For a while now I've been talking with friends elsewhere on DG about my ordeals with the formerly stray cat Kitty and her kittens, so I thought it about time I move her story to the Pets Forum where it belongs.
Intro - For those who haven't 'met' Kitty:
This is Kitty, one night a few months ago she showed up beside my front door. She had 2 nursing kittens with her although I didn't see them right away as they were safely hidden in the shrubs. Kitty was hungry and therefore desperate enough to come to my house seeking help, but she was terrified of humans as were her kittens.
I didn't want a cat, but I felt for her plight, so I put some food out for her. Only after I came back inside to watch from the narrow windows beside the front door did she come out of hiding to get the food. Thus began the story of Kitty.
I didn't plan to keep her, so I didn't name her. I called her Kitty. Now I had to figure out what to 'do' with her. She was a female, obviously, not spayed, and homeless. If I did nothing but feed her, in time she would reward me with yet another litter of homeless kittens. I had to get her to a the SPCA for adoption. I continued feeding her each night when she showed up hiding amidst the shrubs. In time she grew more comfortable with me coming closer and closer until finally after a few weeks I could pet her. Later I found that I could pick her up. She didn't like being held but would tolerate it for a minute or two at a time.
By this time I was growing attached to Kitty. (She had used her cat ways on me and just reeled me in.) I decided to adopt her, have her spayed, and take the kittens to the SPCA. As Kitty's trust in me did not extend to letting me put her in a crate, I had to trap her and the kittens. From Kitty's behavior I surmised that she had been raised by people, probably as an indoor cat. Then when she got 'with kittens' the humans had tossed her out to fend for herself. Thus she had been on her own for a while now having learned to take care of herself and later her kittens. She had some recall of being a pet. This had allowed me to make friends with her much faster than if she had been truly feral, but she had also learned great distrust for humans perhaps because her former family abandoned her so mercilessly, perhaps because of all of the humans who had yelled at her and chased her from their homes when she was alone and seeking help. Now she was willing to trust me a little. She appeared young. I figured her for about 1yr old. When I got her to the SPCA for spaying, micro-chipping, and the works, the confirmed my suspicions about both her age and her history.
Now Kitty lives with me as an indoor/outdoor cat.
