Hey Dads!

Hey Dads! Have you noticed any spring happenings around you lately? I saw a robin the other day, geese are flying by, and baby animals are making an appearance. To be precise, 15 baby animals made an appearance in our house. You may recall reading about our cat having kittens under our bed less than a year ago. Well, we just learned that kittens can have kittens less than a year after being born. The math worked pretty good. Each of our 3 cats had 5 kittens for a total of 15. This was multi-generational cathood in real-time. The original cat mother had a new batch of kittens and her two kittens from last year each had a batch, making her a grand-cat. These cats have it made. With 10 kids running around our house there were many hands prepared (and very excited) to tend to the kittens. We didn’t know if the mother cats would like the other kittens or attack the other kittens even though they’re all related and will probably visit each other at Christmas to exchange fruitcakes and other cat gifts. So, each family of mother and kittens was moved to it’s own room. Now our daughters all had a new family of cats to keep them company in their rooms. Three high quality cat-beds were made from cardboard boxes and old blankets. You may be asking, “But how long will you allow cats, cats, and more cats to live in your house?” Great question.
And the answer is…until they start to destroy things. Which is about a month. We were gone for a few hours the other day and when we got home we found the cats giving us signals that they were ready to move out. They were trying to move themselves out by digging through the carpet under the bedroom door. But carpet does not dig up. It just gets shredded. I declared it was time to move these felines out to the garage before they tore the whole house apart. “Out with them!” I shouted. Or something like that. Much disagreement erupted from the younger children about the viability of kitten survival in the garage. It has heat. They have fur. They will be fine. I think they could have gone out to the barn and been cozy in the hay but I wasn’t going to push my luck.
So, blankets and kittens and food bowls and water bowls were transported to the garage. The kids even built them a lovely play park out of cinder blocks and old pieces of wood. A cat paradise. Now you may be asking, “But how long will you allow cats, cats, and more cats to live in your garage?” Another great question. Yet to be answered. But if you’d like your very own cat or five just let me know. For you, my friend? I’ll give you a really good deal. Maybe it’s time for you to get a nice pet for your kids, dad? Time flies! Make every moment count! Even the cats-killing-carpet ones.
Jason Weening cares for cats and other creatures with his 10 kids and one patient wife. Read about their other animal adventures in his book, “Yes, Dear…I’m Watching Them”, on Amazon.