KitN's Kindle

Alright, I'll start from the beginning, since that's usually where you should start from.

I hadn't owned a cat since I was 19 or 20. I had no intentions of having one any time soon either, however, Fate or whatever had other ideas.

Around July 23rd, two days before my birthday, I was out walking around my garden when I spot a black and white streak running towards a woodpile. I assumed it was a skunk because we had a family of them along with a family of raccoons start moving in around the property. So, I went to grab my pellet rifle and proceeded to shoot around the pile. Just trying to get it to take off.

Well, nothing made any noise, nothing came running out, and that was frustrating. So, I went to the pile and started slowly taking off layers as to not spook it and wind up with a face full of skunk. Not too long and eureka, I found an area near the center that had black hair sticking out. So, I shot towards it and nothing moved. Poked around it with a stick and still no movement.

At that point, my curiosity overrode my logic. So, again I started slowly taking boards away and some other junk till I was close enough to be able to see whatever this black hair belonged to. I ran and grabbed a flashlight, some gloves, a box while keeping an eye on the spot so that the creature wouldn't disappear before I had a chance to at least see what it was.

I ran back, got down on the ground, and shown the light into the crevice. I thought I was about to find a nest of baby skunks but instead, I found three tiny not so healthy-looking, kittens. All black with little tufts of white showing from under each one's chin and belly. The mother had been lingering around but I think this was her first litter, so, she wasn't taking very good care of these little ones.

I didn't want to leave them under there because now they were exposed and I couldn't put the wood and junk back without the possibility of them getting hurt. So, I tried to grab them up. Two of them had only one eye open enough to see and managed to slip far enough under the junk I hadn't moved that I couldn't grab them. But, the last one left had both eyes covered by gunk and didn't really put up much of a fight for a wild kitten. It was so tiny still, I knew it needed to stay with its mom and siblings.

I had also worn gloves so that I wouldn't leave the scent of humans on the babies because I didn't want mom to just abandon the poor things. So, I put the first one in a box with some old rags and continued to try and gather up the other two. I don't know how but they managed to just disappear. It was getting too dark to continue and the baby was squeaking for mom. I left the box on its side near the nest and watched it overnight through my cameras so that it wouldn't wander off alone or something else grabbing it up.

Eventually, I fell asleep and when I woke up I headed straight outside. Mom never came back for the baby. Then another night. Still no mom. I needed to feed it. So, my wife and I went to the store and I got kitten formula and a tiny baby bottle. I fed it and then put it back in the box out near the nest. A third night, nothing.

So, I'll quickly wrap this part of the story up so I can get to the litter from the picture above. Mom never came back for this baby. It turned out to be a baby boy. He was also very, very sick. He had a respiratory infection. We didn't have the money for a vet visit so we just used methods like he was a human baby. I became his mom, feedings at all hours, helping him go to the bathroom till he was big enough to start doing it on his own, but the infection wasn't staying gone.

It was scary, poor little guy had all kinds of trouble sleeping. Sometimes sounded like a human snoring. Eventually, he learned he could twist himself where he'd be half upside down and he could breathe while sleeping. We have three little dogs as well and one is a chihuahua. She helped me keep his face clean and dealt with any mites that he still had from being under that woodpile. We were the first things he ever actually saw. So, he doesn't entirely know he is a cat. Still to this day, he comes and lays like a baby in my arms while falling asleep. His name is Toby.

Okay, so, that was three years ago. Now, the summer before last another surprise showed up. Toby had just turned one. It was right around my birthday again, I'm out in my garden when I hear a loud sneeze, which makes me jump. I turn thinking I would see a person and instead I see a little kitten. Not at all as young as Toby was but seemed to be old enough to be away from mom.

It turned out to be a girl. She was also starving. She was tiny because where ever she was from must not have been feeding her well. I'm a sucker, so I got her some food, but I fed her on the outside of the gate to our smaller yard where our little house and pets are. A day or two, maybe three go by. She isn't leaving and she figured out a way to get into the yard and at this point considered it her yard now.

Fast forward. Since she was a stray and I didn't know where she came from I didn't want to mix her in with my Toby. We have strays around that have had feline Leukemia and didn't want to risk it. Winter was approaching, so, I turned my workshop into a temporary cat house. Kept her from going outside and kept her warm, fed, loved.

Long cold winter, but spring was just around the corner. She was getting restless. She had toys, food, water, cat box, and I went in to visit many times a day as well as tinker around with my projects so, she was never alone for long.

Then it happened. I hadn't gotten around to fixing the fence around the small yard yet to be able to keep her from wandering or males from getting in. So, she came back, looking different. She was pregnant.

She got huge. I figured either she was going to have two litters or three huge babies. I was wrong both ways. I fixed her up a dark place under one of my workbenches where she always liked to sleep anyway and after what seemed like an eternity she came in and laid next to my feet. She was looking up at me like, "why?", I just told her, "You did it." Then I noticed she had started getting a panic look to her. So I got her water bowl and sat down with her. Petting her back, telling her she was fine. I had never been around a cat or any pet when it had babies. So, I wasn't sure what to do or not to do.

It was the weekend of my birthday, she wound up having seven kittens. Two black, one gray, one white, two with solid patches, and one that looked exactly like her. About a week went by and we lost one of the patches. It was sad. So, I kept a better, closer eye on her with them. Constantly had to move her off of one because she would be oblivious.

Days, then weeks go by. Because of the Covid-19 thing, at the 6-week mark, I didn't get to take them anywhere to try to find homes. Eventually, it happened. I swore it wasn't going to but it did. I got really attached to them.

When Toby was old enough, we had gotten him on a list where we were able to get him neutered for free. But, since then I've learned that the program was no longer around. I now have seven shop cats. The mom, which we never could think of a name so we just always said, "have you checked on the kit'n? or "did you see what kit'n got herself into?" so, her name is Kit'n. Her babies, four boys, two girls.

Gray is Storm, White (which changed into patches of cream and siamese face markings) is Sky. One black kitten turned out to be fluffy and so his name is Static. The other black kitten is a Tuxedo cat, and never leaves my side, or under my feet so, his name is Shadow. The surviving patched kitten wound up being the biggest of them all, a gentle giant, his name is Cloud. Lastly, the tiniest of them all, almost a exact copy of momma, but a male, his name is M.K. (Mini-Kit'n)

So far no problems. They've just turned six months. Haven't been able to find a new job and my wife was let go back in September due to not enough business and no light at the end of the tunnel in the near future. I know it's my own damn fault for not trying to get homes for them when they were old enough to leave mom. Now I can't think of giving them away even if I found people who wanted them. I can't stand the thought of something happening to them.

So, I'm just asking for ideas, possibly if anyone knows of anywhere that may have the waiting list for free neuter/spaying by chance. If not, pass this story along if you found it interesting or funny, so that I can possibly get enough times read that I can pay for seven cats to get fixed. YEAH, SEVEN. I know. But I love them all. My seven outside, my one inside. I'm not asking for charity exactly, I know everyone is struggling, we all have bigger problems, but that's why I'm using this platform. You don't have to give if you don't want to. All I need is for the story to be read, liked, and passed along so others if they want to, can read it as well.

I also have a few other, non-related to this, writings, poems, and working on a short story as well as a book which are available or will be through here as well.

Whether its some advice or you simply read my story, I appreciate it, I appreciate your time, I appreciate you.

Thank you