ASILVESTRADO

It's hard to see from those awful pictures, but four new baby kittens have joined the party that is "Happy Hour, Daily, Lee and Annabelle's Front Yard". Now, I love cats. I would even venture to say that I love cats more than anyone else I've ever met, but this is getting out of hand. I almost cried the first time I saw these kittens nursing on our doormat. Not because they're cute (they're really cute) but because I wish they had never been born!!! The house next door to us is abandoned, or foreclosed, or something, so the many, many stray neighborhood cats literally have the run of the abandoned yard. I made things worse by beginning to feed them, and now they're all thriving and shitting and mating all over the place. I want to emphasize shitting because our front yard has become one giant litter box. They have dug up every square inch, taken little cat shits, and then created piles and piles of rocks. You can't walk up to our front door without smelling it. Something needs to be done.

So today, I did something. I called the Humane Society to find out if they could help. They can't (and they're rude). They gave me the number for an organization called Altered Tails that has a spay/neuter/release program. I called them after work, and they told me that the baby kitties are too young to be fixed (duh I knew that), but that they would provide me with CAGES for the others so that I could CATCH them and bring them in at the end of December for a $20 per cat spay/neuter.

I was so mad that it wasn't free. There are four cats that I have been feeding the longest and have become attached to. I would be willing to try to catch them and pay the $80 to get them fixed. But where does it end?? There are at least six other cats that hang around, plus these four new kittens. I could spend a fortune getting all of these feral cats spayed/neutered. Then I would spend another fortune feeding them and cleaning up their shit once they were "released" back into my yard. Also, it needs to be done soon. I feel like I'm going to have 100 cats by the end of December. AND, I am not looking forward to "catching" them, whatever that entails.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but what I had really hoped is that I would call the Humane Society and they would tell me that they would come out, catch all of the cats, and put them to sleep. I KNOW. IT'S AWFUL. I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING IT. But, I mean it!! I feel terrible every day that I feed those cats. I feel responsible for all those little babies, but helpless because there is so little I can do!!

It's funny that I was in the exact same predicament at two different apartments in Tucson. I honestly feel as though cats are FOLLOWING ME because they know I am a cat lady.