You just can’t stop, can you?
Cherishing the kittens, that is.
It’s a Very, Very, Very, Very, Very, Very good thing you’re here.
In fact, it’s a Veruca, Verity, Vaughn, Vernon, Virgo and Vegas thing you’re here. But we will get there in a moment.
First, there is the sprawling season called Kitten.
There was a time, somewhere between dinosaur days and the invention of underpants, when “Kitten Season” existed. Like the descant soaring over the symphony, kittens came to a crescendo in spring.
But the orchestra gave way to a hootenanny.
Tailgaters started showing up months early for the big game.
And now, “Kitten Season” is a synonym for “Time.”
They mew at New Year’s, and they wriggle in August. They are fall’s littlest gourds and winter’s snow angels. They are here all year.
Which brings me back to you.
If you contributed to our Cherish the Kittens Fund Drive this spring, you happen to be here today.
The kittens did not take the summer off. Our foster families did not take the summer off. Your love, reaching through weeks and months, did not take the summer off.
I wish we could say the same about Vanessa.
Oh, dear Vanessa. We will not judge our jumpy mama cat. It must be bewildering to be filled with living things. Six unseen individuals depended on every breath in her body. She carried an entire volleyball team.
Rumor had it she was loved. She had to admit the evidence was compelling.
Other feral cats spoke of “the indoors” as though they were describing purgatory’s foyer, or at least Chuck E. Cheese. Vanessa tried her best to dodge our trappers. But her belly was churning with children, and she was almost more weary than wild. Those tall cats on two legs got the best of her.
Soon, she was eating the best meals of her life. She was ensconced in the affections of a foster mother we will call The Giving One, for that is who she is. Vanessa had everything she needed to know that she was safe.
Everything, and then some.
The Giving One, living up to her name, loved Vanessa unrequited. The Giving One has fostered many litters, from frail gerbil impersonators to infant orbs with eight chins. They have thrived and thrived. The Giving One has loved the mothers as much as the kittens, whether they have purred like Patches the Pure-Hearted or worried like dear Vanessa the Very Afraid.
If Vanessa knew that most living things are Very Afraid, most of the time, her shoulders might soften. She might stop stress-purring long enough to hear the secret: the best way to shut up your own fear is to take care of someone smaller.
But fear collapses the entire year into the iceberg of this instant.
Fear can make you forget that you are a mother … or it can make you remember that you are a Giving One.
Extensive experience and training have given The Giving One a second sight. She knew, before she could put her gentle fingers on it, that something was Very Wrong.
Vanessa’s nest was never quite settled. The six newborns were never quite clean. Just as their little Milk Dud bellies should have grown round, Veruca, Verity, Vaughn, Vernon, Virgo, and Vegas began losing weight.
All the bookies in Nevada gave them slim odds.
All the stories of “fading kittens” came into bold view.
But all your springtime generosity came galloping across time.
Vanessa and her struggling V6 engine were not on the road alone. Vanessa was not “just a stray,” and her newborns were not “yet another litter.” They were Tabby’s Place cats. They were in love’s spotlight.
And you, kitten cherishers, were here.
We placed Vanessa’s babies with our most skilled neonate caregivers, meticulously trained in the difficult art of tube-feeding. One by one, the kittens brightened with life-saving nutrition, learning in fits and starts to latch onto their bottles.
Our foster network lit up like fairy lights, keeping vigil all night so that not one newborn would be lost. All the training, all the donations, and all the sleepless hours gathered around six kittens whose mother was just too scared to save them.
Text messages flew: “BREAKING NEWS!” with heart emojis over the sight of bottle babies taking the bottle!
Now the sparkle is returning to the littlest, loveliest eyes. The future is turning from a figment into a fat promise. The inevitable has been overwritten by the unconditional. Six irreplaceable, unrepeatable newborns are gaining weight and courage.
But imagine if this Very, Very, Very, Very, Very, Very precious family had remained outdoors.
Imagine if the funds had dried up before we could train our foster families.
Imagine if The Giving One did not have eyes to see the urgency of love.
Imagine if we only cherished kittens for a brief season.
It’s impossible to imagine, because all I can see is you, loving with great force.
You, giving to the point of sacrifice.
You, here all year, behind the scenes, standing between life and death and delivering the decisive victory.
You just can’t stop, can you?
And so, a six-pack of miracles is carbonated with hope.
Thank you, kitten cherishers.
Photos below courtesy of The Giving One herself.
