Two Days, Two Abandoned Cats!

On Sunday, December 13th, Dan the Man found a "stray" cat outside while he was doing his morning chores. Curious as to why the cat was hanging out and not running away like most wild cats do, he called to it (you know... here kitty, kitty, kitty). To his surprise, the cat came running up to him and was very friendly. After determining that the cat was very tame, being concerned with the frigid temps and the cat's health, he decided to bring her to me in the house. My heart gets smushy and starts to melt at the thought of cats that are lost or abandoned. Oh, poor kitty. It was obvious that she hadn't eaten in several days, at least a week or longer. Hard to tell since I am no expert. I fed her and gave her some water. She couldn't eat the food fast enough.

Meanwhile, all of our cats were becoming very concerned with this stranger we had let into our house! Who was she, where did she come from, was she friendly and how long was she staying? After she got some food in her tummy, she was ready for some lovin'! She was so loving and affectionate. Danny left to go work on the corn and I started calling all the neighbors to see if anyone was missing a cat. I didn't have any luck finding her owner. She made herself at home on a comfy blanket on the couch.

We've named her Tatum

Then two days later, Danny and Chris came into the house after going out to do the morning chores with a young cat, probably 8 or 9 months old, with frostbitten ears! "You have got to be kidding me" was my response! This is unreal. Where are these cats coming from. Just like the cat before, this one is very friendly, hungry and freezing cold, literally! Did I mention that the low temps had been well below 0 days before. One morning the low was -21 degrees F. This baby had definitely been out in that weather!

Poor kitten! See the frostbitten ears!

We have found a home for the kitten, our mail carrier took him. She is a very compassionate person who has a passionate love for animals. I can't thank her enough for helping me out. If you would like to adopt this kitten I am sure that she would be willing to part with him. Let me know and I will get you in touch with her. He would make an awesome pet for a responsible person who is willing to give him a loving home.

All of the cats that we own have either been "dumped" here or abandoned except for one. Tyler has been with us for 18 years and is the only one that I actually "wanted" (for lack of a better word, you know what I mean.) Then we have Lily who was "dumped" here around 7 years ago. The four sisters, Sammie, Camille, Squeakers and Bridgette, have been here two years. Their mother (a stray cat) was killed two years ago during a freak hail storm that lasted over an hour. We found the mother cat dead in one of our fields after the storm. A couple of days later we found 5 kittens in a haystack that obviously belonged to the now dead stray cat. We lost one of the kittens to an owl or something, but still have the other four. All of our cats are either spay or neutered and we do not have a problem with them wandering. They all stay close to our house and as far as I know, do not cause a problem for any of our neighbors.

Okay this is where I get on my "high-horse" and vent. And since this is my blog, I can do that. You can agree or disagree with me, I don't care, but this is how I feel about the whole cat situation. I strongly disagree with the idea of having wild cats or semi-wild cats (those who are fed, but aren't necessarily some one's pet and properly cared for) on a farm. I believe that if you are going to have cats, you need to be responsible for them and provide them with adequate shelter, adequate food and to provide them veterinary care when necessary (that includes vaccinations) and most importantly have them spay or neutered! Believe me, if you spay or neuter your cat it will not cause the cat population in the world, let alone just your area, to decrease in such massive numbers that cats will be placed on the endangered species list!

If you have cats that just run loose on your place and you do not take PROPER care of them, they eventually become someone else's problem (or they die!) If you do not provide adequate shelter and food for them during freezing temps they will wander and end up at someone else's home, like ours! I don't remember asking you if you had any extra cats you didn't want to take care of or are unwilling to take care of so I could have more! I really don't need more, nor do I really want more.

Cats have emotions and deserve to be treated with respect. The bible says that God created all of the animals of the earth first, before he even created man. He then created man and let him "rule" over all the animals of the earth. God did not tell us to neglect the animals! When you rule over something, you still have an obligation to it's welfare.