Our Stray Cat Orphans: Trillian & Zaphod

My daughter and I rescued these 2 stray kittens. They're about 4 - 6 weeks old and come from the same litter, but we found them several days apart. The little, black female (Trillion) was being 'played' with by some young children that took it from its mother. It was cold, exhausted and starving when we noticed them with it out in the rain. We didn't know how long they had been mauling the poor thing before we saw it, but when we confronted them about it being too young and needing to go back to its mom, the kids lied and told us they didn't know where the litter was.

We took the tiny thing from them to try to save her. It almost died overnight, but Kristin was able to revive her and get her eating again. After a day or two, she was finally strong enough to start stumbling around a little to explore her new home. She even started to play with small stuffed toys we put in the makeshift den.

The next day, they had ANOTHER one and to my disbelief, they were rolling it up and down the sidewalk in an old car tire one of them had found! I stormed out the door and gave them all a chewing out. I threatened them with animal cruelty charges and was as blunt as I could be about how they were torturing it and it will die if they don't give it back to its mother. After some tears, they finally showed me where they were getting the kittens.

Thankfully...miraculously...this kitten seemed in pretty good shape and was not harmed. He seemed much stronger than the one we took from the kids the day before. As I looked under the step, the mother cat emerged and guided the little guy back to the den. The one we had was still too weak to go back and the poor mama was a little thin and worn looking. I went home, got her a plate of food and water and put it back under the step for her. Before leaving, I gave the kids another stern warning to leave them alone or I would report them to the Humane Society.

A few days later, early one morning, I was letting our dog out when I heard an awful shrieking sound from a few doors down. We live near a river and I thought it was maybe some crazy bird, but soon recognized the distress and panic in the sound. Still in the dark, I followed the sound into a yard across the street and discovered a small, orange kitten stuck under the fence of a neighbor's yard. As carefully as I could, I worked for about 20 minutes or so to release him from the wedge he'd worked himself into in the chain link gap. The poor guy was hungry, cold, wet and flea-infested... but otherwise OK. I put him up under my hoodie against my skin and headed back to the house to get him warmed up and checked for injuries.

At this point, we're not sure what happened to the rest of the litter or the mother. They are nowhere to be found now. I'm guessing she moved the kittens to try to get away from the kids and maybe this one wandered away from her in the move. I'm hoping the rest are OK, but we are not able to find them. The two we've rescued are being bottle fed, are happy being together and are beginning to thrive. So...we have Zaphod and Trillion (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe characters) - 2 little strays who hit the Improbability Drive and ended up in our family.

Watch the video with a smile and wonder at how two such small little lives could hang so precariously on the kindness of strangers. My daughter and I have had many sleepless nights and spent more on their formula than we've spent on ourselves over the past few weeks, but...it is a wonderfully warm feeling to look at them play and explore their new world. We'll be taking them to the vet to be spayed/neutered in a few months.

Hopefully, this 'stray cats having kittens under a porch' saga for this feline family ends with their generation.

PEOPLE:
PLEASE TEACH YOUR CHILDREN TO RESPECT LIFE AND THAT SMALL ANIMALS ARE NOT TOYS!
and
IF YOU'RE GOING TO LET ANIMALS RUN FREE OUTSIDE, GET THEM SPAYED/NEUTERED EARLY!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• cute kittens
• black cat
• orange cat
• stray cats
• funny animals
• playing kittens
• kitty
• litter mates
• hitchhiker
• universe
• trillion
• trillian
• zaphod
• kitten

[girl112791]

You and your daughter are amazing people. If only we had more like you in this world, such small yet huge differences!

[Joyskyrz]

@girl112791 Thank you so much for saying that. We have a real love for animals and just refuse to stand by and let them suffer when we can do something. I've always thought what a difference we could make in the world if EVERYBODY would just do the right thing - just one day - everyone. Imagine that. ; )

[lordbyronism]

Thanx 4 saving the cats.Some German philosopher has said 'it is the way in which we treat our inferior-animals,for example-that determines who we really are,and shows the true nature of the heart.'any way,didn't expect less from an artist!ROCK ON!

[Joyskyrz]

@lordbyronism \m/ ; )

[raisinsyeah]

thank you for taking those little kittens in! it makes me so sad to not know what happened to the rest of them! but thank god you saved those two. :0)

i've done the same thing a number of times and have also witnessed kids being cruel to little animals, it's just heartbreaking.

[Joyskyrz]

@raisinsyeah Absolutely heartbreaking. I am now known in the neighborhood for not being shy about charging out my front door to confront whoever is doing something harmful to an animal...not to mention what these kids are doing to each other sometimes! I almost dread spring, because it means they will be loosed and running wild again while the parents conveniently fail to notice what's going on right in front of their houses.

[bluevn2002]

Good thing u were around to rescue the little darlings. Who knows what could have happen. They're so adorable :)

[girl112791]

@Joyskyrz :) I've imagined it SO many times for SO long. This takes me back to that song by the Beatles called Imagine. Oh what a world it would be, but how hard it would be to make ours like that.

[Joyskyrz]

@Tutiflip They are so cute when they feed from the bottle, aren't they? I love how their little ears wiggle when they're deep in concentration, nursing contentedly. So cool that you helped the kittens you found. Isn't it amazing how you can love them so much? peace

[Joyskyrz]

@gapedhok Thanks. They were so cute, I just couldn't resist using it to try to raise some awareness. peace

[gapedhok]

Good work

[Tutiflip]

when i was 11 me and my dad saved 4 kittens from an alley down the street from our house and we got to bottle feed them, which was awesome. We found homes for 2 of them, kept 1, and 1 had to be put down becuz he had rabies :(. Their mother was around and she'd come by our house a couple times, but we lived next to a busy street and we had seen dead kittens before. It was too dangerous. Plus we found the one with rabies away from the others so we figured the mom new to move him away. I miss them.