Salocin

Abandoned Kittens

2 days ago, while walking our dog in the woods around our farm, my father saw someone abandoning a box with 3 female kittens in it. He tried to catch up with the guy, but he ran to his car and drove away. So he brought the box back to the farmhouse and we took care of the kittens for a couple of days before taking them to the animal shelter. We were going to keep them if we got the impression that they might be put down, but there was only one other cat there, and the staff said that they were so cute they'd be gone to families within the week. It would have been complicated keeping them on the farm because our friendly Jack Russell (who is only curious, not at all threatening) frightened the poor animals silly, and they responded by taking a swipe at her nose with their tiny, but very sharp claws. Now the poor dog's terrified of kittens, but still chases cows and horses around the fields.

I absolutely love cats - I know so many people that detest them and I just don't get it. They're incredibly curious, very dextrous, and independent. I think that's the part people don't like - the independence. As far as most people are concerned, if they have a pet, it should depend upon them for everything, be very obedient and always look lovingly at their master. Cats aren't like that.

The kittens soon made their way out of the box, and started exploring the room we had put them in with great attention. They examined every nook and cranny, climbed every climbable item (and some that I would have thought unclimbable), jumped from great heights down onto the floor, spent large amounts of time cleaning each other, and after a fairly intense first meeting (I'm going to have scratch marks on my hands for a while) soon grew to like us so much that they'd start purring the second we touched them, curling around and playing with our hands just like they do with each other.

We bought a litter for them, and they required no instruction at all, they immediately decided they'd much rather do whatever business they had to do somewhere where they could bury it rather than anywhere else, so we had nothing to clean up the next day, and when the heating cut off at night, they dragged a small cloth on top of the blanket we'd put in the box, and snuggled in the middle of it, curled up around each other for warmth.

It was heartbreaking to let them go, but we can't cater for them properly here at the moment, and the dog is already traumatised and a little jealous. She's recovered somewhat since they've left but is even needier than usual. I think we will get a cat at some point though - if we get it young enough (because these kittens were not newborns), I think it will be able to get used to the dog rather than trying to tear its nose off at the first opportunity.