Honeybear
has been with us for 5 years.
We guess
that she’s about 8.
It turns out
a neighbor down the street had her when she was a kitten and responsibly got
her treated so she couldn’t have more kittens.
HB did give
birth once, to a litter of 3.
The only
baby of hers that we know of is a very skittish Tortie that dubbed Cocoa Kitty.
When
Honeybear went out in daylight and nighttime, mother and daughter would hunt
together, sand bathe together, hug and fight (as HB the queen would smack her
grown kitten – just to make it clear who the king of the hill was, is and
always will be).
We tried to
get Cocoa Kitty to be an indoor cat, but it’s not for her. So we bought a used
dogloo and set her up with food and water in the back of our house.
Before long,
many cats were visiting. We bought a used small tent and used it for shelter,
with a food bowl in it.
We bought
cushions and built shelter out of some old benches left behind by the previous
owner of our house.
When one of
our most beloved visitor couples – a Maine Coon dubbed Big Boy and his lady
Squirt – a tiny ginger cat – had 4 kittens, we went into action.
We worked
with Miami-Dade County Animal Services (perhaps the best department in the
County) to work with the Trap-Neuter-Release program.
A wonderful,
soulful worker named Octavio came by long before dawn and set up a half dozen
traps.
Repeating
this routine over the years, we have helped far more than a dozen cats to be
spared from giving birth. You can tell by their clipped single ear.
We don’t
want to turn a sweet tale into a lecture.
But people
really do need to be responsible and get their cats fixed – and even work with
Animal Services to get in the TNR program. It doesn’t cost a penny and at the
most, you will move your car out of the driveway to create room for some humane
traps.
Cats, after
surgery and recovery, are returned to your lot 48 to 72 hours later.
Our all-time
beloved baby from TNR is Dusty.
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