Wednesday, September 09, 2009

The tipping point

You may recall about a month ago we woke up to 3 young kittens on our porch

Sadly misfortune has visited two of them. One we know was attacked. The other we just haven’t seen for 48 hours and since Mama Tux and the remaining kitten have been on the porch for 24 of those, I fear we must assume the worst.

When there were 3 kittens I had assumed we’d be taking them to the shelter. Kittens seem to get snapped up at our shelter so I don’t feel bad doing it. I’d try to find homes but given I had no luck 6 months ago, I didn’t have much hope.

Then there were 2 kittens,nearly identical and I thought I might be able to find one person to take both. It might take me a little longer but bunco was in a couple weeks and surely 1 of 11 women would know someone who wanted kittens.

Then yesterday I realized there was just one kitten.

We currently have six felines as permanent residents here

16 year old  Old Lady Cat Pandora

cat1 12 year old  Nearly Old Lady Cat Nefertiti

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Mama cat Tux, age unknown but turned up on our porch pregnant 2.5 years ago & remainedDSC_5486a

Her surviving kitten from that litter. 2 year old Ghost, who is convinced cameras steelz ur soulz & will run far away if you point it at him. Thank goodness for zooms

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And the two kittens we kept from the litter in early spring

Smoke

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and Thor

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So what is the difference between having 6 and having 7 kittens? Let’s just name this one Ashes and move on

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But DH disagrees. He feels that somewhere around 6 cats you go from being ‘people with cats’ to being ‘the crazy cat people’. I don’t disagree with him, but it’s just one kitten...and really don’t crazy cat people have like 15 or more cats?

But we still have to get Tux, Ghost, Smoke & Thor all neutered & that is a couple hundred bucks.  And we're going to have to get kittie knockout drops to put in the food just to be able to catch Tux & Ghost to take them to the vet. Probably we can’t afford all that plus shots plus neutering for this one as well.

*sigh* so I suppose I need to find a home for this one soon.

6 comments:

The Four Week Vegan said...

Thank heavens you live so far away or I would be knocking on your door. We only have 3 cats thus far, so far from the crazy cat people label of which you speak.

SciFi Dad said...

I believe the official crazy people number is when the number of cats is greater than the number of people, requiring feline care to become a zone defense rather than man to man.

Madge said...

I think crazy cat people have way way more than seven -- and they also keep them in the house and have 972 litter boxes. So you are safe. Keep that sweet kitten.

Anonymous said...

You are not even close to the "crazy cat people". The old Lady who lives on my street walks her cats in the baby carriage and feeds all the stray cats in the neighborhood. We have hordes of stray cats! You need at least 15.

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

Those are lucky cats to have such a nice home. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

DeuceMom said...

It's so generous for you to adopt those sweet strays! Just a thought on spay/neuter. Try calling your vet, your local SPCA or animal shelter to see if there is free or low cost altering available, or even a group discount! It would be worth a half dozen phone calls to find someone to help you out. It seems like plenty of cats find you all on their own!