Digressions: My Life in 500 Words or Less

Sometimes your heart gets tested. And sometimes it breaks in the process.

Tuesday, about noon, while taking out my dogs in the back yard, I found stray kittens. Mama cat had relocated them at least twice before. We knew there to be four kittens.

They were under vegetation near a fence. After taking my Pomeranians inside, I went to check on the kittens. The gray-brown one walked into the open toward me. It looked weak. I saw flies on it, burrowing into its fur. I picked up the kitten and discovered its fur was infested with fly eggs.

I tried to wash off some of the eggs with the garden hose. When I tried to return the gray-brown kitten where I found it, the black kitten appeared. I saw one of the other kittens, a gray one, peeking through the brush. Those kittens looked much healthier than the gray-brown one. The fourth kitten was nowhere to be seen.

Flies swarmed on the gray-brown kitten again. Then the kitten did something unexpected: it crawled to me and began to climb up the leg of my jeans.

My heart was breaking. I couldn’t leave that poor kitten there.

I took it inside and spent almost two hours washing it and combing out fly eggs. I dried it with paper towels. I tried to return it so maybe mama cat would find it, but both the gray-brown and black kitten kept walking up to me. That’s when I noticed the black kitten’s eyes were obscured by mucus. I eventually took them both inside, carrying them in the only thing handy: a recycling bin. After I cleaned the eyes of the black kitten, they fell asleep curled up against each other.

I needed immediate help. I could not keep these kittens. I made a plea for help on Facebook. I referred to the gray-brown kitten as Kitten No. 1.

After leaving black kitten where I found it, it disappeared. Gray kitten was gone, too. I kept Kitten No. 1 inside, in a cardboard box with a towel, where it slept soundly. As it slept, I started making calls.

No one I contacted could help, so I took Kitten No. 1 directly to E-town Animal Hospital. Thankfully, that was the right thing to do. A staff member agreed to try to nurse Kitten No. 1 back to health and adopt it out if successful.

Later, my sweetie, Becca, found the aforementioned absent fourth kitten alone and crying. It was healthier than Kitten No. 1 but still had burrowing flies.

Becca contacted the neighbor where the litter was first located. She took the kitten because it had been her favorite, planning to get it to a vet. Unfortunately, it escaped overnight.

I don’t know if Kitten No. 1 survived. Frankly, I’m afraid to call and find out. I don’t know if the other kittens made it, either.

All I know is we did what we could.

We did what our hearts told us.