My wife and I were getting ready to sit down and have dinner around three hours ago. Something caught my wife's eye moving outside along the street, out in front of our house. It was two little boys (est. ages 8 and 10 years old) fast walking along the storm water ditch that has about 5 inches of water running in it right now, from the storms we had here last night.
Running along behind the boys trying to keep up with them, was a little kitten. So my wife stood and watched the boys for a moment, and suddenly she bolted out of our front door. One of the boys had picked up the kitten, walked out in to the storm ditch water and put the kitten in one of the culvert pipes that runs under our street.
He then come out of the water and crossed the road and was standing in our front yard. I guess to see if the kitten could swim against the current in the pipe and then come out under the opposite side of the road (a 20 ft. long swim) where he was then standing.
My wife quickly went out in the yard and while knowing little boys can be smart azzzes (she raised two boys of her own 50 years ago) she did not fuss at them. She just told the boy calmly that was standing in the water, that cats do not like water and that kittens cannot swim. So the boy jumps back in the water and goes in to the culvert and gets the kitten out.
Then, she gets the whole story from the two boys. They said they had found the kitten earlier on the street and took in to their Granny's house, to she if she would let them keep it. Granny told the boys she did not want a cat and to get it out of her house.
The boy told my wife he just wanted to see if the cat could swim, before they found someone to give it a home. My wife finally talked the boys in to letting her call animal control and that, AC would find it a home. The boys after accepting that my wife was a nice old lady, were o.k. with her taking the kitten to get it a home.
She wrapped the kitten in a towel to dry it and to warm it up. The reason it was chasing behind the two boys was not that it just wanted their company, the poor little thing was starving. It has eaten a whole small can of wet food along with warm milk. Every bone on this kitten probably 8-9 week old kitten is protruding and can be felt under its skin. We called AC, but the clerk said they were closing for the day.
So within 20 minutes a city police officer came to our door instead, and told us that AC had called him to check out the situation. As my wife did tell AC the boy had put the kitten in the storm ditch water. When we asked the LEO if he would take it, he declined and told us it looked like it had already found a good home. I told him the 3 cats we have now gets to be plenty of cats for us, and we just could not take in another cat to feed.
The kitten tries to suckle my finger so it is just barely wean, so we are feeding it warm milk and animal control is supposed to be here in the morning. My wife is leaving for Key West in the morning at 3:00 am to spend 7 days with her son and DIL.
I am no cat nanny for sure, but if AC does not show up maybe I can take the kitten to the shelter. I just hope I can stay detached and not talk myself in to keeping it. I am a dog person, but dam kittens are cute.....
And dam the people, that will not spay/neuter their cats and dogs. And instead, just let the kittens and pups be born and tossed out on the street, to slowly starve to death.
PS. The pic of the storm water drain culverts was taken when it was at its lowest level a year ago. Today when the kitten was in it, the water was around 5 inches deep and running fairly swiftly through the pipes.