This is a story about a stray cat named Rose and her little sweet and savory babies. I also dedicate this to my Grandma Schoop, who has passed her animal saving essence to her family.
This is Rose. That wasn't the name that came with her, she was was only known as "Kitty".
She has these hypnotic beautiful exotic green eyes and gray/white fur. When we would come home she would see our cars and come running. Mostly because we were going to feed her. Other neighbors would feed her and this other cat that hung out with her.
Well one day I noticed her tummy and I asked my mom the same thing. Plus her "man" wasn't around anymore. As it turned out, "Kitty" was pregnant.
We tried to reach out and see if anyone would take her and a no go because taking care of a pregnant cat, would mean babies too.
In the middle of December, I made a decision...I was going to try and convince my mom to let her come in. I'd take responsibility for taking care of her and her fur. Oh, we're both allergic to cats. I final got "Kitty" to come into the house. I could tell she was a little "um, what?" but I managed to make a small place for her under the stairs. After the fact, my mom came home and while she was resting in her room I said, "So do you want the good news or the bad news?" and she goes "what's the good news?"I reply with, "Well Kitty is nice and cozy under the stairs..." nervous smile. But my mom knew, we were the only ones that could help her. "Kitty" made herself comfortable and I wanted her to know that she could have her babies safe and sound under our stairs.
As the days, went on, she got bigger and ate more. Bear and Dottie would see her and bark but finally they realized it was just annoying and stopped. I'm glad they did cause it was, I mean, they already bark at my brother enough as is it...ps, they still do.
Since we didn't know how far along Kitty was, I called my friend, Sara, who's my go to when I don't know what's happening to my pets. She's awesome and I'm soooooooo glad she's had vet tech training. I remember when Bear went into heat, I didn't know that her little va-jay-jay was going to "bloom". I remember texting her photos going "WTF" and she's like, "Yeah, she's in heat...keep away from unaltered baby daddies." Anyhow, Sara thought Kitty was around 6 weeks and I went off of that.
As the days went by, I was preparing for babies. I remember one day, she hadn't come by, (we let her out during the day) and I started to panic. I walked around trying to listen to faint sounds of kittens. Then luckily she came waddling over and I was so relieved and mad, but more relieved she still had her big ass stomach. We also decided to name her Rose, from the Curious Creations of Christine McConnell. Yes, we named her after the raunchy,funny and always hungry raccoon that Christine brought back to life.
On the week of Dec 29th, we had a cold front in Phoenix. I actually wore my parka that I had in Alaska. It was down to 30, a couple of days was 27...28 degrees at this point and I was actually really cold lol.
On Saturday, December 29th, around 2pm, I was wondering were Rose was, but then I heard...the faint sounds of kittens!!! XD I went up stairs and told my mom. I tried to see how many but I didn't want Rose to panic. The next day I went and checked, they was four kittens, however one of them had past away. But Rose still had 3 beautiful healthy kittens.
I googled EVERYTHING online about taking care of Kittens! I made sure we got kitty litter that was "kitten" friendly. I mixed her wet food and dry food to help with her poopies.
In the meantime, we were looking for homes. We had some inquiring but nothing set. We were offered help but I didn't want to move them only a week old. We're fine watching them until they were weaned off their "Queen"...oh and guess where I learned that...online. #smartypants
The days continued to be cold, which is not normal weather for Arizona winter. I also had my two other fur babies, Bear and Dottie, to care for who both happened to get sick. For a couple of weeks I had towels on my bed and floor for any accidents, not mention waking up in the middle of the night because Dottie and/or Bear needed to go outside, and then still having to go to work. My mom likes to joke that this is what it's like to have kids...well the joke is on her because it makes NOT want to have kids. I was also stressed and didn't want whatever made Bear and Dottie sick, would get to Rose and the babies. Thankfully, it passed and everyone had good poopies.
Sugar, the gray kitten, was the first to open her eyes. I'm sure it was sight to see my big mug going in a high pitch voice "hi there...". I would change out the towels to keep them clean and warm. I remember watching them during feeding time and Rose had this look on her face that I've seen many of my friends who are mothers have...
They continued to grow and get bigger but needed a wider place. So I "Kitten Proof" under the stairs so they had safe place to play, run around and attack each other. I gave them things to play with, toys, etc. I also put Bear and Dottie's gate in front of the door so they couldn't get out but Mama could come and go. Eventually that would change. What was funny is Bear and Dottie apparently can't jump over the bin and suitcase I put at the top of the stairs but they could look over just fine lol
At first we named them all girls, but then I read, yes on the internets, that if there is an "i" under the tail, its a girl and if not it's a boy. So we went from Sugar (gray), Coco (looking away) and Cinnamon to Cinna-man to Pepper (bottom).
