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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Family & Friends
- Subject: Character Based
- Published: 12/03/2013
Tiger Mom
Born 1961, F, from Lincoln County, MO, United StatesI've read that during the Great Depression, hobos had a secret sign language. If a family welcomed them in for a hearty meal or a warm bed for the night, they left behind a sign, drawn in coal, so others like them knew this was a home where good people lived. A home where they could seek shelter from the cold and possibly get a hot meal, before boarding the next train out of town.
I think this is also true of animals. My house is safe and warm. If they are frightened and alone, cold or hungry, this is a place where they will be welcome. They will be fed and they will be loved. And when they leave, they leave paw prints on my doormat telling all the strays that come after them that this is a safe place to be.
Tiger Mom
The phone call came in at about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Amy and her friend were at the barn riding and the frantic call went something like this: “there’s a little cat, she's really tiny but really pregnant, and no one out here knows where she came from, she just showed up here today. Please can we can we bring her home? Please??? If we don’t bring her home she may have her kittens in one of the stalls and one of the horses might step on them. Please mom, please? She’s so scared!!!"
Now how can any mom say no to a pregnant cat that just appeared out of nowhere? I was certain the cat belonged to someone, probably lived on one of the neighboring farms, and had just snuck off to have her kittens as pregnant cats often do. I told the girls to bring her home and we'd make signs to hang up in the area around the barn. Within about an hour they showed up on our doorstep and sure enough, this was a very young cat in a very advanced stage of pregnancy. The girls laid her down on the living room floor and we could see the kittens wiggling around in her belly. What a miracle to watch and although she was very anxious she allowed us to gently pet her side, feeling the kittens move.
Now, it’s always a bad sign when the kids bring home a stray animal and they have already given it a name. In this case the girls had named the little cat Tallulabelle. Amy said that she spoke to the farm workers and Tallula had just shown up at the farm that day. No one knew where she came from but they unanimously agreed that it would be a good idea for Amy to bring her home for “safe keeping” until the kittens were born. She was a beautiful white and tabby cat with big green eyes that appeared to be dramatically outlined in black eyeliner.
The next morning we took Tallulah to our vet. Unfortunately she did not have a microchip directing us to her family. He estimated her to be about eight months old and in good health. Although she was way too young to be pregnant, that night in the closet under the basement steps, in a box of blankets prepared by Matthew, Tallulabelle gave birth to four tiny kittens.
I have never watched a mother cat raise a litter of kittens and I learned so much from Tallulah. For being such a young cat she was an excellent mother. At first, she didn’t trust us to get near the kittens, but each day she grew a little more tolerant to us peeking into her closet and as her trust grew, she let us touch them and finally hold them. As the kittens grew and finally began to climb out of the box she ran around frantically trying to keep up with them. It seemed that in the time it took her to catch one kitten and put it back in the box, 2 others would escape. I was concerned that she would try to move the kittens or hide them but she only moved them once. When they were about four weeks old she moved them from the box in the closet under the steps to a laundry basket in the laundry room and that is where they stayed for the remainder of their time in our home.
The kittens were so much fun and once they began to grow and explore there was no telling where you would find them. I was in the kitchen cooking when I’d hear a tiny mew and peeking around the door to the basement steps would be two little faces. They scampered through the kitchen, sliding on the slippery tiles, hurrying to see what other parts of the house they could explore before mom caught them. Playing with the broom as I swept the floor and climbing up the side of the sofa as though it were a mighty oak, they were everywhere. But, Tallulah was never far behind and with a low growl, all the kittens would scurry back to the basement, tumbling down the steps and back into the laundry basket that Tallulah had claimed as their home.
Sadly, all this time I continued to search for Tallulah's home. We took pictures and hung signs on the streets around the barn but no one ever claimed Tallulah. The workers at the farm told me that they had hay delivered on the day she showed up and they gave me the name of the company they used. I called hoping maybe she belonged to them and had hidden in the hay, not expecting to go for a ride, but the weren't missing her either. We never did find out where the little pregnant kitty with the beautiful eyes came from.
We were very careful to make sure each kitten found a good home with families that would give them much love and promised to have them fixed, but it seemed that the disappearing kittens upset Tallulah. There was only one kitten left, we called him TJ, and I guess she decided the best way for him not to disappear. When his new family came to pick him up we could not find TJ anywhere. After searching for what seemed like hours, we finally found him under the basement steps, the same place he started out, only this time he was all the way at the bottom of the steps and she was in front of him, as though she were hiding him. She knew he would be leaving also. It was so sad to see the mother cat, only a baby herself, anticipate the disappearance of her last kitten.
Tallulah never bonded with any of our other pets and wasn’t really a people cat. She was obviously a farm cat from the beginning. Although she tolerated being inside with the kittens, she preferred to be outside. She liked to chase squirrels and stalk leaves so when all the kittens were gone we had her spayed and she went to live at the farm belonging to Amy’s trainer. It was a beautiful little farm and she was the only cat. She spent her days roaming the fields and protecting the barn from mice. Not all cats enjoy the suburban lifestyle, and I always said that Tallulah preferred food that wiggled.
During the short time Tallulah stayed with us and raised her only litter of kittens, she taught me so much about maternal instincts of animals. Even at her young age she was indeed a tiger mom.
On April 12, 2012. Amy called to tell me that Tallulah has crossed over the rainbow bridge. She had been having seizures and the vet couldn't diagnose the cause. The previous night she had her last. She was only about 3 years old.
