1 Cat, 4 Cats, 2 Cats

I think I posted before about the stray cat I found riding up above my muffler system in my truck?  I knocked on neighbor's doors, put signs up, called vets and animal shelters and nobody claimed this little girl. I always had cats around as a child.  I love cats but around the time it became legal for me to drink, I developed a cat allergy and asthma. Sad for my kids who always wanted a cat - hoping we'd keep her. Then this stray ended up giving us three baby kittens.  I am allergic.

I live in the middle of rural nowhere.  Where corn is plenty and farms dot the landscape - farms that have cats running around constantly.  Nobody wanted kittens.  Perhaps part of it was I was a stickler that they were going to an indoor home with vet care and love.  Their mom was a wanderer but her kittens are so docile that other farm cats, or coyotes, would  hurt them.  I am sure I could've found a farmer who would toss them into their barn with the rest of their outdoor flea-bitten cats.  Nope, not these kittens.  Again, I contacted shelters, posted signs at vets and boards in town, craigslist, our local paper, Facebook.  You would be surprised at how many people only want long hair kittens of a specific color (people were seriously getting on my nerves).

One person who said they wanted all the kittens didn't ask any questions about them. Red flag.  Then they asked if I could drive them to them because they don't have a car.  Yeah, right.  I'm not a taxi service for somebody who can't afford vet care and may be a hoarder or worse.  Another was coming with her boyfriend and their three-year-old to look at them...day after day...only to stop emailing.  Whatever.  We ended up finding a home for the little female kitten, leaving us with two males and their momma the SUV riding kitty. (You know how to tell the gender of a cat?  Look up pictures on the Internet and compare.  So dignified! Ha Ha!)

Last week, Karma the wonder SUV riding momma kitty went on her usual outdoor hunt and hasn't come back.  It is so unlike her.  She always comes back within a few hours and hangs on the back of our screen door until we open it to admit her roaming tabby striped self.  This is a good reminder on why I never have cats who go outside - they don't come back eventually.  She came to us as a stray already with a roaming heart and trying to keep her in and safe - ripped screens! Anyway, I drove through the neighborhood (looking in yards and to be honest, roadkill) and didn't see her.  I drove through the rural countryside on the other side of our house (looking into fields and to be honest, roadkill) and didn't see her.  I wake and check the back screen every morning and again in the afternoon...and again at night.  I checked under our deck and bushes to make sure she wasn't hurt and hiding. My husband, who claims to hate cats, went to the screen, looked out, and sighed.  He's worried about her and missing her as well (he would feed her cheese from my kitchen table when I wasn't looking or hold her when I'd walk out of the room - like if I didn't see him loving on Karma, he could still claim to hate cats the rest of the time). I can only assume - 1) somebody saw a sweet "stray" wandering and took her home (in which case if she is within her usual jaunt she'll be back the first opportunity she gets to go outside, 2) she is dead by car, by animal, or by mean bratty kid, or 3) she is hurt somewhere and in hiding, unable to make it home.

As much as I wanted new homes for the cats, including momma kitty, because of my allergies, this was not how I wanted to be down a cat! I am worried about little Karma kitty and hope she is warm somewhere and not in pain.  We are left with her two boys - who are already bigger than her! After losing Karma this past week, I'm not so keen on finding homes for her boys right now.  I had my doctor give me a better asthma medicine this week while we wait for a little brown tabby to come home and hang from our screen.

Karma and my daughter sleeping together (obviously cropped since I don't want my daughter's face on here).