Peaches and Spats...

I went out to the post office this morning... and on the way home, driving along the winding road leading towards our property, there were two small kittens sitting on the side of the paved road. They didn't even move when they saw my car coming towards them.  I stopped my car and got out, and the little orange kitten meowed and walked towards me. The gray kitten (with four white paws) was a bit hesitant and moved into the grass by the side of the road.

I picked up the orange kitten (pale yellow, really) and he/she kept meowing in my ear, which made the gray kitten move further along into the grass.  I did not have the right shoes on to go deeper into that grass because it went down towards a deep ditch along the side of road.  At that point, along came neighbor G, who drives everywhere with cat and dog food in her car, just in case she happens upon a stray. 

G took out a can of cat food, opened it up and put it on the grass near the gray kitten, and within minutes, both kittens were eating Fancy Feast on the side of the road. Simple as that.  I picked them both up and put them on a blanket in my car. (I drive everywhere with two blankets in the trunk of my car, in case I find a stray. Or two.) G told me that the kittens probably belonged to another neighbor further down, one who doesn't believe in getting her pets spayed/neutered, and as a result, at any given time there are kittens galore who are outside on their property with no supervision and no care... the neighbor also believes that animals can take care of themselves.... survival of the fittest. Give me a blessed break.

I brought the kittens home and set them up in the big bathroom which is connected to our TV room. Within minutes, I had their food in little bowls,  a cat bed and a blanket set down in a corner, a litter box in another corner, and a large stuffed dog that I knew the kittens would curl up with after they finished eating. Then I called upstairs and told my husband to come downstairs.

"Don't name them," he suggested.  I agreed.  "Call everyone we know," he said. And I did. "Post pictures of them on Facebook," he told me.  Great idea... I did.

Within an hour, he was playing with the kittens and telling me he had the perfect name for the gray one with the white paws. "Does the name have five letters?"  He said yes..... We both came up with the name Spats for that kitten.  I said it was a sign.... if I were going to keep one kitten, Spats would be the one.   I was going to name the yellow kitten Mellow Yellow, but Gary said he liked the name Peaches better. I agreed. That kitten was definitely the color of an almost-ripe peach.

The kittens stayed in the large bathroom all afternoon... they ate, they played, they pooped in the litter box, they slept... then they got up and repeated everything.  Both Spats and Peaches meowed at me every time I went into that room to say hello, which was once every half hour... they climbed into my lap and searched my face looking for either whiskers or pointed ears at the top of my head.... so of course nothing much else got done today.

Late in the afternoon, a friend of a friend called to say he and his son would take both kittens. Oh. He didn't want to separate them because they looked so cute together in the pictures I had posted and he said they wouldn't be happy without each other. Oh.

I know this man... he has been to our house with his son... he is good friends with our friend P...  he is reliable and considerate and he has had cats before.  When he came to see Spats and Peaches, he was gentle and kind and he knew how to hold them. He wanted both of them. He said they shouldn't be separated, and I know he was right.  I had a carry-crate ready for the kittens... and their food and bowls, their toys, their bed and blanket, and the big stuffed puppy that they cuddled up to all afternoon. I gave him their litter box, a scoop, extra litter.

I didn't tell him that their names were Peaches and Spats. I'm sure he and his son will come up with names of their own liking. After they left, I put that bathroom back in order... it is fixed up now for just our own Sweet Pea, just as it was before I brought the kittens into the house to keep them safe from cars on the road and wildlife in the woods.

They are beautiful kittens. They will grow into beautiful cats. My heart is breaking for them already, and I told our friend's friend to bring them back if two kittens are too much for their family... bring one back or both back... no questions asked, no hard feelings. Kittens are a lot of work, I told him.

Peaches and Spats. We should not have named them.

More importantly, people who don't get their pets spayed/neutered have no business having pets in the first place. And kittens and puppies cannot take care of themselves, period. It is not survival of the fittest... it is just unfair to all the baby kittens and puppies who are born into homes that haven't the first clue about taking care of them.