#stray kitten

You can find homes for them among friends, co-workers, Facebook pet finding pages, and no-kill shelters. NEVER GIVE THEM AWAY FOR FREE, it attracts abusers and unethical breeders, but on FB, don’t say you’re giving them away for a fee because the website doesn’t understand the difference, you need to save that for the messages.

A kitten is rarely just gonna be hanging out there without them. Especially, the teeninsy ones. They can’t get very far, they have wittw wegs.

Nemo illustration for 1992 "Mourek. The story of a stray kitten."

Yesterday, we had a leisure day, because my parents were in town (they live back in NY where I grew up) for my father's 75th birthday. We visited the Birmingham botanical gardens, where the various turtles, fish, lizards, birds, and frogs pretty much stole the show, because my parents are also animal lovers. Alabama has such natural beauty and abundant, diverse wildlife that it is always a treat for them to visit as nature lovers.

My relationship with them is in some ways complicated, but one thing they very much did right was recognize from a young age my interest in animals and nature, and went the extra mile to nourish and foster those interests. I was given so many opportunities to engage with things that fascinated and excited me, and having a deep connection with animals and the natural world has brought me a great deal of joy in life.

I do think getting involved in rescue even as a young child exposed me to some harsh realities that were too frequent and too intense for a very sensitive and compassionate child, and while I ultimately had to step away from active rescue work/intakes in my mid-30s due to accumulated trauma, I do not regret having been a part of it.

Of course, you can never fully get away when you are driven by compassion, which is why I ended up with the stray kitten last week. He is flea free and feeling better. I am happy to report that pending a negative combo test, he has a home lined up with a qualified adopter and should be going to his new home Friday. Normally I do not place animals without them first being altered, but the individual in question is someone we know personally, a reliable and responsible party who will follow through with all future vetting needs and shares our stance on spay/neuter, diet, declawing, and remaining indoors.

When I was working in Japan I adopted with 4 strays kitties, whom I later took back to Canada with me 🇨🇦 (currently being spoiled at my mom's place).

Now I got another one 🤣

My classmate and I were riding into the town near our Guqin workshop when he spotted this kitten on the side of the road. They were right in front of the gates to a factory of some sort (but they were closed today since it's Labor day). We looked around for a mom but didn't find any sign of other cats .

My classmate said the cat of one of the shops near our workshop just had kittens, maybe it's theirs? (Where we found this kitten was only around a 2 min walk to the shop). So we head over to ask. The auntie who runs the shop said the kitten's not hers, but she knows where this kitten came from. They were tossed there by someone because the mom cat wouldn't feed them. The auntie actually tried to get her mom cat to feed this kitten but the mom kitty refused and was mean to them, so auntie didn't bring them home.

...I mean, healthy adult strays I'm ok leaving alone (otherwise I'd have 50 pets by now just on this one trip) but this small... 😭😭 I've brought them back to the Guqin workshop and I'm going to look after them, at the same time look for someone to adopt them nearby hopefully (or if anyone in Canada wants to adopt, I'll bring them back for you 😂)

I've already ordered a bed, toys, food, litter box/litter, and a cage. I can't risk them running around all over the workshop unsupervised with all the Guqin around (and all those tassels 🥴🥴), so during the day while we're working they'll have to stay in my room. After work I can let them out to play and I can keep an eye on them.

Honestly...I'd be lying to say I'm not a little bit happy to have a kitty around (even temporarily), but it's also a big responsibility having a life in my care, and most importantly I'm not in my own house, in a permanent residence. My own situation is very much, "We'll see how everything goes" right now.