Sunday, November 24, 2013

Furry Felines

A few weeks ago three furry creatures showed up on our door stop. No idea where they came from. Sadly someone must have decided we needed barn cats on the farm and abandoned them. They were very sweet. Certainly not afraid of people.

Emma fell in love. I struggled. Growing up with lots of pets personally, the hubs and I have a different view on animals. His opinion- God placed 'em outside, that's where they belong. They certainly don't need humans to survive. And while I see some merit to what he says, I want them to be indoors with a warm, dry place to sleep at night. Safe from speeding car tires and other wildlife.

However, with 3 children to keep up with and a husband to care for I don't currently feel equipped to take on three more lives full time. We agreed on a happy middle ground. I would take them to the vet to get the bare minimum of shots required so they could interact with the kiddos and they would stay outdoors.

In less than 48 hours in our care, the cats were found scarfing down D-Con. They had followed Jason into one of the barns. Mouse poison never crossed his mind. So we watched and waited. As much as I did not want to see these cats die, we couldn't spend hundreds of dollars on barn cats.

Meanwhile, I scrambled all over town looking for Vitamin K to feed the kittens in hopes of saving them. Emma had become smitten. She even built them a house to live in on our front porch. So my mom did some crazy math and I started crushing vitamins to mix in with their food.
Five days later, one cat disappeared. Exactly how long it takes for the crud to do its thing. He was no where to be found. We told Emma he probably just ran away. Bad parents, I know. There were two kitties still, so there was some hope.


Two weeks after the kittens appeared the remaining two disappeared. No clue what happened. Not a single trace of them. It's like they were never even here. A few days later my mom almost hit a fox right down the road so I wonder...

We now have another cat someone dropped off. This time we were asked first. I was a little hesitant because I've quickly learned just how temporary barn cats can be. I don't want Emma to keep getting attached to animals that are here today, gone tomorrow. Someday she can have an indoor cat when she is ready to be responsible for the litter box. Until then, I guess an outside cat will have to do.

1 comment:

Mom/Grandma said...

As soon as Elissa is a little bigger, Grandma is buying Emma a self-cleaning litter box. It's what every girl wants for their sixth birthday! ;-)