A Kitten Story

It's a happy one, at least from the kitten's point of view.

I went outside this morning, to stop one of the local Tom's (Don Juan)
from beating up another Tom (Mackerel). After I'd made Juan stop, and
come to me (he's a good boy, but he despises any other cats, including
all my insiders), I could hear a kitten hollering.

We had a bunch of bits (9!) born about 6 months ago, and had been
unable to get them caught and "fixed". One of them, Cutie Pie (a
light orange tabby) was lying in my yard, ignoring the kitten's
yowling/crying. I followed the sound, and found a little Calico under
the neighbor's house. She came right to me (she is mostly grey/light
black with some peach patches on her face). I brought her inside,
after I noticed that Cutie showed no interest.

We have a few others, that I know had kittens. Each time they showed
up for breakfast, I would take the kitten out, and see if the mommas
showed interest. None did. I fed the baby some ham baby food, and
some Purina Kitten Chow (which she *really* liked). She continued to
mewl, very loudly. I got a cat carrier, made a bed for her in there,
and tried to make her comfy.

She would not shut up (poor thing). I got her cleaned up (kitten wet
wipes), and she dozed on my chest for about an hour.

I decided that I *had* to shower, as finding her had been a bit
stressful. I put her in the second bedroom, closed the door, and
headed for the shower. She continued to holler (loudly too) while I
was showering.

My inside cats were hissing at her, and trying to swat her when she
would move off my lap. She does't appear to be more than 3 or 4 weeks
old. I was actually surprised that she ate 'crunchy' food. I knew I
couldn't keep her.

I finished with the morning ablutions (at nearly noon). Got her out
of the second room, and wrapped in a pillow case (which she really
seemed to like). I went to look out the door, and saw Cutie Pie,
sitting between my house and the neighbor's. If looks could kill,
every single living thing in this house would have died. She just
glared and glared.

The kitten mewled louder. Cutie sort of sat up straighter. I put the
kitten on the ground, and she tried to come back to me. I stepped up
onto the lower step, and Cutie *shot* into the yard and came to stand
over the bit. Instant silence. I backed the rest of the way up the
steps, and Cutie never took her eyes off me. Initially, it appeared
she was trying to bite the front of the throat, but once I'd moved
back, and leaned against a shelf, she got a better grip on her little
one, and hauled her little buns back to where the baby was *supposed*
to be.

Momma and Baby should be fine. I think that Cutie didn't acknowledge
the little one prior, because she may not have had enough milk, and
3.5 hours later, she was needing her kitten back to "take care of
business" for her. I was very happy that Cutie knew me well enough to
know, I wasn't going to harm her little one. I'm even more happy that
the little one (who was briefly called Patches) found her momma, she
was very unhappy with the human who doesn't deal with itty bits very
often.

Smokie Darling (Annie)