Catapalooza!

Our backyard is crawling with cats right now. Normally we already have quite a few adult strays hanging around, but once every few months, one of them gives birth to little stray kittens. As cute as the kittens are, it's sad to watch them at times. They tend to hang out behind our long row of trash cans, and there are unsafe objects there, like nails sticking straight up out of boards. Inevitably, at least one of the kittens has one of its eyes stuck shut because of the crappy conditions it has to live in. With the last batch of kittens, Roy and I cleaned out the eye of one of the kittens with a damp washcloth, and a massive amount of pus came pouring out. The kitten's eye was okay after that, though.

Then there are the cats who hang out on the porch of our house. One of them, who we call The Whiner, is tame enough to let us pet him but demanding enough to whine for food all the time. The other is a tiny, shy black cat who doesn't let us get near him but will accept the food we leave for them. It's so sad to see these too remain constantly hungry - and skinny. But they have a better life than most strays.

Seeing animals in need is why I will never buy a purebred dog or cat from a pet store. I will always root for the underdog (or undercat, as the case may be). We got our cat Ashe from PetsMart. She was brought in by the Humane Society - they had rescued her from death row at the pound. Our other cat Kerwin was stuck up in a tree one day, and we rescued him. He had obviously belonged to someone before but had been on his own for awhile. I am so happy that we were able to give these guys a home. I only wish we could do it for all the strays of the world.

This is Ashe (Woogas) the night we rescued her.

This is Kerwin a couple of days after we saved him from the tree.