A box full of cat poop
I used to have a pet gerbil named Joey. He died about two years ago. I haven’t had another
pet since. Well, unless what happened this week counts.
My neighbors rang my doorbell while holding a box of four week old kittens. The kittens had been dumped in our neighborhood in a cardboard box. The box was filled with cat poop and hard cat food.
We turned my dad’s truck bed into a cat stable. My mom bought kitten food and kitty litter and put it in the truck bed. I put some boxes and things from our garage in there for the kittens to climb on. With newspapers and towels on the bottom of the truck bed, they stayed their over night. They slept in a triangle. Each kitten laid it’s head on another one’s butt.
One was white with light, swirly gray striped fur. We named her Smokey. Another was white with black, swirly striped fur. We named her Shy because she was very shy although she did fight with Smokey. The last one had dark and light brown striped fur. The girl across the street named her Hillary. We thought Smokey was a boy. My dad said that Smokey was a girl but we didn’t want to change the name.
Although I wanted to keep Smokey, my mom is allergic to cats. I couldn’t keep her. I tried to sell the cats for $10 each, but nobody wanted them. We couldn’t even give them away.
My dad called pet stores and animal rescue shelters but they wouldn’t take them because they already have too many cats. We even called a local veterinarian. He couldn’t take them. He said he gets a box of kittens dumped at his office nearly everyday. We didn’t ask what happens to the kittens from there.
My mom sent emails to the entire neighborhood. She even posted the kittens on her Facebook page.
The next morning, my dad called animal control to come get the cats. About that same time one of our neighbor ladies decided she would keep Hillary. As she was leaving with her kitten, the animal control officer showed up. He would take Shy and Smokey. My neighbor lady asked if the cats were going to be okay. The animal control officer said they would probably be killed in a week. They don’t have space or money to keep stray animals for long. Neighbor lady started crying. I guess the animal control officer felt sorry for her because he began calling people he thought might want the kittens. Turns out, the animal control officer found homes for the remaining two kittens so all of the cats were going to safe places.
This kitten rescue story ended well but I imagine most don’t. Now I know why I always hear “Have your pets spayed or neutered.” I never really paid attention to that until now. There are way too many puppies and kittens without homes right here in our neighborhoods.
Many people are surprised to learn that nationwide more than 3 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters. Here are reasons to have your pets fixed.
Here are the local Humane Society facilities:
Metro East Humane Society
Riverbend Humane Society
Granite City Humane Society
5 A’s Humane Society
Animal Rescue & Relief
