When I was around 11 years old, my dad came into the house one day and said, "Jody, come with me." We went outside, near the garage door, and he said, "Listen. Do you hear something?" I heard a faint mewing sound. We looked around for a while, and finally my dad thought to open the lid of the garbage can. Inside, in a cardboard box, there sat a little white kitten mewing pitifully. We got it out and, upon further investigation, we found that it belonged to one of our cats (we didn't even know she had been pregnant) and that the kitten had wound up in the garbage because my mom had unknowingly thrown away the box of PVC scraps where the kitten had been living. Anyway, finding a kitten out of the blue is one of life's funnest adventures. I highly recommend it.
So while I was visiting my family this last Christmas vacation, my younger sister and I decided to do it again. Randomly find a kitten, that is. I happened to be outside in the snow-drifted backyard with my dog, Nugget, when we heard a faint mewing near the barn. I took Nugget inside and asked Jill if she wanted to join me for the grand kitten hunt. She put on a coat and boots and we headed out into the snow. I don't know why neither of us thought that gloves would be a good idea. Because it would've been a really good idea.
We wandered around the barn for a while looking for a kitten, but when we were inside, it sounded like it was outside, and when we were outside, it sounded like it was inside. Finally, I happened to look up, and on the roof of the lean-to attached to the barn, I saw a cute, cold kitten.
Jill grabbed a ladder and propped it up next to the roof. I climbed up to catch the kitten, but it ran to the other side. So Jill climbed a fence on the other side and popped her head up to scare it back in my direction. As soon as it was in reach, I snagged it by the back of the neck. Since it seemed a little risky for my 7-month pregnant body to climb down a frozen ladder whilst holding a dangling kitten in one hand, Jill offered to take it. And this is where I was really stupid and tried to hand it to her straight on. Or, in other words, claws first. The frightened kitten gave Jill's bare hands a few nasty slices before we realized that it wasn't going to work. So I just climbed down slowly and carefully with it instead.
We went inside and I set up the laundry room for the kitten while Jill bandaged her hands. The kitten was afraid of us, but it was getting late and I didn't want to put it back into the freezing barn overnight. We gave the kitty some milk and chicken and just let it hang out while we watched it from the other room.
So while I was visiting my family this last Christmas vacation, my younger sister and I decided to do it again. Randomly find a kitten, that is. I happened to be outside in the snow-drifted backyard with my dog, Nugget, when we heard a faint mewing near the barn. I took Nugget inside and asked Jill if she wanted to join me for the grand kitten hunt. She put on a coat and boots and we headed out into the snow. I don't know why neither of us thought that gloves would be a good idea. Because it would've been a really good idea.
We wandered around the barn for a while looking for a kitten, but when we were inside, it sounded like it was outside, and when we were outside, it sounded like it was inside. Finally, I happened to look up, and on the roof of the lean-to attached to the barn, I saw a cute, cold kitten.
Jill grabbed a ladder and propped it up next to the roof. I climbed up to catch the kitten, but it ran to the other side. So Jill climbed a fence on the other side and popped her head up to scare it back in my direction. As soon as it was in reach, I snagged it by the back of the neck. Since it seemed a little risky for my 7-month pregnant body to climb down a frozen ladder whilst holding a dangling kitten in one hand, Jill offered to take it. And this is where I was really stupid and tried to hand it to her straight on. Or, in other words, claws first. The frightened kitten gave Jill's bare hands a few nasty slices before we realized that it wasn't going to work. So I just climbed down slowly and carefully with it instead.
We went inside and I set up the laundry room for the kitten while Jill bandaged her hands. The kitten was afraid of us, but it was getting late and I didn't want to put it back into the freezing barn overnight. We gave the kitty some milk and chicken and just let it hang out while we watched it from the other room.
When we closed the laundry room door so we could go to bed, it started mewing sadly. We realized that even though it was scared of us, it was even more scared of being alone. Nugget offered to donate his crate for the
night, so we set it up for the kitten and let it sleep in my bedroom with Nugget and me.
The next morning, we gave the kitten some breakfast and then went out to the barn to see if we could find his mother. We figured the most likely place would be the loft (there's a window from the loft that opens over the lean-to roof). We set up the ladder to the loft and I climbed up to have a look. I couldn't see anything and Jill suggest that I try meowing. I did so and another little kitten ran out to meet me. He was very much surprised and horrified to see my face and stopped short. It was enough evidence that the loft was our kitten's home, however, so we went back inside, put our kitten into a box, and took him out to the barn. When I dumped him out into the loft, he started mewing and his mother popped out to get him. Hoo-ray!