'Help, I'm steppin' into the Twilight Zone'...
If you love 80's music the way you should, you'll have that song stuck in your head all day now. :P
The last couple of days have been beyond crazy! I'm going to have to leave part of this long and very strange story out, because it's just too long and too weird to even try to explain. In short, we've been trying to catch a mommy cat and her babies for quite a while now. She has been living in a narrow strip of brush and scrub on the bank of the Rock river--between the river and the drive-thru/parking lot of a fast food restaurant in a crappy area of Beloit (which describes most areas in Beloit). Behind this narrow strip of riverbank and the restaurant, are woods. Mommy ventures out and is quite tame and friendly, but the feral babies were the problem.
Mommy cat, being a good mommy, had the babies live in an underground burrow, under some tree roots, right on the bank. This burrow was created by some other animal and was quite large and elaborate. Unfortunately no digging, prodding, reaching, crawlin--NOTHING could get us access to these babies. We knew they were there but couldn't see them or get to them. This difficulty was increased of course, by the fact that it was so close to the water, so we had to be very carefuly not to do anything to damage the structure of the area or if we actually got a chance at the kittens, to make sure we didn't cause them to fall into the river.
In addition to these physical hurdles, we've had some human hurdles. This is the part I really can't explain. It's beyond strange and doesn't make any sense. There were at least two separate groups of humans who were trying to interfere with our efforts. One of these groups were comprised of some males who worked at the restaurant and didn't want us to get the cats. We still don't know why. They tried to interfere in any way possible and ultimately ended up threatening us with throwing firecrackers at us and damaging our cars. WTH??!! I swear every person at that restaurant, including the customers, were like Twilight Zone residents. The exception was our liason there--the girl helping us out--who works there to get through college. Everyone else we interacted with--just bizarre. A. and I would look at each other like, "did that really just happen?!" Another group of guys wanted the kittens for dog bait. I think they receive a nominal amount of money for each innocent animal they are able to sell to the pit bull fight trainers. Then there were the random people--maybe with good intentions, maybe not--who came to the drive thru and tried to lure mommy kitty. Of course even if they had good intentions and didn't intend to do bad things to mommy (high risk, because she's black), if they took her the babies would die.
Mommy is also developing what appears to be mastitis, as of yesterday we were unable to express any milk from her poor swollen teats, and the babies were small than they should be and turned out to be dehydrated.
All of these factors were ratcheting up the stress levels by the day, as we repeatedly failed to capture the whole family. Yesterday (Thurs.) Allegrea, Luciana and I drove to Beloit with all the cat-capturing equipment we could gather. We spent about six hours hiking through the woods behind mommy cat. We were afraid she had moved her babies, as it was clear that someone other than us had been digging holes around their burrow the previous night. We had no sign of the babies yet by then, so followed mommy hoping she would lead us to them. She would walk a few yards, stop, turn around, wait for us to catch up, and then go again. She wanted lots of love and attention. She wanted to eat lots of food (we brought cans of food to try to get the babies out), and she was always ravenous. Since she was so tiny and nursing and the babies were tiny, we would feed her unlimited food while we were there, trying to get her more healthy. She wanted to eat a lot, nap a lot, and get affection, but she was not taking us to the babies. After several hours, she finally returned to the burrow area and called the babies out. They don't come far out their entrance and are very fast and skittish. After a missed attempt to grab one of the babies, they all disappeared into the burrow and we were very discouraged. After about six hours of such efforts and failure, we left. I had to get ready for teaching my class that night.
We checked for ticks and spent lots of time picking burrs and nettles off ourselves and our clothing. I made it through class, and we decided we should head back that night. The situation was getting so much more dire, and storms were expected. This time, I was not dressed appropriately, nor did I have the right shoes on. I went straight from my college, as we really didn't have the time to spare for me to change clothes and such. Our little remaining daylight was too precious to waste!
In short after much initial discouragement, we realized that mommy's health was starting to get to a point where we couldn't lose time. Their lives were all in danger if we didn't get them out and get help right away. We couldn't leave that night without all of them. Long story short, I removed my shoes and socks, as my work shoes weren't made for trying to walk on uneven, sloped, muddy riverbank ground. I wormed my way in precariously planted next to the tree above their burrow, and in a bunch of scrub. I lay quitely and as still as I could on my belly above their burrow's entrance, so I could see the kittens emerge but they couldn't see me. We gave mommy lots of cans of smelly food to keep her by the burrow entrance, hoping she would relax enough to call them out. Finally, after hours of waiting, she did!
