Tuesday, March 10, 2009
...And Odd Ends
A strange occurrence occurred at the Spanko household recently. Shortly after returning from Israel, the cat that we call Cat, since it has always lived on our property for a long as the prior owners could remember (and they lived here for thirty years), recently gave birth to kittens. I had thought this to be impossible. We have, in years past. been able to corral Cat a few times so that we could take her to the vet for shots and a checkup. The vet assured us that Cat had been neutered long ago, and, besides, she was well beyond her kitten-bearing years. And yet, shortly after the new year, Cat took up residence inside the house, which she has never done. She made herself a den in the laundry room on a pile of towels and has spend most of the last two months comfortably ensconced there.
Colette had earlier announced that Cat was expecting, but I did not believe it. But, early last week, cat started following me around and insisted on sitting on my lap whenever I was seated. She seemed to be agitated and would only quiet down when I would rub her tummy. I was concerned that she might be sick. Two days later, Colette came home from school, tossed her coat into the laundry room, said hello to cat, and did a double take. Then she screamed, “Cat is having kittens!”
I came out of my office and lo
oked in on the situation. Sure enough, there was one tiny, slimy little fur ball laying next to Cat, and a second on it's way. Colette wanted to help Cat in her delivery, but I told her that cats are pretty good at giving birth on their own and, indeed, do not like to be disturbed while doing so. So we let Cat be. She ended up having three little ones, one that is black and white and fluffy, one that is orange and white and fluffy, and one that is almost a teenie, tiny replica of Cat. Mama and babies are doing fine.
We thought that our remaining cat, Princess, might not be pleased with the new additions to our household. However, several hours after Cat had her kittens, Princess walked into the laundry room, sniffed the kittens thoroughly, turned around and walked back into the hallway, and coughed up a hair ball. We took that is acceptance.
So the Spanko household has grown again. We have not decided whether or not we will keep the kittens, or how many we will keep. We did not want to adopt any animals just to replace the two that we had recently lost. We desired to wait until we were ready for new personalities, new challenges. But we have a couple of months or so to figure that out. At another time, in another place, in another world, these kittens might be considered a miracle. But in the life of an imaginary spanko, these little lives seem to be just another part of daily life. It will, though, be fun to hear the pitter-patter of little paws running around the house again.
An immortal cat. Having kittens. In the house of an imaginary spanko. No, it's not a miracle. It is, however, rather fantastic.
Colette had earlier announced that Cat was expecting, but I did not believe it. But, early last week, cat started following me around and insisted on sitting on my lap whenever I was seated. She seemed to be agitated and would only quiet down when I would rub her tummy. I was concerned that she might be sick. Two days later, Colette came home from school, tossed her coat into the laundry room, said hello to cat, and did a double take. Then she screamed, “Cat is having kittens!”
I came out of my office and lo
oked in on the situation. Sure enough, there was one tiny, slimy little fur ball laying next to Cat, and a second on it's way. Colette wanted to help Cat in her delivery, but I told her that cats are pretty good at giving birth on their own and, indeed, do not like to be disturbed while doing so. So we let Cat be. She ended up having three little ones, one that is black and white and fluffy, one that is orange and white and fluffy, and one that is almost a teenie, tiny replica of Cat. Mama and babies are doing fine.We thought that our remaining cat, Princess, might not be pleased with the new additions to our household. However, several hours after Cat had her kittens, Princess walked into the laundry room, sniffed the kittens thoroughly, turned around and walked back into the hallway, and coughed up a hair ball. We took that is acceptance.
So the Spanko household has grown again. We have not decided whether or not we will keep the kittens, or how many we will keep. We did not want to adopt any animals just to replace the two that we had recently lost. We desired to wait until we were ready for new personalities, new challenges. But we have a couple of months or so to figure that out. At another time, in another place, in another world, these kittens might be considered a miracle. But in the life of an imaginary spanko, these little lives seem to be just another part of daily life. It will, though, be fun to hear the pitter-patter of little paws running around the house again.
An immortal cat. Having kittens. In the house of an imaginary spanko. No, it's not a miracle. It is, however, rather fantastic.
