kandas-adventures: Kitten Farewell

I took the kittens to the Humane Society on the morning of Halloween and they had their little "surgery." They let us have them back for two nights to recover, and then we had to return them for good. When Sunday morning came I stalled as long as possible before taking them in. The adoption staff hadn't arrived yet, so I had to go in the back door through vet services. I handed over the little carrier and a vet tech walked them down the hall while I stared after. I hadn't even said good-bye!

It was a dark and stormy Sunday. It rained hard most of the day. I thought Tiger would be adopted quickly, but I worried that Maxine, the little black kitten, would languish for weeks in a cage. A lot of people don't like black cats, and Maxine had a terrible habit of nipping fingers that started when she was teething. I'd tried to break her of the habit, but she just loved to chew. She was an ankle biter in every sense of the word. She also wasn't much of a lap cat. Only when she was really tired would she snuggle, otherwise she was too curious and active to settle down.

Fifteen minutes before the shelter closed for the night, we went down to see if our foster kittens were still there. The shelter is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so maybe they'd let us take the kittens home again until Wednesday morning.

As soon as we walked in we saw a large cage on the floor with 5 or 6 identical black kittens that looked just like Maxine. Was she one of them? We searched the cage but didn't recognize her. With all that competition, she surely would be waiting for an adoptive family for a long time. We looked in the other cages. There were dozens and dozens of darling kittens. Finally an adoption counselor came over and told us: "Maxine and Tiger were adopted. Together!"

I couldn't believe it! I was so happy and relieved!

I miss them much more than the other kittens we had earlier this past summer. With the other kittens, we dropped them off on our way out of town for a camping trip, and when we returned the following week, we were busy with visiting relatives, so I really didn't have time to be home and missing them.

Last night I deep-cleaned the master bath where they spent most of their time with us. On my hands and knees with an old cloth diaper soaked with vinegar and water, I washed the lower walls, floor, trim, and cabinet doors. I'd certainly done a lot of this scrubbing the last two months, especially when they had giardia induced explosive diarrhea which seemed to find its way all over the walls. But this time was different. I was eliminating all traces of them. Cleansing the space for our next feline visitors.

So now I wait for the call. Sometime in the coming weeks little kittens, too young to be separated from their mother, will be found abandoned overnight in a carboard box outside the shelter door. Or a kitty who has been injured, abused, or is overrun with parasites will need a quiet place to convalesce away from the frenzied shelter environment. When the call comes, I'll be ready.