months old, so very cute, and after she was spayed, I was afraid to let her go since she wasn’t really old enough to be on her own, and I wasn’t sure if she would be able to find Fleur quickly enough for her own survival. So….I decided that since I already had two cats, I might as well have three. Tweaker and Tashes, now grown, adopted her as their own, and as she like to sleep tightly wedged between them, she became known as “Tweenie”.