I'm not coordinated. There's no way I can hide this fact. I do not have lightening-fast reflexes or hand-eye coordination. Somehow, though, this moment I did. I snatched that little gray baby, who let out the most blood-curdling scream I have ever heard from a cat! This upset mommy tremendously, and she was crying trying the climb up me to get her baby. I began to sob (yeah, imagine that@@), because it was killing me to upset this poor mommy cat so much. She trusted me, and here I was, killing her baby, by the sounds of it! When we put the kitten in the crate, mommy kept trying to get in, crying for the baby, rubbing against the crate. It was horrible, and I was very upset by the whole thing. I had to pull it together to finish up the process, as we were not giving up! It took quite a while to get mommy to calm down enough to eat and call babies again. We had to put the crate with the kitten near the burrow as well, because mommy wouldn't leave it. There wasn't much room there as it was, so this just made it more tricky. I resumed my flat on my belly in the mud position and waited again. Finally we had the whole family and were able to transport them to Les's (she will be fostering them).
When we let them all out of their travel crates into the large area Les had set up for them, it was beautiful! That tiny, sick, malnourished mommy was so happy to see her babies. They all cuddled, purred, groomed. The feeling of seeing that beautiful family of four happy and safe together was one of the highlights of my life. They will now get the necessary medical care and will be adopted into permanent, loving homes--but not until they are older and ready. They will be able to enjoy some safe, happy family time for a while now. That tiny young cat was such a good mommy! I'm so impressed by how she managed
to survive and keep her babies safe under such dire circumstances. She had obviously been a pet at some point in her life, as she was very tame, affectionate and trusting. She's an inspiration and a better mother than so many humans I see.
I was so focused on the situation itself, that I never thought to bring a camera. I wished, when I saw the beautiful reunion, that I had! One of the group members who was there--she lives in Beloit and would drive by periodically to see how it was going--had her camera there. She took these pictures for me. They don't even begin to capture their cuteness! You can see that after exploring, the more daring of the three decided to nap up in the little cat bed, while the others took their nap with mommy.
The last couple of days have been beyond crazy! I'm going to have to leave part of this long and very strange story out, because it's just too long and too weird to even try to explain. In short, we've been trying to catch a mommy cat and her babies for quite a while now. She has been living in a narrow strip of brush and scrub on the bank of the Rock river--between the river and the drive-thru/parking lot of a fast food restaurant in a crappy area of Beloit (which describes most areas in Beloit). Behind this narrow strip of riverbank and the restaurant, are woods. Mommy ventures out and is quite tame and friendly, but the feral babies were the problem.
Mommy cat, being a good mommy, had the babies live in an underground burrow, under some tree roots, right on the bank. This burrow was created by some other animal and was quite large and elaborate. Unfortunately no digging, prodding, reaching, crawlin--NOTHING could get us access to these babies. We knew they were there but couldn't see them or get to them. This difficulty was increased of course, by the fact that it was so close to the water, so we had to be very carefuly not to do anything to damage the structure of the area or if we actually got a chance at the kittens, to make sure we didn't cause them to fall into the river.
In addition to these physical hurdles, we've had some human hurdles. This is the part I really can't explain. It's beyond strange and doesn't make any sense. There were at least two separate groups of humans who were trying to interfere with our efforts. One of these groups were comprised of some males who worked at the restaurant and didn't want us to get the cats. We still don't know why. They tried to interfere in any way possible and ultimately ended up threatening us with throwing firecrackers at us and damaging our cars. WTH??!! I swear every person at that restaurant, including the customers, were like Twilight Zone residents. The exception was our liason there--the girl helping us out--who works there to get through college. Everyone else we interacted with--just bizarre. A. and I would look at each other like, "did that really just happen?!" Another group of guys wanted the kittens for dog bait. I think they receive a nominal amount of money for each innocent animal they are able to sell to the pit bull fight trainers. Then there were the random people--maybe with good intentions, maybe not--who came to the drive thru and tried to lure mommy kitty. Of course even if they had good intentions and didn't intend to do bad things to mommy (high risk, because she's black), if they took her the babies would die.
Mommy is also developing what appears to be mastitis, as of yesterday we were unable to express any milk from her poor swollen teats, and the babies were small than they should be and turned out to be dehydrated.
