ITTY BITTY KITTY

I returned home one afternoon from running errands only to find sitting on my doormat the most bedraggled kitten I had ever seen. He was a reddish brown color (?), weak and feeble to point out his finer features. I looked around the yard only to find a feral momma sitting watching me intently. Dont worry about your baby, I told her. I will take good care of him. I scooped him up and hurried inside.

His first bath took quite a while as they often do. He couldnt hold his head up and his meow was barely a squeak. I quickly gave him a once-over while I checked him out. He was just skin and bones, his eyes were runny in addition to being so feeble. Other than that, he seemed ok, no injuries or wounds that I could see. He lay limp in the palm of my hand looking up with those large watery eyes and I told him. You just need a warm bath and a full belly. You will be fine in a couple days. I will make sure that you are.

I turned the kitchen sink sprayer on him after I adjusted the temperature to a bit warmer setting. As I began the water ran red and I realized the reddish-brown color was dried blood. The poor baby was covered in fleas! They were draining the life right out of him. There were so many fleas that his skin appeared to be undulating! A quick rub down with Dawn and rinse, then wrap him in a towel, rest and repeat a few minutes later. After three of these rounds I was beginning to be concerned that he was growing weaker. I wrapped him in a fresh clean towel around him and headed to the couch grabbing up the kitten formula on my way.

There I feed him several eyedroppers of formula and let him rest before giving him a few more. I felt his belly and it was nice and full but not too much so. He was pretty dry by this time since I had been rubbing him all over with the corner of the towel looking for fleas and seeing if I missed in cuts, bites or scrapes but there didnt seem to be many fleas left and none of the contusions that could lead to a serious infection.

I held him up so I could whisper in his ear, Welcome Home, Itty Bitty Kitty and then tucked him into the neckline of my shirt where he nestled down in between my breasts, warm and contented, listening to my heartbeat. There he would be for the next few days as I provided round-the-clock care to him to get him strong and healthy. More baths the following days, making sure the fleas were all gone. More feedings every hour on the hour at first then every two hours, then four. He was looking pretty perky by day three (see first pic). Running the house within a couple weeks.

So it began, six years ago in this particular rental. Not my first rodeo by any means but it wasn't until I moved here right smack dab in the middle of a fairly large feral cat colony that the mama ferals brought me their weak and tiny kittens. Just like Itty Bitty's mamma, they would leave them on the doormat and then sit across the yard intently watching over their baby until I would get home, knowing I would scoop them up and do whatever I could to get that kitten back on its feet.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) estimates that the population of owned cats in Florida is about 9.6 million, and the feral cat population may be 6.3 to 9.6 million. Their website explains "the term "free-ranging cats" applies to owned cats that spend all or a portion of their time outdoors where they may prey on wildlife. "Feral cats" are those cats that are not owned and exist in the wild. Feral cats can be born in the wild or may have only recently entered into the wild, but we make no attempt here to distinguish between these two groups. Feral animals can exist in the wild completely unaided by humans or they may be members of so-called "cat colonies" that receive varying levels of care and food from human caretakers." https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/nonnatives/feral-cats/

This escalating problem is contributed to by those who take in a kitten but leave it behind when they move or return to their northern home. This is extremely negligent and irresponsible on the part of humans and horrifying for the cat. Left to scrounge for scraps in garbage cans or catch what rodents, bugs or lizards they can they quickly become distrustful and wary of humans, sicken and even die.

I have been regaining that trust, slowly and painstakingly, one by one, then having them spayed or neutered and given a rabies vaccination for nearly 30 years. At one clinic my stack of files is well over four and a half feet high. Afterward, they return to my yard or I find them a loving fur-ever home.

The problem with feral cats is how many litters they can have in one single year. Itty Bitty's mama brought him to me in January and was barely old enough to have babies herself. She had one other kitten in that litter from what I could tell which is typical of ferals. Two is about all they can manage. She had another litter in March but by then she was warming up to me and I was able to bring mama and two grey kittens into the house before they were weaned. If you can gentle the kittens that young they will make much better lap buddies.

But she escaped and in September had another litter, this time five kittens. FIVE. She was pretty much a fat and sassy couch potato by this time and so huge I was worried she would explode before delivering. She didnt but she did want to be right beside my chair while giving birth.

She escaped again before I could have her spayed. It's tricky, the kittens have to have been weaned for a couple weeks before they can do the surgery and well she can be pretty sneaky. I suspected she was pregnant again so I finally tracked down a rescue organization that agreed to have her fostered until she could be spayed and then returned to me. I agreed to pay for the cost of her surgery and shots. I was relieved to see her go and excited to have her return! She had two kittens that last time. So what is that, twelve kittens in one year. You can see how this snowballs over a relatively short period of time. Plus it's really hard on the mama's to have so many pregnancies in a row. It's depleting and exhausting.

We have eight or nine cats currently and finally no kittens this year! This is sacred work to me. It is the least I can do for those who were abandoned and had their trust shattered. I am the one blessed for this experience.