Darwin's story is a bit
of a mystery. I think I know what happened,
but I do not know why. I suspect Gabby, one
of our strays is his mother. Shortly after
his birth, Abby, our other stray, gave birth
to her litter. For some unknown reason, I
believe Darwin was raised with Abby's
litter. The story of how I trapped him seems
to support this story. We knew Abby had
several kittens, as we had seen her nursing
them in the grass under our deck. In early
August, she appeared on the deck, with just
one little tabby kitten in tow, to eat. Then
the kitten started coming up in the evenings
to play by himself on the deck. We were
worried that something had happened to
Abby's litter, leaving only this little guy.
One Sunday in August, I came home from my
church picnic, and set up my trap cage.
There were storm clouds in the sky when the
little guy came up alone to eat and play,
but he refused to enter the cage. As the
wind rose and the sky grew more threatening,
I worried that the kitten may be injured if
it remained on the deck. Apparently, he
thought so too, and hid behind a window box,
crying his little heart out. I decided that
I would try to collect him by hand, rather
than the cage. At worst, he would run from
me down to the safety of the ground. I was
able to scoop him up, just as Abby got to the
top of the steps. I shooed her down and
brought the squirming kitten inside. Just a
few minutes later, a heavy hailstorm hit the
area.
We struggled with choosing a name for him.
My sister thought it should be something
important, so I suggested Darwin, for
Charles Darwin, and it stuck. Everyone at my
Vet's office loves Darwin. As a kitten, he
had the biggest purr, and would climb up on
my shoulder to get away from the staff. I
think he had springs for legs.
Fortunately, he stopped that habit, but he
still is quite affectionate, bumping his
hard head against you to get your attention.
He is also a padder, and likes nothing
better than to purr and pad. Unfortunately,
he usually gets his claws caught in whatever
he is padding. But he is a real sweet heart!
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