All of these factors were ratcheting up the stress levels by the day, as we repeatedly failed to capture the whole family. Yesterday (Thurs.) Allegrea, Luciana and I drove to Beloit with all the cat-capturing equipment we could gather. We spent about six hours hiking through the woods behind mommy cat. We were afraid she had moved her babies, as it was clear that someone other than us had been digging holes around their burrow the previous night. We had no sign of the babies yet by then, so followed mommy hoping she would lead us to them. She would walk a few yards, stop, turn around, wait for us to catch up, and then go again. She wanted lots of love and attention. She wanted to eat lots of food (we brought cans of food to try to get the babies out), and she was always ravenous. Since she was so tiny and nursing and the babies were tiny, we would feed her unlimited food while we were there, trying to get her more healthy. She wanted to eat a lot, nap a lot, and get affection, but she was not taking us to the babies. After several hours, she finally returned to the burrow area and called the babies out. They don't come far out their entrance and are very fast and skittish. After a missed attempt to grab one of the babies, they all disappeared into the burrow and we were very discouraged. After about six hours of such efforts and failure, we left. I had to get ready for teaching my class that night.
We checked for ticks and spent lots of time picking burrs and nettles off ourselves and our clothing. I made it through class, and we decided we should head back that night. The situation was getting so much more dire, and storms were expected. This time, I was not dressed appropriately, nor did I have the right shoes on. I went straight from my college, as we really didn't have the time to spare for me to change clothes and such. Our little remaining daylight was too precious to waste!
In short after much initial discouragement, we realized that mommy's health was starting to get to a point where we couldn't lose time. Their lives were all in danger if we didn't get them out and get help right away. We couldn't leave that night without all of them. Long story short, I removed my shoes and socks, as my work shoes weren't made for trying to walk on uneven, sloped, muddy riverbank ground. I wormed my way in precariously planted next to the tree above their burrow, and in a bunch of scrub. I lay quitely and as still as I could on my belly above their burrow's entrance, so I could see the kittens emerge but they couldn't see me. We gave mommy lots of cans of smelly food to keep her by the burrow entrance, hoping she would relax enough to call them out. Finally, after hours of waiting, she did!
I'm not coordinated. There's no way I can hide this fact. I do not have lightening-fast reflexes or hand-eye coordination. Somehow, though, this moment I did. I snatched that little gray baby, who let out the most blood-curdling scream I have ever heard from a cat! This upset mommy tremendously, and she was crying trying the climb up me to get her baby. I began to sob (yeah, imagine that@@), because it was killing me to upset this poor mommy cat so much. She trusted me, and here I was, killing her baby, by the sounds of it! When we put the kitten in the crate, mommy kept trying to get in, crying for the baby, rubbing against the crate. It was horrible, and I was very upset by the whole thing. I had to pull it together to finish up the process, as we were not giving up! It took quite a while to get mommy to calm down enough to eat and call babies again. We had to put the crate with the kitten near the burrow as well, because mommy wouldn't leave it. There wasn't much room there as it was, so this just made it more tricky. I resumed my flat on my belly in the mud position and waited again. Finally we had the whole family and were able to transport them to Les's (she will be fostering them).
When we let them all out of their travel crates into the large area Les had set up for them, it was beautiful! That tiny, sick, malnourished mommy was so happy to see her babies. They all cuddled, purred, groomed. The feeling of seeing that beautiful family of four happy and safe together was one of the highlights of my life. They will now get the necessary medical care and will be adopted into permanent, loving homes--but not until they are older and ready. They will be able to enjoy some safe, happy family time for a while now. That tiny young cat was such a good mommy! I'm so impressed by how she managed
to survive and keep her babies safe under such dire circumstances. She had obviously been a pet at some point in her life, as she was very tame, affectionate and trusting. She's an inspiration and a better mother than so many humans I see.I was so focused on the situation itself, that I never thought to bring a camera. I wished, when I saw the beautiful reunion, that I had! One of the group members who was there--she lives in Beloit and would drive by periodically to see how it was going--had her camera there. She took these pictures for me. They don't even begin to capture their cuteness! You can see that after exploring, the more daring of the three decided to nap up in the little cat bed, while the others took their nap with mommy.
Of course when I returned home last night (around 11:30), tired and full of adrenaline, I realized I had to disinfect before I came in the house. My cats typically come greet me right at the door, and I couldn't expose them to the potential danger I could have brought in from the other cats. I was aniticipating having to do this outside before I came in, but I could see when I peeked in the door that there were no cats there yet. I walked in the door, stripped down as fast as possible, ran to the downstairs bathroom and closed the door on Lila, who was trying to follow me in, and disinfected. Bleach wipes made for fast and easy work but don't feel particularly great on the face. I had snuggled mommy against my cheek, though, and kissed her, so I had to be thorough.
We still have to get one male (black, too), who is living in the woods there. He's covered in burrs, the poor little guy! :( He's very shy, and we can't get close to him. We will be able to get him, though, by setting up a live trap with some stinky canned food in it, for a few hours each day. It's a lot easier to catch one than a whole family! He definitely needs to be neutered! We are working with Stacy (the restaurant employee who's our liason) to make sure he is fed and given fresh water daily, until we're able to catch him.
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