And Baby Makes Fifteen?
If you recall, in last weeks episode we left off with Puff crying in the garage and Sean on his way home to take her to the shelter. Our story continues…
Sean came home for lunch to pick up Puff who was still screaming like a banshee and covered in pee and dropped her off at the shelter. For a week I was worried sick about her especially after Sean called with some grim news. I sent him to the shelter six days after he’d dropped her off to check on Puff as we had grown somewhat attached to her these past two months. We wanted to make sure she was being taken care of, see if she had given birth and if someone was going to adopt her. Sean later called me from work to say that the manager told him that Puff was scheduled to have her kittens aborted and be put to sleep the next day. I was hysterical. Hysterical is to mild. I was crazy with grief. I seriously almost vomitted and then started hyperventillating until I thought I would pass out. I was so upset Sean left work again to check on me.
I know that might sound a little extreme but Sean and I are big time animal lovers and animal rights activists and we’re a little traumatized from past experiences. I’ve had a pet since I could walk and every time I got a new pet it either died, went missing or was taken away for various bizzare reasons. When Sean and I got engaged my mom gave us a kitten and we later took in two stray kittens we found outside. We already had a big male cats we had adopted from the shelter and the place we were living in was literally a wet cardboard box. So all the cats came and went as they pleased and in time all three kittens grew up and got pregnant. They gave birth on the same night and we literally had fifteen kittens and four adult cats to look after. We were poor as dirt and more than a little ignorant and though we did all we could we lost all the kittens. They all had feline lukemia (the fleas from thier mothers bled them dry) and we stayed up all night for days feeding them with droppers and keeping them warm. We even used the money we’d saved for our wedding and took them to the vet but they said there was nothing that could be done. We also had a wiener dog named Oscar who we couldn’t take with us to Texas so we found him a good home. But the three cats were left behind to fend for themselves as the shelter told us if we brought them in they would put them to sleep. Since then Sean and I have gone out of our way to make sure our animals are healthy and happy.
When I calmed down enough to breath normally I called the shelter and begged, pleaded and promised until the manager finally agreed to let me adopt Puff and the kittens if I sold her my soul. They still intended to abort her kittens unless she was close to birth which thankfully she was but we had to come get her the following day or they would put her to sleep. So we scrounged up the sixty one bucks and went down to the shelter the next day and adopted her. I won’t lie, I’m not thrilled to have another cat. The ones I have are a handful and I really don’t want to pack more animals with us when we inevitably move next year. But I just couldn’t bear the thought of this sweet kitty and her babies being put to death for no good reason. So, we’ll make due and hopefully things will work out.
Puff came home with a cold so she’s quarentined in the bathroom (it’s a big room and we made sure she’s very comfortable) until after she sees the vet Tuesday and she has her babies which could be any minute now. I’m excited for her but also nervous. I remember helping my cats to birth and how scary it was to watch, how gross it was to assist and how sad it was to bury fifteen tiny bodies under the elm tree. I just hope that Puff gets better and has an easy delivery. I know in time she’ll be another cherished member of the fur family and we’ll wonder, as we always do, how we ever lived without her.
As soon as the babies are born I’ll post pictures. In the meantime pray it all turns out well. Good luck and blessings, Prana