The Cat Lovers Club

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If you happen to be one of my Facebook friends, you will already know that I not only love cats, but I have had my share of cats as well. Cats have been a part of my life... More

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Bill Kochman

September 15, 2021 3:41 am

THE THIEF MOTHER: ANOTHER TALE FROM BILL’S CATS: PART 2 Hello again my friends. Before reading this, make sure you have read the first part from two days ago. Otherwise, you won’t fully understand wh... View MoreTHE THIEF MOTHER: ANOTHER TALE FROM BILL’S CATS: PART 2 Hello again my friends. Before reading this, make sure you have read the first part from two days ago. Otherwise, you won’t fully understand what this is about. Well, something interesting happened early this morning around 3:00 AM while I was doing my stairs exercise. I was hoping and expecting this to happen, because the same thing happened when Mischief disappeared for three days months ago. Some of you may remember how worried I was for her. Anyway, as I was exercising, the cats and kittens were all around me; meaning Obsidian, Mischief, the Gang of Four, and some of Mischief’s “Five Alive” litter. They were at the top of the stairs, a few were on the stairs, and some were romping around the parking lot below. In fact, guess what? Polo and one of her black and white siblings went completely down both flights of stairs to the bottom, although they didn’t jump off of the curb into the parking lot itself. I was concerned that they might not be able to make it back up again due to the height of the steps, but they managed just fine for their small size. In fact, they went up and down a few times. A second black and white kitten also partially went down the top flight of stairs, but then changed its mind, and hung around the door with yet another black and white kitty. One thing is for certain: Mischief’s litter of five is now extremely mobile. They jump and run around the apartment, and play with each other, just like the Gang of Four did at that age. In fact, yesterday, Polo and two siblings negotiated the ladder and got to the top of the long aquarium cabinet next to the window where the ladder used to be. But that is not the interesting development that I am writing to you about. That is just some extra news. ? In other extra news, one of Obsidian’s gray kittens has an injured eye. I am not sure if it got accidentally scratched by one of the other cats or kittens while playing, or if maybe it got litter dust in its eye, or what. Anyway, it was crusty with dried mucus which prevented it from opening its eye. So, early this morning I dampened some toilet paper and cleaned it. After that, it was able to open the eye more. I will be checking it a little later today to see how it is doing. I just hope that it isn’t conjunctivitis, which is a very common occurrence in young kittens. I had a kitten 7-8 years ago which got it. It is easily treatable with eye drops, but it is very contagious, just like with human conjunctivitis. Anyway, back to our main story. Don’t you just love my detours? I often take the long route, but we eventually arrive at our destination. ??? So while I was carefully exercising, and repeatedly sidestepping cats and kittens on the steps, I noticed another dark feline figure coming out of the shadows in the parking lot. As I mentioned before, Mischief and Charcoal now look so much alike when looking at them from above — size-wise, color and body shape — that it is difficult to tell who is who unless one of them speaks, or else if I check the throat area for the small white marking. So, that is what I did, and the new arrival turned out to be Charcoal showing up after two days. But the thing is, I was still in the middle of exercising, and I didn’t want to break my stride. So, I just hoped and prayed that she would remain in the parking lot until I finished doing the stairs, which, thankfully, she did. After that, she came upstairs with me, came into the house, and went over and sniffed the bowl of chicken breast, and then the bowl of dry food, in the kitchen. However, she didn’t seem to be too interested in eating, which leads me to believe that she is being fed elsewhere; possibly/probably at the neighbor’s house where Whitey lives. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for. So I grabbed a small cardboard box, as well as my headband flashlight, and I followed her back downstairs, hoping that she would lead me to her kittens, as well as the kitten she had stolen from Obsidian. Well, I must have spent at least a good half hour following her around in the dark, just hoping that she’d lead me to the litter. And, of course, Obsidian, most of the Gang of Four, and sometimes Mischief, tagged along with me as I followed Charcoal. But Charcoal was in no hurry to reveal anything. She’d walk a ways, pause, sometimes lay down for a bit,and then meander some more. Meanwhile, there I am all hot and sweaty from doing my stairs exercise, trying to be patient as I carried my flashlight and the small cardboard box in which to hopefully place the found kittens. After about half an hour or so, it became apparent that Mischief was in no rush to lead me to the four kittens. So, I headed back upstairs to my small apartment, and Charcoal followed me into the house. This time, she ate a bit of chicken breast, and then nonchalantly walked into the bathroom to use the litter box. I mean she was acting as if nothing had happened, and everything was normal between us. Her sudden disappearance, along with her kittens, seemed to be a non-issue to her. That’s a cat for you! ? After that, she decided that it was time to take her leave. So I thought to myself, “Let’s try this one more time.” So I grabbed my flashlight and cardboard box, and down the stairs we go again for a repeat performance. Once again I spent a good half hour following around Charcoal as she took her leisurely time, with some of the rest of the cat gang in tow again. We weaved among parked cars in the dark, and even went as far as the road out front, which concerned me a little. What if she had carried her kittens across the road one-by-one? But once again, my endeavor to find the missing kittens was not bearing any results. Maybe Charcoal realized what my game plan was, and so she was just purposely leading me on a futile adventure. Ha! Who knows. But then, as we were walking through some parked cars, a neighborhood dog barked, and Charcoal dashed under one of the cars and I lost sight of her. So, defeated once again, I walked back up to my home. Actually, it was a good thing that I stopped when I did; because no sooner had I entered the house when a very strong rain squall with strong winds hit. I would have gotten soaked to the bone. I looked out the front door a few times after that to see if Charcoal had come up the stairs. However, it was wishful thinking. By that time, it was a little after 5:00 AM, and I was dead tired. So, I went back to bed. While I wasn’t able to find the kittens, I was at least relieved to know that Charcoal was okay and doing well. Maybe today or tomorrow will produce better results. We’ll see. For now, it is a partly cloudy day; so I am going to give Charcoal’s stillborn kitten a proper burial in the ground.

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Bill Kochman