CATURDAY: Kind story "Other plans or a heart on a cat's paw"

Hello friends! My name is Elenka, I live in Ukraine. This is my first post in the community Caturday. I want to tell you a story about how, quite unexpectedly for myself, I became a mother of three little kittens.

Once I read a phrase, the author of which is considered to be John Lennon: "Life is what happens to you just when you have completely different plans." That is exactly what happened in my case.

It was a hot day at the end of August, you know, one of those days, when the air itself begins to seem to melt, and a mirage haze appears on the horizon of the road. The road ran, plunging and emerging between the hills. I looked and enjoyed the meager steppe landscape, only occasionally diluted with patches of trees. Everything was fine, because we were going to relax by the sea. The hassle of preparing for the trip and collecting things was over, it was already possible to relax, just drive and look out the window.

This vacation was the cherished dream of the whole summer, and I really needed it. I wanted to change the situation a little, swim, take a walk on the beach in the evenings, looking at how the heavenly lace of stars is reflected and flickers in the dark sea water. Admire the moonlit path, laid, as if to your heart, through the quiet night sea, and maybe even take a dip at night. Try the fish caught early in the morning and bought from the fishermen right from the boat, on the beach. I dreamed of collecting shells or beautiful sea pebbles in order to use them later in creating jewelry, combining them with polymer clay or beads ...

About noon, having covered a little less than a third of the way, we stopped at a fork in the road, next to a wooden table and benches, to rest a bit and stretch our stiff legs. On the opposite side was a dilapidated bus stop, now converted by "clean" passengers into a small garbage dump. The temperature reached its peak, because the sun was scorching mercilessly. The shade from several tall poplars that grew next to the bench saved us and the car a little.

After a short rest, we decided to continue on our way. Dad was already behind the wheel, mom was approaching the car. I opened the door, about to get in, and at that moment I heard a faint squeak from the bus stop. It was the squeak of a small kitten, calling for help.

Crossing the road and coming closer, I saw among the garbage a box lying on its side, in the very sun. There were three small weakened kittens in it. When I saw this picture, I felt like an electric shock went through my whole body. A lot of questions swarmed in my head, the main of which were two: how could this be done? And what should I do with them now?

I grabbed the box and carried it to the car. I immediately noticed that the kittens were very weak, probably hungry and dehydrated. They were all slightly smaller than the palm of their hand, and their eyes must have been opened quite recently. None of them could crawl on all their paws, the heat took away those forces, which the little ones did not have much anyway. While we examined them and decided what to do next, not one of them uttered a sound. Apparently that single squeak that I heard was the last attempt with the hope of salvation. Unfortunately, we did not have milk with us or anything to offer them as food. The only thing I could do at that time was to try to put some water into their mouths from my finger and moisten their muzzles.

At that moment, a car with a trailer drove past us, in which a man and a woman were driving. Judging by the direction of their route, it was clearly visible that these people were returning home to the village. Dad waved them to stop. We showed them the kittens, explained our situation and tried to ask them to take them with them. They hoped that maybe they or their neighbors have a cat that will accept the kids. The man just waved his hand and said that “there is enough of such kindness and his own”, and left.

We had no choice but to take the kittens along with the box and move on. The problem was that along the way we did not pass through settlements at all, and the nearest option to buy milk was about an hour away along the highway. I tried to stroke and hold them to make them at least a little easier. I had absolutely no experience of communicating with such small kittens, probably, I have never even held such babies in my hands before. Now it was up to them to take care of them.

Just a couple of days before the trip, I accidentally came across an article about how a mother cat takes care of her children. I read it briefly for general development, but I could not even imagine that this information would come in handy so quickly. It said that the mother cat from the first days of life carefully takes care of the hygiene of her offspring. Licking the kittens, she stimulates the intestines and the genitourinary system, making a kind of massage and helping the kittens to defecate. This way, she keeps the kittens' housing clean and they can develop normally. At that time, I could not even determine the approximate age of the babies found. I found a clean rag in the car and gently massaged the tummy of one kitten, the rag instantly got wet. It was the same with the other two. They were so small that they simply could not physically go to the toilet themselves, because they needed their mother's help in this regard as well.

I then thought about the cruelty and dishonesty of people who throw away such babies, in fact, to certain death. And about those "enthusiasts" who regularly throw kittens under our porch. Of course, such little ones have not yet been brought, but even if the kitten is a little older and can run on its own, it still needs the care of a mother cat for at least 3-4 months. And he simply does not have a chance to survive in the yard where adult cats and dogs live, as well as cars regularly drive.

At the first market, which was on the highway, it was not possible to buy milk. Let's go further. The kittens sat quietly in the box and moved very little. When we reached the second market half an hour later, dad was able to buy two packages of pasteurized milk. Mom had a syringe in her bag, which she put there along with several ampoules of medicine, remembering this at the last moment before leaving.

We decided to dilute the milk a little with water to make it easier to digest. I was able to drink a little bit of two kittens without any problems, even surprised myself. Then I realized that they were so weak that they could only swallow and that was it. And with the third, black and white kitten, the situation was much worse, because he did not even have the strength to swallow the valuable liquid. He threw back his head and rolled his eyes as milk poured out of his mouth. But I didn't want to give up, and after several unsuccessful attempts, we managed to get him to take a couple of sips.

We could not stand in the middle of a busy highway for a long time with the emergency gang turned on in the wrong place. We had to keep going.

It's been 4 years since then. The cats Filya and Osya still live with me, and we gave the cat Misha to a very good family. They give us joy and warmth every day!