Stray Kitten

Randy got up early on Friday morning when it was still dark. He heard what he thought was a kitten crying. Every time that he opened the front door, the crying stopped and he only heard the normal outdoor sounds of traffic, dogs, and birds.

It reminded him of an event after he had left home for Salt Lake City and before he was married. He was visiting his parents on a weekend and for two nights heard the sound of a kitten crying in the night. On Sunday Char, Bob and family were visiting. The kitten was still crying up the then quiet road by my parent’s house. Cami and Chris were still probably in elementary school at the time. We went off together to find the kitten. It was standard practice for some people to drop off unwanted animals/pets on this road.

I posted Cami and Christ about 50 feet from me and had them walk toward me. Sure enough the kitten came running away from them and into my arms. It was a little yellow kitten that was hungry and lonely. It settled right down into my arms as I petted and scratched its ears. It was over joyed when I gave it a little milk an something else to eat. Living in an apartment, I could not have the little critter. Fortunately my mother liked the little fellow too and adopted him.

Fast forward more than 30 years to last Friday when Randy heard the kitten. He was cleaning up the workshop and took the now full bucket of wood debris to the trash can. In the corner of the gate  supports, was a little kitten. It was about the same color as the rocks in the yard being yellow with a white face and feet. He picked it up, but it slide out of his hands and ran under the gate and into the front yard where Randy lost track of it.

Randy soon realized that the kitten had probably run into the Mexican Bird of Paradise. Sure enough, there was a fuzzy lump in the middle of one of the plants. Randy went to grab it, but it ran across the street into the empty field and ran into one of the little gullies. He was able to see it, hunkered down as small as it could get and blending into the surrounding soil. He successfully grabbed it by the tail as it ran away.

Not being thrilled by this, the two to three month old cat extended it paws and claws out and tried to look fierce. Randy just put it right side up on his arm, petted and stroked it, and it seem to settle down. He took it into the back yard with some milk, sausage, and a covered place to sleep. He was a little late for work, but took satisfaction in trying to help.

After work, Randy came home and found that the kitten was not where he left it and figured that it had run off. He was looking around house for termite trails and found the cat on the side of the house without the gate. It was trying to hide as much as possible. He tried to grab it and it took off. Randy followed for a while. It headed for a place where some of our burrowing owls hang out and they were not happy. He had never heard them “Hiss” before. They were letting this kitten know in no uncertain terms that it was not welcome.

Eventually the kitten did drop out of sight and was lost. Randy’s conclusion is that there is no helping out when the party involved just does not want it. It works for people too. Some are very grateful like the first kitten. Others are more like the second that just want to be free, unloved, and uncared for.