The Cats

The crawlspace entry point...where the kitties live
What a beautiful, precious kitten!

the view from between our front porch steps

We've recently become a cat haven for a cat family. About 6 months ago, we noticed a white cat hanging around in Nick's lawn shed in the backyard. It was kinda fat and was not interested in coming near us at all. I figured it wasn't hurting anything out there, so we left it alone. We never offered it the first bite of food or water, but it seemed to do fine. I hadn't really given it much thought lately, until the kids and I drove up the driveway the other day, and we saw the white cat, not as fat as before, and 2 small white kittens following her in front of our garage. Obviously, she had been pregnant and I don't know when or where she had her kittens, but I'm guessing it was somewhere near our house. That same afternoon, Rachel and I were in the den and I noticed a little white fur ball on the front porch. Sure enough, the mom and her babies were on the front porch sitting there. Of course, Rachel and I had to go see them and the babies were quite adorable. They are all pure white. At first we thought there were only 2 babies, but we've now seen 3, and I hope there aren't any others that I haven't noticed. We snuck outside very carefully and quietly so we wouldn't scare them away. The mom was less than thrilled that we were out there and gave her low grrrrr sound at us. We stayed away from her and only pet one of her babies very briefly. Then, they all hopped off the porch and went underneath the front steps. So, we noticed that the cats have found a large opening that leads under our house into our crawlspace, and that's where they're living. I don't know if the mom cat had her babies there or not. So, now we've got to decide what to do with all these kitties. We don't really want any cats, and we definitely can't afford the maintenance that they require. I know responsible pet owners get their pets spayed and neutered and we definitely don't want this Gesabelle cat using our home as her birthing place and home for any other kitties to come. We've considered calling Animal Control, but I'm betting they won't get them out from under our house. (About a year ago I had to call them for a LOUD, CRYING cat that wouldn't leave and was always on our porch and when they came to get it, they couldn't find it...PUH--LEASE!!) So, I guess it's up to us to catch these poor kitties and take them to Animal Control. I wish we needed a cat around here, but all we can afford are children...and that's pretty tight! So, if ANYONE wants a cat, I'll hook you up with some adorable ones! :)