When I retired in January of 2020 Covid hit during that spring while I was packing up my house. I didn’t know where I would be living moving from Raleigh to the Kings Mountain, North Carolina area, so I could not keep any of my cats.
My brother, who lived in Durham, North Carolina had five cats and my son who lived in Kings Mountain, North Carolina had two big dogs that didn’t like cats.
I looked for a place in my hometown of Kings Mountain North Carolina wanting to move closer to my son and it took 4 years for me to find a place I liked and could afford.
As it turned out my stepson, who lived in Williamston in the eastern part of the state, fell and broke his knee cap after a hurricane came through. I ended up going and staying with him for 9 or 10 months looking after him while he was recuperating, taking him back and forth to rehab and doing whatever I could to assist him.
When I went back to Kings Mountain to my sons I reconnected with school mates from the class of 1965 for our 55th class reunion. One of my girlfriends had had hip replacement surgery and asked me to stay with her for a while to help. As soon as I left to go back to my brother’s house, she fell and broke her wrist. So, I returned to help her again and as she got better I finally found a place I could afford on my own. It is out from town about 6 miles from my son and my girlfriend out in the country. My place is nice and quiet with a big creek down at the foot of the hill from my side door.
I started moving boxes in and had a pretty friendly black and white tuxedo cat coming visit. She followed me around in and out of the house as I moved boxes. One day when I left I didn’t realize she was still in the house and I didn’t go back for 2 days. When I got back she was sitting in the window waiting on me, but she had not messed up anything in the house and she had used the tub as her litter box!
After that she had claimed to me as her family she had a daughter from the year before. It turned out that both got pregnant! “Boots”, the black and white tuxedo had her babies in my linen closet! “Prissy”, the tortoise shell Tabby had her babies outside. Had a total of seven cats that lived, Boots had four and Prissy three.
When the kittens were between 6 and 8 weeks old, I advertised in the local paper and the very first day before it even hit the paper I had a lady call and take all four of Boot’s kittens the next day. I had a lady call about the other ones and ended up getting rid of all seven within 2 days. Four went to a nurse who lived up in the country that had a farm and with a barn and the rest went to good homes that really enjoyed cats. I have heard that all the kittens are doing well!
As soon as the kittens were gone I made an appointment with the Humane Society to have the Mama cats fixed. I also took one of the stray Tom cats from the trailer park. I kept them in the house the first night so their stitches would be okay and the Tom, which I call Tigger, decided he likes staying in the house and now he’s an inside outside cat too! He’s an Orange Tabby and he’s doubled in size since I had him fixed. The kids say he looks more like Garfield.
My neighbor was not well and made me promise to take care of his cats that stay in his house when something happens to him and he is having a hard time. He is a disabled vet and Farmer. He’s 6’5 300lbs, but he has a bad heart. He loves his cats and loves to watch the kids play in the neighborhood. Of course I said “yes” to his request.
He passed in January of 24, so had two more cats to look after and I didn’t know “Knobby”, who is a little female, hadn’t been fixed. So, of course she got pregnant this spring and she had four babies, but only two lived because she didn’t know what she was doing. They are just about old enough to be given away they’re eating and using the litter box and playing like crazy. They love to climb but they’re little bitty tiny cats. These wonderful babies will turn 8 weeks old on May 26th 2024.
Thanks for Stopping by!