This is Lil'Mama.
Well, she actually started out as "Tink" or something equally unfitting. She once belonged to our hillbilly next door neighbors. They kept her as a strictly outdoor cat and even though I cannot 100% confirm this...I'm pprreettyy sure they never fed her.
During the summer, which was the most BRUTAL summer I can ever remember, she became a regular visitor to our back porch. It was covered and the concrete was cool. She would lay under the coffee table and just pant. What else could I do but start giving her water?
As the summer went on and "Tink" was still hanging out. And I noticed that she was just so skinny. SSooo, I kind of..sort of..started feeding her..just a little bit. Jeremy will tell you..she was so thin. Except for her growing belly. That's right. She was pregnant. Which is when I took to calling her Lil'Mama.
She had her kittens but kept them over at the next door neighbor's house. We only saw the kittens a handful of times. There were three..and then two..and then only one. Until there were none. I don't know what happened to them. I sort of don't want to think about what probably happened to them.
Our hillbilly neighbors eventually disappeared. Oh, their stuff was still at the house...still is...but they have stopped living in the house. But Lil'Mama is still here...on our back porch. We are now feeding her on the regular. She comes when I call her. I'd say she has decided to stay.
I thought, at first, that we would sort of just foster her. Feed her and care for her until we could find her a good home. That was my TRUE intentions. I even put it out there on facebook. BBuutt..she has sort of grown on me...damn it. So we have recently made the decision to keep her.
We haven't been able to take her to the vet just yet. For one, it's right before the holidays and our extra money is tied up in other things. And two, we are still waiting for the hillbilly neighbors to officially move out. We don't want to put in the effort of vetting her if they decide to come and grab her. I really don't think they will ever come back for her..at least I hope they won't.
So, for now, until we can make sure she is healthy and safe to be around our other animals, we've set her up a little house on our back porch. It isn't much, but it gives her some place to go as the weather gets colder. I actually made her a rice pillow...from scratch..with a sewing machine. I don't sew, people. But I sure did stitch a rice pillow that I can warm up for this little kitty.
I did not want another animal. I was quite adamant that we NOT keep her. I mean, just take a look at the brood of animals we already have living in this little love cottage..just to your left there. That is FIVE animals..Lil'Mama makes six. That is just insane. But it wasn't really up to me. She picked US to be her people. And how can I argue with that?
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Thanks Jinny for sharing your story!!
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