Sugar seemed to be the only one that was used to me. The other two would only let me help them when they were in trouble/stuck somewhere/or being fed. When it got to the point that they needed even more sunlight and room. I created a play pin for them but it didn't stop them from climbing ALL OVER! Bear would occasionally yell at them like the old grumpy lady she is...but Dottie didn't, she was just curious. I do think Dottie has more maternal nature than Bear...clearly.
My mom warned me that when the kittens start to eat solid foods they would start pooping. Well I found out the hard way, when I was washing their towels, I snapped the towel and tiny "tootsies rolls" went flying. At the time I wasn't feeing them any solid food yet. What was happening is one or two were getting into Mama's food but it was too early. So I changed up the "dining" area. I also had to get a litter box for them. I mixed Mama's kitten friendly/kitty litter with some of the rocks from outside made a little litter box for them. Only real issue was mom was peeing in it, even though she had her own. So I was changing the potty pad daily. Luckily, the kittens started to pick up on the what the litter box was for and stopped going around their towel/bed, once I got them a normal bed from a discount store and took away the box. Mama was good teacher too.
As the continued to get bigger, they would start to jump the gate so I used this black fold up table that fit perfectly in the door to the bathroom. That way when play time was over they could "stay out of trouble"and in their "room".Yes, that's toilet paper.
I'm not going to lie. It was very time consuming and challenging. I remember I needed to leave for an appointment and when I checked on the kittens, I only saw 2 kittens...where's the 3rd...so I'm searching for her because my brother comes and goes and I didn't want her getting outside. Actually, there have been numerous times I'm looking for kittens in the house BEFORE the glory of the "black door."
I eventually would find them...I just had to listen to their "I've made a huge mistake" meows, trap them and let them scratch the hell out of my hand.
They loved the pantry area, the desk, behind the desk, under the buffet, and on any shelves, inside cupboards, on all the water bottles, to name a few places.
Finally, when we had homes lined up, i wanted to make sure they were solid fed which meant, checking constantly for little "tootsie rolls" For the most part they did well, there was one that seemed to miss the actual litter inside and just mush it up against the sides of the box. I don't know what that was about, lazy I guess?
I will say, people who do this full time or on purpose, to care for multiple animals, I want to say and yell BRAVO/BRAVA! It's soooo much work! Between just having extra mouths to feed, make sure they're safe, clean and healthy. I'm not even taking into account any emergencies and random situations. We were very lucky that we didn't have any emergencies with them because we, frankly, don't have the funds. There's a lot of prayers and saging going on. And then there's the the time when the families want to pick up their new pets.
When we took Sugar to her new Mama, Ryan, I was a mess. I was getting emotional considering how many scratches I had on my hands, the extra times I had to use my inhaler and breathing machines. But when you spent your time taking care of these tiny little beings and going to a new home was nerve racking. Luckily, Sugar's new mama, didn't judge me for being all emotional, I had a special little bond with that one but I'm glad to say I'm really happy with where she's at. It made it easier for Coco and Pepper who are now in a house with 2 Chihuahuas and an older cat (so Bear and Dottie prepared them). The man that took Coco & Pepper wanted to keep them together like he's two other cats. He had one of his older cats had past away and the sister is pretty old too. So I'm glad we were able to keep them together. Sugar would play on her own while at my house so she would be fine.
Again, even the emotional part of letting them go is sooooooo difficult so I can't imagine doing this over and over and over. I have a HUGE respect for those that do this day in and day out.
I still have Rose and we're planning on getting her fixed. We would also like to find a home for her that will cuddle her and love her. I pet her and play but I have to make sure I wash my hands and not touch my face, especially my eyes. I wish I wasn't allergic but I'm happy we have her in the house. We did find out from a neighbor that she belonged to someone who moved and left her. This also, it wasn't her first litter of kittens however we'll make sure it'll be the last.
Rose loves to chat too. When I'm down stairs she'll talk to me, she'll even goes outside with Bear, Dottie and I when it's potty time and come back in with us. She uses the litter box but sometimes she just wants to hang out with us girls. Bear doesn't like her rubbing up against her but Rose still does it.
I was talking to a friend, talking about how much work this was and that I don't think I could do it again. She said that Rose picked us and that if it came down to helping another animal, we'd probably do it all over again. And I think she's right, it's in our blood. My Grandma, my mom's mom, had her problems and vices. I'm sad I didn't get to know her well, she died when I was 11 but what I do remember is she would be the person on our rez that would take care of animals. She even took care of a skunk, and then released it back into the wild. My mom told me that one day that skunk came back to visit my grandma and she brought a surprise, all her babies to show her. I know what you're thinking"is this a disney princess" cartoon? Believe me I've accused of that (and she knows who she is...lol) and is it weird birds come around me when I'm singing? I'm just glad that we can help and didn't die of an asthma attack. BONUS!
Here's to all animals lovers, rescuers, and here's hope that we find the purrrrrrfect home for Rose.
UPDATE: Rose is home...with us! :D
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