The CATcher in the Rye

So a few things happened in Kittyland this week ...

Sweet, playful Nimbus, the kitten who was rescued from outside, went to his forever home with some wonderful friends who are also great cat people. We will miss him, but we know he will be happy and loved in his new home, and he'll even have a kitty near his own age who will match his energy level and play with him to his heart's content. Happy tails, Nimbus!

Nimbus surveying his new kingdom

In other ways, it was a tough week. Ian, our resident "ambassador cat," who's usually the first cat to help socialize the foster kittens, developed an abscess, perhaps from a scratch from roughhousing with Nimbus or another cat. One more vet visit we can't afford. :-(  Ian is on antibiotics now, and we're hoping he's back to his usual happy and healthy self soon.

Feel better, Ian!

The kittens enjoyed a few visits from admirers and adopters, and it looks like Mama Opal and Galena will be going home together! We love it when that happens.

Sleepy Jasper

Meanwhile, Jasper and Onyx have also been spoken for, and their adopters are planning to each take another kitten, so we may have only one kitten left for adoption!

What about me, and my cute little bean toes?

But that won't be until mid-September. In the meantime, they still have lots of growing up to do. We just introduced a mini litter box (actually, a cardboard cat food box) for them to try out. At last look, it seemed to have been used, so they're learning! Next we'll try to get them interested in solid food. Right now, Mama is still nursing six kittens, which means she's eating as many as 7-8 cans of cat food per day, plus dry food. In fact, we were getting worried because we were almost out of food (and funds), when an Amazon package of Fancy Feast came in from an anonymous donor.

A box! YAY!

The kittens are too young to enjoy the food, but they definitely loved the box it came in! And we always appreciate donations, either through our Amazon wish list, PayPal, or our GoFundMe page.

So, this morning I went in to the kitten room to feed Mama and check on the kitties. I found Jasper and Onyx playing together in the kitten drawer, while the other four kitties had climbed out and were sleeping in the cat bed. After Mama ate, I brought them up on the bed to play with their new box and other toys, and soon enough they gathered around Opal to nurse. She lay right at the edge of the bed, so I curled my arm around her back to keep her from falling off, and there I sat, holding Opal, watching the kittens nursing and kneading, hearing them purr, hearing Mama purr, and she looked at me and gave a slow blink of contentment and trust, as if to say, "I know you won't let me fall. I know you'll take care of me and my babies, no matter what."

And suddenly it occurred to me: I'm the catcher in the rye. I can't end all war, stop discrimination everywhere, end world hunger. But I can do what I can, in a small way, in my own small corner of the world, to keep a few little lives from falling off the edge. A catcher in the rye, for cats.