Alligator Alley Cats
Poor kitties!!!! You wouldn't believe what some people can do. I don't. These two little princesses were found around mile marker 63 on I-75, which is also called Alligator Alley. I had stopped at the Big Cypress National Preserve rest stop to smoke a cigarette. There are no bathrooms there, no garbage cans, and most of the time when I stop there, there aren't even any other cars or people there. There is only a fence with a gate, a billboard with notices tacked on it from the FWC about deer hunting and drop boxes to put in your check-in/check-out notices and copies of your hunting permit.
Jav was sleeping in the SUV, and I walked up to the fence to look at what was posted. I though that I heard little movements behind the fence. It was raining, so I assumed that it was a frog or lizard. I walked onto the other side of the billboard and noticed one of the permit envelopes had dry cat food on it that was now saturated with the rainwater. I thought that was strange, but maybe, someone was trying to feed a wild animal with something they happened to have in their car.
I heard the noise again, looked over into the palmettos behind the fence, and there were two tiny, five week old kittens! What the hell?! No mom cat, no people around, trapped behind this fence and obviously just trying to stick close to each other and to where they had been left.
There wasn't a second thought in my mind about what I was going to do. I had to catch them and put them in my truck. I rolled up my pants and opened the gate, which beyond it was in two-inch deep water with the exception of a few tiny higher patches.
They weren't running far, but they were definitely scared, darting back and forth between what had obviously become there little patch of bushes, hissing at me in the nervous way that kittens do. I knew I was going to have to get wet and dirty to catch them!
I lunged onto the ground and my knees, catching the first one by its back legs. I wasn't letting go for anything. I got it up against my chest, and it was so scared that it was scratching me.
I came out of the gate, and my husband had woken up and gotten out of the truck. He asked me what I had. I said, "It's a kitten. There are two of them! Some fucked up person dumped them here!"
I walked that first kitten to the truck, open the back door and put her in the trunk. Jav didn't complain or ask any questions of disapproval, which surprised me. He asked what I was going to do about the other one. "I'm going to catch that one, too!"
I got the other one the same way, throwing myself into the dirt and water. They weren't just coming to me or letting me gently reach over and grab them. That would have been nice, though.
Jav only asked me once what I was going to do with them, which surprised me. Normally, he would nag me about something like this, muttering over and over the same shit about what I can and cannot do or have. We have three pets already, and there are plenty of people and services in Sarasota for adopting pets. They don't need my home to live out happy lives. I know that and told him so.
They didn't make one peep all the way back from mile 63 to mile 207 and home. I sat in the backseat and pet them in the trunk, while they laid hiding in two pillows that we had happened to bring with us to Miami. It took awhile, but I got them to stop wincing every time I would reach out to pet them.
Once we got home, I immediately put them in Aedan's room. They were skinnny, dehydrated and too young to be completely eating kitty food. Fortunately, I have puppy formula that I use for my squirrel. It took some convincing, but I got them to drink it from a dropper. I also gave them moistened dry cat food, a bowl of water and a small pan with kitty litter and some litter that Kippy had used so that they would smell cat doodles and use it.
We had them for two nights. Aedan did an excellent job taking care of them. I was proud of him for that. He has been great about understanding that we cannot keep them, too.
Now, my mother has them. Schnitzel isn't good with them, and Kippy hates them. My mother's dogs are awesome with them, playing with and licking them. My mother also has a better setup in her house to be able to keep them without too much inconvenience. She will give them back to me when they are old enough to be taken to a no kill shelter in neighbouring Manatee county.
If I took them to the shelter now, they would sit in a cage, not be socialised well with other animals or people and couldn't be adopted out for another three weeks. In that, they would be an additional burden on the shelter and their resources before even being able to be offered up for adoption. Neither my mother nor I need more pets, but it isn't too much of a strain keeping them for a few weeks. It is fun for us, too!