Show and Tell: Spay, But Don't Pay

As you may recall...many show and tell's ago, I spoke fondly of our cat, Sally, and her quiet labor bringing five new kittens into the world.

That was twelve weeks ago. They are BIG now. They are ACTIVE now. They are HUNGRY now.

One - found a good home... four have not.

Eight weeks ago, visions of me as the 'old cat lady' were amusing. Today - not so much.

Oh, forgive me - formal introductions:

You remember Butterscotch

Frisky, cuddly, relatively calm, and quick to purr - very - loudly!

This is Fluffy:

She's moody and not one to love human touch. Eager to eat...all.the.time! (Let it be said that I voted for "Peanut Butter and Fluff" as their names, but was vetoed)

Meet, Thing One

And, Thing Two

Formerly known as 'the twins' until their markings came in. Then, tentatively named after Dr. Seuss characters for reference purposes only, as we intended them to find homes and be re-named when they did. They are sweet, small, and quiet compared to their siblings.

So, this weekend I'm reading the paper. The words low cost spay / neuter clinic catch my eye, for a variety of obvious reasons.

I call. "You have two options" I'm told.

OPTION 1: $35 / boy and $40/ girl. We have 3 boys and 2 girls. I didn't do the math. It scared me a little.

OPTION 2: The "Spay the Mom" program. "It's free" she said. Um...tell me more

Apparantly, a good nascar driving samaritan with a love for all things feline made a grant to the humane society. If a cat has kittens that are unwanted or 'too much for one family to handle' they can bring in everyone. They spay, neuter, de-worm, give shots and a bunch of other things I didn't understand - FOR F.R.E.E!

That 's the upside. The down? Mom comes home with you. Kittens stay. O.K - I can deal...maybe

But we really wanted to keep Butterscotch. Both because he has bonded with us in cuddly ways and because he pulls my 10-year-old heartstring memories - we reallllllly - wanted to keep him.

So, I asked with my father's lifetime mantras playing through my head (no question is a stupid question - the worse they can do is say no) And, they said - ok!

Bottom line - for that is what it always boils down to, right - On Tuesday morning I will walk into the humane society with five cats and leave with two.

The kids don't know yet. *sigh* How do you explain such monetary based decisions to littles who make all their choices with emotion?

I guess I know why they couldn't be peanut butter and fluff. You can't really have one without the other...

Wordless Wednesday - Mood Changers

WORDLESS DISCLAIMER: IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN IN A BAD, GRUMPY, ANXIOUS, AND OTHERWISE SMILELESS MOOD - DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT - LOOK AT THESE PICTURES!



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Show and Tell - The Cat's Meow

Yeah - they really do! And, they are kinda loud - hungry little buggers at ALL times of the night.

And so, we finally had to tell Sally-Mama that they had to come downstairs if Ms. Comedian was ever going to get a good nights sleep again!

She wasn't thrilled...but we kept like-smelling objects with them. They now reside in the office and so the clickity-clack of my laptop keys melds with the 'meeeeew - meeeeeeoooowww' of confined three week old kittys all.day.long.

It is funny really, considering the yo-yo of animal presence and activity in this house over the past year - click HERE for a rundown, to think that we are crazy about these five kittens - even if they do think we are jailers.

And- they truly think we have unduly confined them. Just watch!

FYI - Butterscotch is a confirmed boy and named after that runaway little devil from my youth. IF we manage to place any of these little felines in homes, the big -B is ours...for the keeping!!!

Sorry for the darkness...bad lighting in their room!

Oh - and an UPDATE for those of you who have followed the hatching of the New Year's Chickens...10 hatched, the one sick one - survived, but only 3 are hens! Yup - 7 (um, SEVEN) roosters cock-a-stinking-doodle-doo every morning. Word on the street is three eggs a day...*sigh* - gonna have to do it all over!!!

Check out the other Show and Tell's HERE!

Uncomplicated Labor (children mentioned but not pictured)

If you read my parenting-after-loss blog, The Bear and The Comedian, you will know that our cat Sally found herself in a pregnant way.

Sunday morning, The Comedian elephant-footed down the hall at 6am. This is an everyday occurrance, ususally followed by "I'm awaaaaake" or "I'm reeeeealy hungry mama". But on this day the sweetest, softest voice came through the door tingling with excitement. Her sing-song tones couldn't hold the big news anymore. "The babies are out of Sally's belly!"

Thanks to dedicated and intelligent readers I knew her gestational period was 2 months and that she would 'pick' her labor location. I cringed slightly thinking of a messy birth in my closet or under the desk in the office, but the idea of her delivering outside in the cold, rainy weather was even more disturbing.

And then, I realized. I had no control over this - none. The nice big box lined with a cumfy but disposable piece of extra carpet we put in the upstairs bathroom remained empty. Sally was in complete control of her pregnancy. There had been no pre-natal vitamins for cats prescribed. She didn't ask us to bring her for a nuchal-scan or her four week ultrasound. We didn't time any contractions or gather her courting cat and bring them to a birthing class.

This was uncomplicated, natural birth. She lived her life - eating, sleeping, chasing mice and birds for her two months of pregnancy, only slowing down near the end as we ooooed and aaaaahed at her massive belly watching little legs poke and stretch in the night. I would put my hand on her stomach, and she let me; the miracle of feeling babies kick just as powerful for me regardless of their feline beginnings.

Sally never stressed about her kittens. About whether they would live or die. The kids wondered, but she didn't. She was a first time mother, blissfully ignorant, and it was a beautiful thing.

Sally took complete control of her labor - pre, during and post.

This is where she chose:

tucked away against the furtherest wall of the seldom used bed in The Comedian's room.

And here is her brood:

24 hours old. Alone for the first time since birth - wildly independent, regardless of their current disability.

I don't know if she mewed all night. I don't know if she was in pain. I don't know how long it took. I don't know how much they weigh or measure. I do know there are five kittens. Five perfectly alive kittens.

What a miracle. Nature is miraculous.