I AM a Crazy Cat Lady

Annie and Mindy (I think)

How many cats must you have before you become... The Crazy Cat Lady? I'm not sure, however I must be inching close to it. It's amazing how saving one stray from starvation can become so out of control. It's no wonder we have such a problem with unwanted pets in our country. This stray lurked around our house, in snow and winter, when you really feel for any creature being "out." But we didn't see her again until last spring. Actually, we first discovered her nest of new kitties under a pile of boards...then we met her. We found homes for all but one of these little kitties, Scout, who was to be the "barn cat.' Well, thanks to a human friend, Scout discovered that he preferred the life of a house cat and joined the three house cats we already had (now he's out more than in). We planned to have mamma spayed...but Savannah disappeared and then reappeared pregnant early this spring, the vet declared her not "with kitty," but he was mistaken (as we thought). Only three kittens were born to this litter, one had died, and later one vanished. So, two were added to the numbers, India and Tigger (they get fixed this month.) Savannah, we were determined, would be caught and spayed, however, she ditched the kittens and then vanished herself. A month later she returned to repeat the cycle, with a litter of 7 born under our barn's overhang at the end of this summer. These, I do not know by name, as they must go (ok, I do know one's name, Annie,the runt.) The total cat population is 13, however I'm only claiming 6. Savannah is still a stray, wandering onto the farm when she likes and then disappearing. Sometimes the kittens disappear with her, sometime she leaves a few, sometimes she leaves them all behind. We've planned twice to take them to the humane society, but someone must have told the mamma cat, as she takes the kitties and runs when the one of two days per month you can take them rolls around. This Monday we'll try again, IF the kittens aren't AWOL again. Two are missing right now, and five are in my barn, so we'll see. We've always been committed to spay/neuter our cats. We've had to get shots/and neuter three of her brood already, and hopefully that will be the end. I will never again judge a crazy cat family, it's so easy for it to snowball. Stay tuned next week to see if the kitties have vanished again before their appointment with destiny. Ugh. Let's hope not. By the way, if you want to adopt a kitten, you know who to call.