Now I have to admit, neither Eric or I are cat lovers. I am allergic to them, and we've both had a couple experiences with not so loving cats over the years that tainted our feelings towards cats. So needless to say we were both a little leary about the Momma cat that was laying under our window along with the kittens. Eric likes to mock me about this, but the first day I told the kids(& the neighbor kids who were over) that if the Momma cat comes out and attacks you, to cover up your face and run screaming into the house. I can attest though that I said this very calmly. :)
The day of Addyson's birthday party, my brother-n-law, Jason, was over and befriended the Momma cat. He is wonderful with animals and had a cat growing up, so we were more than happy to let him take over for us. Once he befriended the Momma cat the kids all had so much fun taking each of the kittens inside & petting them.
Cayden is such an animal lover, and he has always had a special love for cats since he was little. Even though Eric & I aren't especially fond of cats, we have always held our thoughts & feelings inside so that our kids can decide on their own what they like or don't like. We didn't want to put our feelings towards cats onto our kids. Cayden especially was so very gentle & loving with all of the kittens. He too befriended the Momma cat, and one day I saw him out there petting the Momma cat & then every time one of the kittens would venture too far from the Momma, he would gently pick it up & put it back by it's Momma. He would tell the kittens when they cried "it's okay, it's okay". And every day he told us that we were going to keep ALL of the kittens.
We knew that eventually we would have to get rid of the kittens, but we didn't think it would be as soon as it was. Last Sunday evening we arrived home and both the kids ran to go pet the kittens. I came to look out the front door to see Cayden holding his head screaming, & running to the back door. I have to admit that I panicked. I completely thought the worst thing possible. We got him calmed down enough to finally hear that the Momma cat had bitten him on the head. We looked and sure enough, there were 2 puncture wounds on the top of his head. We decided that I would take him to the med center right away.
When we finally saw the dr. she told us that he would have to go on antibiotics for the bite and that the cat would have to be picked up by animal control. They needed to watch the cat for 10 days after the bite to make sure that the cat wasn't infected with rabies...and consequently passed it to Cayden. When the dr. left, Cayden asked if they would have to pick up the kittens too, and I had to tell him that yes, they probably would. He laid on my shoulder & just started sobbing & sobbing, saying "no, they can't take the kitties". I sobbed along with him & all I could tell him was that I was so sorry. I know that this won't be the last time that my heart will break for one of my kids...but my heart hurt so badly for Cayden. He had grown to love these kitties so very much.
Throughout the night I tried to communicate everything with Cayden about the reasons why they had to take the cats, and also to make sure that he knew it wasn't his fault. I don't think the bite actually hurt him that badly, I think it was more the fact that he didn't understand why the Momma cat had bitten him. I tried to make sure that he knew that she wasn't bad, but that she was probably protecting her kittens.
The next day we called the animal control to come pick up the cats. We told Cayden to say his goodbyes to the kittens and we let him hold a couple before he left for school. He seemed to be handling it pretty well. Well...when he got home the animal shelter still hadn't come by to pick up the cats. So...because I was a little leary of the Momma cat now, we fed her some food by the garage & managed to get some of the kittens inside to pet. The longer the day went on the more the kids & I got attached to the kittens. We made a box up in the house with a blanket & let a couple of the kittens sleep there. And the kids were noticing the different personalities of each one...as well as naming each & every one of them. Blacky, whitey, tiger, & shy(for the gray one).
After several phone calls to the animal control, they finally arrived at about 4:30 in the afternoon. The Momma cat wouldn't even come near the guy, so he ended up setting a cage with food inside that would close when the cat got inside. He told me to call him when we caught the cat. Not 20 minutes later the cat was caught inside the cage, so I called the guy to come back. Cayden & Addyson gathered up all the kittens & put them inside our house in a box. Eric ran to get supper with the girls & soon after the animal control guy showed up. I told Cayden to start saying his goodbyes & ran into the living room crying. I then told him that I needed his help taking care of the kittens while I went outside to talk with the guy. That seemed to help him a lot.
Here is where my emotions got the best of me. I was really thinking hard about keeping a couple of the kittens & then later finding homes for them. I was just so upset that Eric was gone & that I had to make this decision by myself. I just wanted him home to make the decision for me...because I knew that I was just making an emotional decision. I asked the guy to stay until Eric got home with Addyson, because I knew she would be upset if she didn't get to say goodbye. When Eric showed up neither of us could decide what to do & were very close to keeping all of them. So I told him that I just needed him to decide what was best for our whole family...and that was easy, we couldn't keep any of them. I knew in my head that this was the right decision, my heart just wasn't there yet.
So the kids said goodbye & Cayden helped put the kittens in the cage. When the guy left Addyson & I went into the living room & she just started sobbing in my arms. I really didn't think that this was going to affect her as much as it did Cayden, but I think she had really gotten attached to the kittens that day too. Eric & Cayden came into the house & there Addyson & I were on the chair just sobbing. We actually couldn't get Addyson calmed down for about 45 minutes, she was so upset. But we finally got her to eat supper. That night before bed we didn't dare mention anything to Addyson about the kittens for fear of her getting upset again. But right before Eric got to her door she started crying again. No matter what we did or said she couldn't stop crying...I felt so bad for her. Eric finally got her to sleep by him and when he came out into the living room he said he was "emotionally exhausted".
We all miss our little kittens. For 4 short days they were a wonderful & fun part of our lives. But we talk a lot about how much fun we all had with them & what great memories we will have. About once a day Addyson will start crying out of the blue & say that she misses the kitties. And Cayden says he misses them too & wishes he could hold them again. And he is still holding out hope one day that we will get a kitten, and who knows, maybe that day will come.
But the most important part is that we got to see how much love our kids have in their hearts for animals. And that is the good that came out of the hurt. So here are a couple pictures of our adorable 5 kittens.
1 comment:
Its really nice to see that our kids know how to love animals at a very young age.
Also for me its the first step to have good socialization with other people.
cat behaviour meaning
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