THE HERD (or my life with 15 Kats)

Once we got started trapping, we kept at it, determined to rescue all the kittens. One constant worry for me was little “Pedro”, Bianca’s sibling which had escaped during her capture. The second kitten stopped coming up to eat on the deck, even in the company of mother Tortie. The best look we could get of the little tyke was at the far back of our yard, where it liked to roll in a bare patch of yard. Brownie continued bringing her remaining two babies up after dark to eat and play. I continued to sit patiently by my trap cage hoping to collect another kitten. One evening, it looked like there was an extra kitten playing with Brownie’s litter. We could clearly see the flash of white socks as the kitten rolled over the petunias in the deck planter, as it played with Brownie’s two babies. Eventually, the kitten with white socks entered the cage, and was captured. We looked at the little gray kitten and wondered where it had come from, but when we got it placed into the big cage next to Bianca, it was obvious to me that this was the lost “Pedro”. He was slightly larger than Waldo and Odessa, and his coloring was very similar to Bianca. Eventually, we discovered that “Pedro” was indeed a little girl as well, so we had to rethink a name. Since she had been observed frolicking over the petunias on the deck, we decided to call our new kitten Petunia, or more often just “Toonie”.

As the cage was getting full, Petunia was not confined as long as Bianca, and being a little older when we got her, was slower to come around to accepting human attention.  She was released before being fully domesticated, but eventually accepted and even asked for cuddles. Petunia has a very gentle soul, and lovely green eyes. She always waits patiently for approval before jumping up to my desk, where she will lay down for a lovely head scratching session. She loves to have her head, neck and chin scratched, especially her lower neck, just above her front paws. However, she does not ask to share my chair. Even if I get up for a few minutes, when I come back to sit down again, I have to oust a cat, often Petunia. Like her sister, Petunia is a dilute (or muted) tortoise shell. You can see pictures of gentle Petunia at her Picture Gallery.

Barb was anxiously awaiting the capture of the little black and white kitten we were calling “Bouncer”. I was becoming concerned that I would run out of time. My second surgery for Carpal Tunnel was fast approaching, so I persevered later and later into the evenings. Finally, late one evening, the black and white kitten bounced into my cage. I waited, hoping for a “two-fer” again, as the little gray kitten was also up. Finally the gray kitten entered the cage, but in my excitement, I pulled the rope too soon, and the little gray kitten escaped. But we did have the black and white one, who was trundled off to the basement cage with it’s siblings and cousins.

By this time, the earlier acquisitions had been to the vet for initial check-ups, and to make caring for the kittens easier for me following surgery, we brought the big cage upstairs for the first time. This also allowed us to let the “older” kittens out for more exercise in the newly “kitten proofed” living/dining/kitchen area of the house. After a visit to the vet, “Bouncer” was pronounced a girl. Barb thought that “Bouncer” was a horrid name for a little girl, and named her Pepper-Ann, a name that suggests her black and white coloring.

Pepper-Ann does not like to be held or confined. She is quite happy just having her head scratched and back stroked. We used to call her our “bathroom” kitty, as she would come to us in that room (especially Barb) for attention. As you petted her, she would crawl under the toe space of the vanity, rubbing her chin all the way along, until she was out of reach. Then she would trot back for more. There are several pictures of her in this position in Pepper-Ann’s Picture Gallery. When she was a year old, and we had added the next summer’s kittens to the herd, Pepper-Ann self-isolated herself for awhile in my bedroom. Some of the younger boys decided she was fair game, and terrorized her, even treeing her on the scratching tree several times. Once they were neutered, things calmed down a bit, and Pepper-Ann began to join us again. In turn, she became somewhat aggressive to the last three kittens brought in. As they got older, everyone learned their places in the herd, and peace reigned once again….most of the time.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Pepper-Ann, Petunia, The Herd. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.