Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Little Black Kittens


This morning I trapped my first little black kitten and took it in to be neutered. I will pick it up in the morning and bring it home. The little black kitten is one of a litter that was born under my neighbor's porch in June. The parents are part of a cat colony that lives in a tree-lined ravine behind our houses. We have more or less "adopted" the four little kittens, feeding them twice a day and watching them play and sun themselves in our yard. It was fun having them around all summer, but now we have to face reality. They are four months old and will soon be mature enough to have litters of their own. So, I found a non-profit spay/neuter clinic and bought a havahart trap.


I must admit I felt a little guilty trapping the poor little thing; it looked so frightened when the trap slammed closed. It was trying to find a way out. It soon settled down though, and was quiet. Now there are three more of the little black kittens that I will have to trap and have neutered. The first one was the most difficult; I really had to talk myself into setting the trap. The first one got caught because it was the boldest, and would come the closest to us. I feel like I might want to adopt it, but I am afraid it might miss it's littermates. There is also the problem of how they will survive through the winter. We took care of one stray last winter by putting up a tent and filling it with straw. We may have to do the same this year.

Oh, the life of a cat lover... you always worry about them!

2 comments:

Susan said...

Hooray for you Aunt Judy !!
What a wonderful and caring thing you are doing xo BleetNess, Oliver & Gus (Miss D & Piper belle too)

judy in ky said...

Thank you Susan and Gang, we are lucky to have a non-profit spay/neuter clinic in our area, and they just received a $20,000 grant from PetSmart. They are supporting the TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) program for feral cats.
I would love to have them adopted if possible, but I don't know if they can be socialized to humans.