Kittens First Year

Scout and Pumpkin riding to their new home on June 27, 2014

Celebrating one year of kitten joy!

One late afternoon, just over a year ago, I received a call from my mom. She was at the market, and there were two girls standing at the entrance trying to give away a litter of kittens.

“Can you come and get them and give them to the rescue organization that you know?”

Kittens? Ummm… well… I’m not sure how that’s gonna go over with the others in my household.

She explained that the girls had been there all day and their parents had arrived to drive them home. “They’re going to take the kittens to the animal shelter.”

“Ok, I’ll come and get them.”

By the time I got to the market, two out of six kittens were left. I peered into the box and smiled at the tiny creatures huddled together. The darker one, with his scrawny tail and skinny legs, was most likely the runt, and his light-orange sibling was considerably bigger.

The girls told me they discovered the box of kittens in their backyard that morning, and their parents had made it clear that they could not keep them.

I really did have every intention of turning them over to the rescue group. After all, Kona chases the neighborhood cats and has made it clear that he won’t share his home with other animals. He’ll make their lives miserable, right? Finally, my husband dislikes cats.

On the drive home, they started meowing. Such a tiny sound! They were probably hungry. I wasn’t even sure they could eat solid food yet. The girls told me they had tried unsuccessfully to get the kittens to eat the canned cat food, and I was not looking forward to bottle feeding these babies.

When I arrived home, I pulled out the box and casually walked up to my husband. “Look what I got!” I said, smiling enthusiastically, “two kittens!”

He just looked at me as I quickly explained the situation. “Don’t worry, I’m going to turn them over to the rescue folks. I know that Kona won’t accept these little guys.”

I brought the box into the spare bedroom and placed the kittens on the bed. They looked at me with wide, unfocused eyes, then began wobbling around.

Kittens First Day from Lori Elm on Vimeo.

 

I put some cat food on my finger, rubbing it gently on their mouths, and breathed a sigh of relief when they started licking their lips. In a matter of minutes they were voraciously eating the cat food from my hand. So much for bottle feeding!

The next big test was to see how Mr. Baloney Head was going to react to his new roommates. I let him into the bedroom and he stared at them, tilting his head when they meowed. They looked at him and hissed. He walked up to them and sniffed, then backed away slowly as they wobbled up to him, purring, as if saying mommy’s here!

I was pleasantly surprised by Kona’s reaction (or non-reaction) to the kittens. I think it was fortunate that they were too young to have any fear of the giant dog looming over them, so he pretty much left them alone. I guess it’s no fun when you can’t scare ’em, right?

Are you my mommy?

Over the past year, these little rascals have given us hours of entertainment. Why watch television when you have KET (Kitty Entertainment Channel)? It truly has been hilarious and heartwarming to watch these two grow up together.

Brothers

Most importantly, they have managed to pounced, purr and wiggle their way into the hearts of all of us.

Daddy Takes a Catnap