During the summer of 2008, we continued to entertain the two new strays, Abby & Gabby. Gabby arrived regularly for every meal, and made the deck her own special sanctuary. She would sit for hours, just on the outside of the glass doors, looking in. Or she would curl up to nap at the door or under the grill. Abby was more or a free spirit. The only times we could count on her appearance was while she was raising her family under the deck.
Early in the summer of 2008, we discovered that Abby had given birth to two kittens, but neither survived. A few months later, it appeared that both strays were “in the family way”. We never got a look at Gabby’s family, but we did catch Abby nursing five kittens a few times in late July and early August. As I alluded to previously, Abby raised her family in the jungle under my deck. Once we knew we had kittens again, we got our trapping equipment readied for the great catch of 2008.
In early August, Abby came up to eat with a little black and gray tabby cat in tow. We were concerned, because we had most definitely seen her nursing at least four kittens. What had happened to the other kittens. Then we were relieved when we saw them nursing a day or so later. So why was this brave little soul coming up with Abby, and then by itself to eat and play on the deck? And where had it come from. We suspect this kitten was born to Gabby, and was either abandoned by her or was somehow adopted by Abby, probably after she began nursing her own kittens. We never knew if there had been other kittens in the litter, or if this were the only one. Either way, the kitten continued to come up on its own to eat and play alone on the deck.
We tried several times to catch the baby, but it was elusive and did not want to enter the cage. On August 8th, following my church picnic, I tried one more time to entice the little tiger kitten into my cage. The need to catch the little one intensified, as the sky darkened and the wind picked up. It was obvious we were in for a nasty thunder storm. As the thunder began to roll in the distance, moving quickly toward us, I opened the door and brought my equipment inside. I expected this would scare the kitten and it would run down the stairs to safety. Instead, it hid behind one of our planters and began to cry loudly. As the storm approached, and it began to rain big drops, I decided to try and collect the kitten by hand. I would either been successful, or scare the kitten down to safety. So I stepped out on the deck and scooped it up in my hands, just as Abby reached the top of the stairs to retrieve the baby. I told Abby that I would take care of this one now, and shooed her down to take care of her brood. The little tiger kitten was tucked into the trap cage and taken downstairs to the big cage. Within 10 minutes of closing the door, it hailed and blew so hard, the yard and deck were white with hail, and it was piled about 1 1/2 inches high at the door. It also rained so much our road and half the front yard was flooded because the storm drains were blocked. Fortunately all the cats left outside were not injured by the storm.
The kitten was still pretty young, and fairly easy to handle. We found out it was a little boy, and my sister thought about calling him Samson, but we decided he didn’t look like a Samson. So we decided to call him Darwin. Darwin is a very sweet natured little boy with a massive purr. When excited (like a visit to the vet), he would scurry up my shoulder, or find a corner to hide in. But you could always locate him by his purr. He had a problem with diarrhea, even after being wormed. We found out he had a parasitic infection common to feral cats. It took several rounds of medicine to get rid of the parasite. On one of those visits to the vet, Darwin had himself so worked up that he pooped all over the examination table, the floor and me. I know he was sorry, and he was sick. So we did not get mad. In fact, every time I go there, one of the girls asks me how Darwin is doing, he left such an impression. Darwin is actually a brown tabby, with black and gray tiger stripes over a dusting of brown fur. Darwin’s pictures can be seen at Darwin’s Picture Gallery. At a year old, Darwin still has a big purr. When he uses it, I can always tell it is Darwin, as every 15-20 seconds, there is a catch or swallow that breaks it. He is so cute and bumps his hard head against you to get some attention. He is a sweet heart indeed!