Abandoned

Birthday

08/30/2017
Today is my birthday. I wake up feeling the same as I did yesterday: young and irrational. Unfortunately I have to attend class, even though I just feel like staying home and cuddling with all of the kitties. 

While I'm at school, conveniently after I just finished class, I receive a phone call from Tori. I pick up the phone, confused once more since she and I aren't close enough friends to just call each other out of the blue. 

Tori speaks before I can even manage a 'hello', "Hey! So we went out to the tree this morning, and both kittens were within reach from the ground. We have the two kittens and the mom at home right now. But on my way to school, we saw another kitten across the road that looks just like the kittens we found in the tree." 

"Oh! We'll have to rescue that one too! It makes sense that it's from her litter, since most litters have 3-5 kittens. I just thought that because she was so skinny maybe she had a still born or something," I respond, attempting to add emotion because I'm overwhelmed once more with thoughts of kitten rescue. I also feel somewhat disappointed, I had wanted to help actually rescue the kittens. Oh well..

----

After arriving home and passing messages back and forth with Tori, she arrives at my house with the mama cat and one of the kittens. Apparently, the two of them weren't getting along with the other kitten and Tori's other cats. 

I set down the crate with the mama and kitten, finally able to see the kitten up close for myself. I took the lid off of the crate and look at the scrawny kitten. 

The kitten has clearly defined stripes on his head and body. He seems to be a base color of a brownish-grey, with a white underside and white paws. Looking at the kitten, I judge the age based on my previous experience with litters of kittens. (Long story short, we didn't get my cats fixed and couldn't keep them indoors so they would return pregnant. I've witnessed 5 litter births and watched each litter age to 9 weeks old before adopting them out, I did not gain profit from this, because it wasn't intentional breeding.) "Judging by the maturity of the kitten I would say they must all be around 12 weeks old." Although, even though they were around 12 weeks, they were definitely quite small. Luckily though, at 12 weeks they are able to eat dry food and no longer need their mom's milk, which might be why the mother cat isn't producing milk, which I had originally thought was because she was too skinny to do so. And this is fortunate since the mother seems to have rejected the other kitten. I pick up the kitten gently and immediately feel his entire skeleton, "Oh my gosh.. he's so.. skinny... But his belly is so distended, do you think they have worms?" 

Tori responded with a shrug, she isn't a very vocal person. 

"Well," I start awkwardly, "I'll leave them here in my parents bathroom, since I have food, water, and a litter box in there. Let's go start our kitten rescue part 2!" It was surprisingly easy to contain my excitement, I wish I could say otherwise. Even if I weren't hiding my excitement, Tori's dull personality would shatter it instantly. That's besides the point, on with the rescue..

Tori, her sister, their mom, and I all walk down to the spot where Tori had seen the other kitten. I can't see any signs of life anywhere around the area. "What if we enter the forest right here and search inside?" The dense forest happened to have a small opening which lead down into a much less dense area of shrubbery. I brought cat treats along with me to shake up to alert the kittens that food was nearby. I could only hope that the kitten is alive and well.

 __________

Updating another part of the story I had typed back in.... March? Probably won't finish the last chapter for another half-year/year... So see ya then~

Thinking about it now, why would the kittens respond to shaking cat treats? If they're strays, they wouldn't be able to recognize the sound. I was stupid it's fine

I also did not proof read this. Hopefully it's not an illegible mess.