TOO MANY CATS

  

 

 I removed this post a few weeks ago because I thought it was too long and tedious. After a slight edit, I'll try again.

In 2010 I was living in a tiny, isolated one-horse town on the high plains of West Texas -- about fifty miles from Lubbock.

That year was one of the worst in my entire life. My mother's death in December, 2009 induced a deep psychological trauma from which I never fully recovered. 

On top of dealing with this devastating loss,  I was in debt with massive medical bills and numerous other things. I lost my online job and there was absolutely no work available in the impoverished town where I existed. 

I put my house up for sale, but it was impossible to sell. Nobody wanted to buy anything in that quasi-ghost town. I felt lucky if the realtors showed my house once every four or five months.

As if all this wasn't enough, I suddenly became the victim of identity theft. A hacker (located in Europe) wiped out my savings account. I'll spare the horrendous details. 

Penniless and destitute, I was forced to sell everything I could think of - - paintings, antiques, furniture, dishes, costly antique books and photographs, heirloom jewelry, all of my valuable coin and stamp collections - even clothing. I sold many things online, and also drove to Lubbock to visit every antique store and junk shop in the city.

I got a pittance for my efforts.
I remember selling a very large original photograph of Queen Victoria and her children for $100. It was worth several thousand dollars..

"Desperation" is the most vile word in the English language. 

 

So what about the cats?
Trust me. I'm getting there.

At that time, my neighbor was an elderly lady in her 80s. She was very nice but it was difficult to communicate because she was going deaf and losing her memory.

I was absolutely stunned when I heard that she sold her house and was moving to a different city to live with her son. I later found out that her house sold quickly because it was purchased by a wealthy family friend, who planned to turn it into a rental house.

The elderly lady was a cat lover and had at least six cats that I knew of. Imagine my surprise (to put it mildly) when I discovered that she left all her cats behind when she moved!

The cats quickly migrated to my yard. Since they were starving, I fed them - - not realizing the upcoming nightmare I was to endure.

Soon, other stray cats invaded my yard for the food.
To abbreviate an infinitely long story, the cats began to multiply faster than bunnies. I frequently found new litters. In time, I had nearly thirty cats residing in my yard.
Every morning when I got up, ALL the cats would be waiting by the back door - demanding food.

 

One of the many litters, with Mama Cat looking on

 

I kept feeding them daily, of course, but was admittedly at a complete loss wondering what to do.

There was one tiny place in town that was called an "animal shelter". It was a dilapidated shack run by one man. The place had been cited for violations on numerous occasions.

I reluctantly went there, out of desperation, and asked about my brood of cats.

I was stunned beyond redemption when the man curtly told me "Oh, we only take dogs. If I get any cats, I kill them."

There's was no way in hell I would ever let this inhumane bastard kill a cat.

The nearest legitimate shelters were far away in Lubbock. I was advised (by well-meaning people) to have the cats spayed and neutered - but that was an impossibility. I had absolutely no money - - and I couldn't imagine cramming thirty cats into my pickup truck for a fifty mile drive.

Words cannot express the absolute agony I went through during the endless cat crisis. I very often only had enough money to buy cat food - - so I frequently skipped meals for myself. Believe it or not, there were many days when I didn't eat at all.

The winters on the high TX plains are brutally cold. I built shelters for the cats to stay in, but they still often got sick. They all had eye infections, so I had to keep buying eye drops to treat their eyes.

Some of the kittens from new litters were very sick. I would take them in the house at night and stay up with them - feeding them with an eyedropper and keeping them warm.

Sometimes wild animals would get into my yard and kill cats. I had to bury at least five of them - mostly kittens.

I became completely intent on finding homes for the cats - and it was far from easy. I placed advertisements online and in every newspaper I could think of - - with VERY few results.I eventually met a woman who used to work at an animal shelter. She graciously helped me find homes for many of the cats.

When my house was FINALLY sold, there were still a few cats in my yard. Fortunately, the people who bought my house were cat lovers, so the remaining strays were in good hands.

This was a long post, and I haven't even scratched the surface about the intense problems I had during that agonizing time. Dealing with those poor helpless cats was completely heartbreaking.

Note:
At that time, I only had one cat of my own - Kitzee. She was exclusively an indoor cat, and I kept her away from my vast brood of outdoor strays.
I also "adopted" two of the sickest kittens from the litters and kept them indoors - Bosco and Scruffy - but that's another story for another time. It took awhile for Kitzee to get used to them.

I had lots of photos of the stray Texas cats, but unfortunately most of them are on my OLD desktop computer, which is no longer working.
I found a few photos in my current files, which I've posted here.

This is one of the stray cats (left) looking in the window at my cat Kitzee (right).
Ironically, this particular stray cat was Bosco's mother.

I generally don't make endorsements of any kind, but I'm passionate about this:

Please get all cats and dogs spayed and neutered! It's the most humane thing to do.