A Tale of Two Kitties
Saturday afternoon, my mom and I went to Walmart to purchase some cat supplies. She seemed committed to keeping the kitten as a pet. When we returned, the kitten greeted us and stayed inside with us for a while. It was time for me to do some yardwork and I brought the kitten “Suvy” with me. She, of course immediately ran underneath my car and crawled into my engine compartment. I raised the hood and asked her to get out of there. She then ran to the back left corner of the property as I had seen her do before. I decided to follow her and see exactly where she went and what she did. She ran into a thicket at the corner of the property. As I approached, what should be standing there but an adult cat with long, grey hair, just like Suvy’s. ” Are you Suvy’s mother ?” I asked. No response from the adult, grey, malnourished cat. “Are you Suvy’s mother ?” The cat ran into the thicket that Suvy had just run into. I turned around and let them visit with each other.
It then occurred to me that Suvy and her mother might be actually owned by my neighbor whose property is cattycornered to ours. And here, my mom had just spent about a hundred dollars on a litter box, cat litter, travel carrier, cat toys and cat food, both wet and dry… I went inside and told her of the predicament that we might be in. Making the situation even more uncomfortable was the fact that we both had forgotten the name of the neighbor who lives near that corner. My mom called the sister in law of the neighbor and got they’re phone number. I called and re-introduced myself and told them that a grey cat had been staying with us and asked if he owned a grey cat. My heart sank as he told me that he did own a grey cat… “Does your grey cat have a kitten ?” I asked. No, he told me ! His grey cat was short haired and was medically unable to have kittens ! We determined that neither of these grey cats were his and that I could keep both of them if I wanted to ! Hooray !
When I came home from dinner Saturday, Suvy did not walk up out of the darkness as I had hoped. My mom was anxiously awaiting her arrival and was quite disappointed that Suvy was not with me. I told Mom that Suvy was curled up asleep with her mother in the thicket, just like she had been since she was born and that Suvy would come back to enjoy the food that we had bought for her. Mom checked the back porch even as late as midnight in hopes of finding a kitten there.
The next morning Mom asked me if Suvy had returned and I had to tell her no. Mom went to dress for Sunday school with a downtrodden look on her face. At 8:30 a.m. I heard Suvy outside the kitchen door. I picked her up and took her into my mom’s room saying, ” I have someone who want to see you !” Mom was delighted. Suvy ate canned cat food and spent the morning outside while we went to church.
With relief,
I.C.