Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Of COURSE We Came Home With Two!

Last summer my girls spent time with my parents.  My dad decided that he did not have a special "something" that was just for him and Popcorn.  He rides horses with Bookworm, but Popcorn has no patience for anything that requires a calm demeanor.  He fishes with my nephews.  Again, Popcorn is short on patience, so while they fish she tends to flit away and get into mischief while they angle for the big one.

Well, while the girls were at my folks, Dad had to go the local sale barn to either buy or sell cattle, I can't remember which.  He took care of his livestock business, but he also did an unthinkable thing.

He came home with a kitten.  A kitten that belonged to him, (another unthinkable thing) but knowing how much Popcorn adored cats, she could play with "his" kitten all she wanted while she was at his house.  He even let her keep it in the house!  Shock shock!!!

Anyway, this adorable little kitten grew up.  She grew up and had a litter of her own this spring.  Well, my parents have been hounding me about "how many kittens" we were taking ever since Mitten dropped a litter of five about the same time one of their many barn cats had a litter of kittens.  The barn cats are all wild and impossible to catch, so my parent's odds of finding the new kittens and getting them tamed down to give away are not great...I have told them over and over that the cat is "Dad's cat" not my problem...

Remember we went to see my grandma last weekend?  Well, my parents were in Yellow Stone and my mom had asked me to go by and put some water on her flowers.  We have had a ridiculously hot summer.  It was 110 at my parents the day we were there.  I spent about an hour or so in the ridiculous heat watering flowers.  Of course during that time my precious girls found the perfect two female kittens to bring home with us!



Yes, two.  Yes, female.  I am hoping Oliver will be less likely to kill/lead off female kittens.  Hoping, hoping, hoping.  Especially since the girls have held the little sweeties nearly nonstop since we left my folks.



Kelsey is absolutely in love with them.  They are NOT in love with her.  They only want to spit at her and scratch her nose.  This makes her all worked up, and she ends up yipping and nipping them on the behind.  I hope they work out their differences soon.  Kelsey was never a concern, as she has always adored baby kittens.  However, these kittens are a few weeks older than the others I've brought to her, so they are a little more leery.

Please remind me of their cute factor when I'm griping at my destroyed caladiums in a week.


Thankfully Oliver has no use for them.  He walked into the garage where they were.  They hissed and spit at him, arching their little backs and running away.  He ran under our car to hide, realized they were tiny little threats, plopped down on his belly, narrowed his eyes at them and went to sleep.

Hopefully this status quo doesn't change.



The story we've told the girls is the kittens will NOT be in the house.  They may not survive.  It's called the circle of life.  They will be sad, but they will have to deal with it.



And now let the comments begin about spaying/neutering pets and that indoor pets live longer safer lives...

I can take it.  But you gotta admit:  They are pretty stinkin' cute!



 

7 comments:

Emily Sue said...

Oh, so sweet! I have two indoor cats who will never go outside. They are desexed. So, obviously you can guess my views on the matter. But hey - those are MY cats. What you do with YOUR pets is entirely up to you... and personally, I've never converted anyone to 'the cause' by telling them they are totally WRONG AND EVIL and blah blah. I will happily tell people WHY I keep my cats inside etc but I can't stand it when cat owners berate other people because they don't do things exactly the same way. (Unless we're talking de-clawing. I'm happy to berate people about that. It's illegal here.)

Anyway, they are very cute. :) Ooh, wait - two females. You could name them after me... Emily and Sue!

....no....?

Unknown said...

You would never have gotten such adorable pictures of them in the house,

Marilyn said...

Thank You , Thank you. I know that you love these adorable kitties.

Givinya De Elba said...

Cute kittens! I am all for outdoor pets myself, but I don't have cats. I can imagine I'd try Emily Sue's way if I did (she is a pretty great cat owner, it must be said.) But for the moment I am quite happy to love my border collie from a distance. She prefers it outside anyway, choosing it over the warm garage even on the coldest winter nights.

Freckled Hen said...

Okay, I'll do it. Bring them in! Snuggle and cuddle them and use high pitched squeaky voices. We are getting a kitten (or two) soon and I think it would make you barf if you saw how I spoiled our last cat.
But seriously growing up our cats were always outdoor. They had happy lives and were still a part of our family.

KiteFlyer said...

"Outside" animals? What are those? Our border collie is so spoiled, he would use the cats' litter box if he could, so he wouldn't have to step foot out the door.

Of course, he loves to take us for a drag as he tries to tear down the road on the front of a very taut leash. Then outside is OK.

Paula said...

I love our outside cats. When it is too cold...too wet...too hot we offer them time inside. Sometimes they come in but most of the time they stay outside.