Sigh.

Down the way a bit, there are two semi-feral kittens, about four months old. Beautiful, really - but bad eye infections. I have had no luck snatching them, and while the guy feeding them gave me the okay to trap them, the person I know with a trap has lost that trap and is therefore no real help to me. They're not consistently enough there that it's worth calling out 311 either.

On to option two - put out small dabs of wet food with antibiotics every day, wait for the kittens to approach and eat them. Worst case scenario, they're cured of the infection. Best case scenario, they eventually chill out enough that I can nab them and take them to the shelter or to a feral rescue organization. They're young enough that they should be able to acclimate to living with humans, provided the humans don't mind shy cats. (I want to TNR the mom, too. Strangest behavior I've seen in a cat - she came up and rubbed between my legs while growling the whole time. Admittedly, she caught me in the act of trying to kittennap her babies, but seriously?)

But I have to move on this fast. The younger you get them, the better the odds. At least they're only semi-feral.

Well, that happened.

I want to insert something here. I am, I'm told, actually pretty smart. I don't usually say this, because there's no reason to, but other people sometimes tell me that. Never know how to respond, but they do. (At least nowadays, they say it in a good way. When I was a kid, they said it in order to criticize me for not doing my schoolwork.)

But I'm the one saying it now, and I'm saying it so you know not to judge me too harshly for the events in this story.

I was walking home from the grocery store, laden down with two very heavy bags (among other things, each had a six-pack of snapple), when I saw my chance to nab one of the two tortie kittens I've been worried about. Not the sicker one, the friendlier one!

Turns out this kitten is friendly enough so long as you don't act like you're trying to snatch her. This is unsurprising - apparently, two of her five siblings got picked up in just this way. (A third died. You can see why I want to TNR Mama.) So I waited until she was very close, and then I grabbed her nape. Well, kittens will settle when you do that, but she wouldn't let me hold her close, and I had no way to pick up my groceries!

As luck would have it, a family was walking towards me right then. I have always depended on the kindness of strangers, and had no hesitation whatsoever in asking them to help me with my bags if they were going my way. They dropped me off at the corner and I ran home, stashed the kitten in the front entryway, and ran back to grab my bags and the antibiotics from my neighbor.

Naturally, after having been isolated for five minutes in a strange place, the kitten decided that I must be her best friend. I've encountered this before when rehoming semi-feral kittens. If you'll excuse the armchair psychology, I figure it's some sort of Stockholm thing. They're away from everything they know, but you're familiar and you haven't actually hurt them, so you must be a friend! She purred up a storm and let me hold her properly to put her in a larger room with food. (FOOD!) There was medicine on the food, which is the important thing, but not what she cared about. (That medicine is crucially important - this kitty's eyes are better, but she's sniffling. Sniffles + eye troubles = bad news for kittens.)

Then I got a little overawed with my own mad skillz, and decided to get her sister. Guess what I forgot? Yes, I forgot to bring a carrier. Like I said, I'm usually smarter than this, so don't judge me! Her sister's eye is much worse, and looking at it, I'm not sure that there isn't any permanent damage. But at least it's only one eye. This kitten was not so friendly, and smart enough to avoid me after my first attempt, so I had to enlist the man who's been feeding her. Smart kitty - she wanted the food, but she was wary of approaching any human with me still right there! He wasn't clear on what I meant by grabbing her neck either, but between the two of us I eventually did manage to grab her nape and lug her home, so now she's ensconced with her sister. (This was the third not-so-smart move on my part. I should've isolated her for half an hour first, and then had her warm up to me before putting her in with family. Well, I don't care that much.)

I'm tentatively calling the one with the bad eye Kid Blink, so I guess that makes the other one Nellie Bly.

By the way - anybody in the NYC metro area want two kittens?

A bit shy, but pretty, and young enough to warm up to humans if they have love and attention! Pass it around. I'd like to save myself a very long trip to the animal shelter if I can.

Kitten update

With her sister for company, Nellie has decided she is scared of humans after all. Luckily, a little more food helped there, and once they'd eaten enough to make their tummies bulge out, I tossed around a cat toy for a bit, gave them something to do besides hide in a corner and avoid me. Kid Blink still isn't interested (though she's interested enough in food to get real close) but Nellie came and pet me a few times, and let me pet her so long as my hand wasn't at all in her face. I accidentally did that once and she bolted, and wouldn't come out again. Playtime is over, but I'll try another session in a few hours, before I go to bed. I'll also bring down some books and read there for a while. I'm contemplating the merits of sleeping down there. Pro: kittens can get used to me. Con: no a/c, and kittens are nocturnal. They might "get used to me" by jumping on my face!