Let me start by saying I’m not a cat person. Nothing about cats ever gave me anywhere near the warm and fuzzy feelings I get from my dogs, because dogs are simply awesome. I can go on and on about my own, but this post is about a cat. Actually, it’s about a cat and the five kittens she decided to birth on our roof close to two months ago.

Well, it kind of goes further back than that when this mama cat was just a kitten herself and she, along with her kitten brother decided to make the ground under the bottom of our shed on the side of our house. They didn’t really make themselves seen much, probably terrified of my dogs but we definitely knew they were living under there. But then they just kind of went away until months later the female decided to make our roof her next home. Not being a cat person, I had no idea she was pregnant. She was very obviously young, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for this young mother as she tirelessly tried to communicate she really needed some help soon. This is where I realized that cats, at least some, can be pretty amazing. My husband was ready, from day one, to give her what she needed and I guess I was too but I could separate my feelings from the task of just providing for a needy animal.

We’ve provided very well for her, short of us rolling out the red carpet to the inside of our home. That’s not going to happen. Just ask the dogs. I have to stop my story here and say these kittens she had are absolutely adorable and they make me want to keep every single one of them. She had 2 females and 2 males and all but one look related. 4 have basically the same colors and just very slight variations in their coats. OK, so back to my story about the mama cat. What I find kind of interesting is that when she and her brother lived under our shed we never fed them once, never held or pet them with either. We hardly were able to ever lay eyes on them and when it seemed they were finally gone, we would occasionally see them together on our street. And we certainly didn’t feel any sort of connection to them. So why did she return? I don’t know enough about cats to know but one thing I do know and will say is that this black mama cat completely changed my mind about how cool cats are. They have different personalities just like dogs do. The whole idea about cats not needing you as much as a dogs and not seeking out affection like dogs really had me thinking I could never like a cat. Oh, I was wrong.

So now the kittens are ready to leave mama very very soon and there will be no need for “all the things” we’ve been doing while she takes care of them. But we can’t find it in us to just say goodbye to her. That would mean just leaving her out in the world to fend completely for herself. No more food and affection. No more anything and that’s too hard. We’ve decided that we’re going to take a risk and continue to be hospitable as well as prevent her from getting pregnant again. I’ve been calling her Minksi because of her mink-like coat and no one’s come up with anything else, so I think it’s going to stick. If anybody would have told me a year ago, I would be not only be okay with having a cat around, but actually really like her.