And the cats that came to stay

Perhaps I have mentioned that we have been considering a new cat or dog? Surely I have mentioned this? Of course I have, it has been a hot topic of conversation in this house for many a month. Milo wants his own kitten to love and I have been giving a dog some serious consideration. Of course we have been just talking, mulling it over. Mark's opinion in June was that when the time was right, we would get a new pet.

Fast forward to present day. Mark is at work, I am home with the boys, I drive up in our driveway after a quick jaunt to the grocery store for some Thanksgiving day supplies. And what do I see when I pull up? A very sweet Mama kitty and her baby curled up next to our Recycling Blue Trash can. Naturally I jumped out of my car to see them. I did the proper thing, I knelt down, I spoke in soft tones, I reached out my hand... and the Mama walked right up to me, her kitten stood a safe distance back, tailed curled around his paws.

Oh she was so sweet, she purred, she rubbed her head against my hand. She had no collar on and she was clearly starving, her fur dull and slightly dusty and her body thin. But here behind her was a small, maybe 6-7 week old kitten. She had obviously been caring for it, guarding it, protecting it. What to do? What to do? Do I take them inside? Leave them to their own devices and pretend I never saw them?

Now what do you think I did? Of course I ran inside, grabbed some cat food and dashed back. Why was I nervous they would have left? I have no idea, but I had a huge feeling of relief seeing her still standing there. Did she think I was rude just abruptly leaving? If she felt that way, she was polite enough not to comment and seemed very grateful when I placed the can of food in front of her. True mother to the core, she let her baby eat first, and then polished off the can when he/she finished. Milo could not be stopped, when he heard that there was a small kitten in his very....own...carport well he dashed out too with Finn quick on his heels. We all knelt down and pet them.

Milo had a lot of questions about them, who were they? Where did they live? Was she the Mom or just a friend of the baby kitten? Would they like to play some ball? He didn't even let me answer that last question he just headed inside to retrieve a tennis ball in offering "in case the kitten wants to play"

Milo: Mom, who are they? How did they get here?
Me: Well I imagine they are homeless and they walked here.
Milo: Yeah probably they walked. Where is their home?
Me: Well I don't think they have a home, they probably have been sleeping under bushes and under cars to stay warm.
Milo: Oh... (petting the kitten incessantly - kitten eating voraciously)
Me: Easy sweetie, just let them eat, they are very hungry
Milo: Why are they hungry Mom?
Me: Well they probably haven't eaten in quite a while. They don't have a home with someone to feed them every day like Alice and Zina do.
Milo: Yeah, probably they are on vacation for a while, and that is why they are so hungry. I know!! They can stay with us till their Mom gets back from vacation
Me: Yeah, I don't know about that. I need to talk to your Dad. (At which point I realized, what exactly will I do with these cats? I could not leave a Mama cat and her baby out in the cold, on Thanksgiving, in November. That would be cruel, and I am not cruel.)
Milo: I know Mom, they can sleep in my room where they will be warm.
Finn: (sitting down between us begins petting the Mama cat) Alice!! (This is pretty much what he calls all cats)
Me: Hmmm. (Okay, so now I have to do something with these cats, my children have seen them, petted them and now Milo is making space on his bed for them to sleep. How could I possibly walk inside and leave them out there? Even if I was cold-hearted enough to do it I would NEVER hear the end of it from Milo)
Me: Okay, lets take them inside, so they are warm and then I will call your Dad. I am going inside to set up a nest for them.
Milo: Okay, I will sit here with them and keep them company. Maybe even we will play some ball while we wait. (The tennis ball he grabbed is about the size of the kitten. Can you imagine rolling that at him? I imagine it going something like the opening scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Clearly I must hurry and get a place set up for these cats.)

I moved them inside to our bathtub which I lined with towels. A small room, so they would feel comfy, tile floors, easily cleaned should there be an accident. And most importantly a room our cats NEVER enter. Perfect! And then I called Mark. I knew what his answer would be. What was he going to say? They were already in our house. They had been fed, they were purring and the boys were naming them Donald Duck and Elmo already. (not sure which is which, but I do know that Elmo was Finn's suggestion) Mark is a very good man.

The boys checking on the kitties
or "Alice" as Finn kept calling them.

Petting them.
We spent the next 2 hours "checking" on them approximately every 2 minutes.
Milo was obsessed, he kept tiptoeing in and asking me to come with him so I could "see something berry berry cute."I caught him telling the kitten a story, singing a song to them to "help them sleep" and just generally being the sweetest boy in the world. Meanwhile Finn kept trying to poke the kitten and shrieking Alice at them at decibel 10 causing Mama kitty to nearly jump out of her skin each and ever single time he did it.

The question remains..... What will we do with these cats?
I think I know. Do you?