Please visit my blog for more stories: https://www.facebook.com/kathymunieblogs
Tiger Mom(Kathy Munie)
I've read that during the Great Depression, hobos had a secret sign language. If a family welcomed them in for a hearty meal or a warm bed for the night, they left behind a sign, drawn in coal, so others like them knew this was a home where good people lived. A home where they could seek shelter from the cold and possibly get a hot meal, before boarding the next train out of town.
I think this is also true of animals. My house is safe and warm. If they are frightened and alone, cold or hungry, this is a place where they will be welcome. They will be fed and they will be loved. And when they leave, they leave paw prints on my doormat telling all the strays that come after them that this is a safe place to be.
Tiger Mom
The phone call came in at about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Amy and her friend were at the barn riding and the frantic call went something like this: “there’s a little cat, she's really tiny but really pregnant, and no one out here knows where she came from, she just showed up here today. Please can we can we bring her home? Please??? If we don’t bring her home she may have her kittens in one of the stalls and one of the horses might step on them. Please mom, please? She’s so scared!!!"
Now how can any mom say no to a pregnant cat that just appeared out of nowhere? I was certain the cat belonged to someone, probably lived on one of the neighboring farms, and had just snuck off to have her kittens as pregnant cats often do. I told the girls to bring her home and we'd make signs to hang up in the area around the barn. Within about an hour they showed up on our doorstep and sure enough, this was a very young cat in a very advanced stage of pregnancy. The girls laid her down on the living room floor and we could see the kittens wiggling around in her belly. What a miracle to watch and although she was very anxious she allowed us to gently pet her side, feeling the kittens move.
Now, it’s always a bad sign when the kids bring home a stray animal and they have already given it a name. In this case the girls had named the little cat Tallulabelle. Amy said that she spoke to the farm workers and Tallula had just shown up at the farm that day. No one knew where she came from but they unanimously agreed that it would be a good idea for Amy to bring her home for “safe keeping” until the kittens were born. She was a beautiful white and tabby cat with big green eyes that appeared to be dramatically outlined in black eyeliner.
The next morning we took Tallulah to our vet. Unfortunately she did not have a microchip directing us to her family. He estimated her to be about eight months old and in good health. Although she was way too young to be pregnant, that night in the closet under the basement steps, in a box of blankets prepared by Matthew, Tallulabelle gave birth to four tiny kittens.
I have never watched a mother cat raise a litter of kittens and I learned so much from Tallulah. For being such a young cat she was an excellent mother. At first, she didn’t trust us to get near the kittens, but each day she grew a little more tolerant to us peeking into her closet and as her trust grew, she let us touch them and finally hold them. As the kittens grew and finally began to climb out of the box she ran around frantically trying to keep up with them. It seemed that in the time it took her to catch one kitten and put it back in the box, 2 others would escape. I was concerned that she would try to move the kittens or hide them but she only moved them once. When they were about four weeks old she moved them from the box in the closet under the steps to a laundry basket in the laundry room and that is where they stayed for the remainder of their time in our home.
The kittens were so much fun and once they began to grow and explore there was no telling where you would find them. I was in the kitchen cooking when I’d hear a tiny mew and peeking around the door to the basement steps would be two little faces. They scampered through the kitchen, sliding on the slippery tiles, hurrying to see what other parts of the house they could explore before mom caught them. Playing with the broom as I swept the floor and climbing up the side of the sofa as though it were a mighty oak, they were everywhere. But, Tallulah was never far behind and with a low growl, all the kittens would scurry back to the basement, tumbling down the steps and back into the laundry basket that Tallulah had claimed as their home.
Sadly, all this time I continued to search for Tallulah's home. We took pictures and hung signs on the streets around the barn but no one ever claimed Tallulah. The workers at the farm told me that they had hay delivered on the day she showed up and they gave me the name of the company they used. I called hoping maybe she belonged to them and had hidden in the hay, not expecting to go for a ride, but the weren't missing her either. We never did find out where the little pregnant kitty with the beautiful eyes came from.
We were very careful to make sure each kitten found a good home with families that would give them much love and promised to have them fixed, but it seemed that the disappearing kittens upset Tallulah. There was only one kitten left, we called him TJ, and I guess she decided the best way for him not to disappear. When his new family came to pick him up we could not find TJ anywhere. After searching for what seemed like hours, we finally found him under the basement steps, the same place he started out, only this time he was all the way at the bottom of the steps and she was in front of him, as though she were hiding him. She knew he would be leaving also. It was so sad to see the mother cat, only a baby herself, anticipate the disappearance of her last kitten.
Tallulah never bonded with any of our other pets and wasn’t really a people cat. She was obviously a farm cat from the beginning. Although she tolerated being inside with the kittens, she preferred to be outside. She liked to chase squirrels and stalk leaves so when all the kittens were gone we had her spayed and she went to live at the farm belonging to Amy’s trainer. It was a beautiful little farm and she was the only cat. She spent her days roaming the fields and protecting the barn from mice. Not all cats enjoy the suburban lifestyle, and I always said that Tallulah preferred food that wiggled.
During the short time Tallulah stayed with us and raised her only litter of kittens, she taught me so much about maternal instincts of animals. Even at her young age she was indeed a tiger mom.
On April 12, 2012. Amy called to tell me that Tallulah has crossed over the rainbow bridge. She had been having seizures and the vet couldn't diagnose the cause. The previous night she had her last. She was only about 3 years old.
Please visit my blog for more stories: https://www.facebook.com/kathymunieblogs
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