The Little Dude And His Sibling Plush

     As a volunteer for The Feline Network here on the Central Coast, I have been especially busy this kitten season. It's late now--early September--but the little ones just keep coming.

     A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from a woman who lives up on the Mesa in Arroyo Grande. She said she'd spotted two feral kittens and had caught one, but the other escaped. I drove up there, picked up the little guy, who was huddled miserably in the back of a carrier, and brought him back to my house in Pismo Beach. I set him up in a cage with a bed, litter box, food and water. For the first few days he barely moved, just stayed as far back in the cage as he could. I made him gruel, which is a mixture of kitten chow soaked in water until it gets mushy and SMR kitten milk replacer. Finally after a few days, he started to feel more confident and I began calling him Little Dude.

     One afternoon, I heard him crying and rushed into the bathroom where I was keeping him but couldn't find him anywhere! Finally I looked up and there he was--this tiny little creature--perched on the metal rod of the shower curtain. Apparently he'd climbed up a towel to get there and was stuck. So that was the Little Dude's first adventure!

     Just as Little Dude was starting to warm up to his new surroundings, I was able to trap the other kitten--his sibling, I believe--who had escaped the week before. This kitten, whose gender I still don't know, is grey and long-haired with very sad, soulful eyes. I call him/her Plush, because I'm sure that's how she'll look once she is brushed and combed and puts on some weight. Plush is still very very shy, but she snuggles with Little Dude in their cat bed and has a good appetite.

     And now a third Mesa kitty has arrived--a little gal I'm calling Little Squeak, because of her loud voice. And thank God she has such a voice because it saved her life!

     Three days ago I drove up to the Mesa to put out food for the feral mother (whom I had trapped, had spayed, and released). While I was there, a kitten started to cry. A couple of neighbors came out and we all hunted for this kitten. I had two traps with me, so I baited them and put them out. Later that night, one of the neighbor women called and said we'd caught the cat. I was so happy because I assumed it was the kitten. When I went back to pick it up, though, I saw we had trapped the adult female who was already spayed. And we could still hear the poor kitten crying.

      I released the mom, since she is feral and thus unadoptable, went home and brought back two kitten traps. This time it worked! I caught a tiny black kitten, maybe five weeks old. She was very hungry and dehydrated and was suffering from an infection in both eyes. Another member of The Feline Network, a vet tech, came by with eye ointment and in only two days, her eyes look perfect now. She has a great attitude, loves to play, and has a wonderful outlook on life--especially when you consider she was all alone in the night, hungry and frightened.

     Little Dude, Plush, and Little Squeak will eventually go off to the Adopt-A-Pet and begin new lives--hopefully in loving, forever homes. In the meantime, they'll be hanging out here for at least a couple more weeks; they're a handful but I feel blessed to be able to foster them.