Thursday, February 15, 2007

New babies

I come from a long line of dog people. Nobody in my family has ever had a cat, or wanted one. I'm mildly allergic to cats, and I know nothing about them. But now I'm finding out how sweet a kitty can be.

Several formerly feral cats live on our patio at work. Through the patience and love of all the cat people in the office, Casper and Grisabella now trust us and will come stroll through the building, meow hello, and let us pick them up and cuddle them. We had Casper spayed, but neglected to provide that service for Grisabella. Recently she has been getting rounder and rounder; as the vet had said (very early on) that she was not pregnant, we were worried that she might have a tumor. On Friday her "daddy" at the office took her back to the vet, who stated that indeed she was very pregnant! Sometime over the weekend Grisabella had five kittens! Three are black like the cat we think is the father, and two are gray tabbies like their mama.

We have kept them sheltered on the patio, but the forecast tonight is for temperatures in the high twenties. So late this afternoon we waited until our supervisor had left the building, and we stealthily moved Grisi and her babies into an empty office to spend the night! We were afraid the move would agitate her, but to our relief, she ate some supper, then settled down with the babies and began to purr.

I don't work in that office on Fridays but will have to call and see how they fared. Grisi's "daddy" arrives at 7:30 and will be able to get them all back outside before we are discovered!

If you know anyone who would like a kitten in about eight weeks, and can come to Houston to get it, let me know!

Update: I am told that Grisi and her babies had a warm, peaceful night, and settled comfortably back on the patio this morning.

8 comments:

Abbey of the Arts said...

Such a sweet story, I hope all the babies find good and loving homes soon!

Lori said...

As a cat person from birth, I say meeeoowww-ny thanks to you and your co-catspirators for taking such good care of these kitties. A lovely story. St. Francis smiles from above.

zorra said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

What a work of mercy and kindness.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you work in an environment with such caring people...hope the kitties can find good homes.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Awwww! I'm glad to hear all went well. :-)

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

Oh I wish we had an office cat!

spookyrach said...

I was always, always, always a dog person. Mostly dobermans. Then I married a cat guy.

I have to say, cats are sooo low-maintenance. I think I will stay a cat person until life slows significantly down.

Your cats and your co-workers all sound delightful!