Kittens Update from Jessica

A few people have asked for an update on the kittens that we wrote about earlier, so we gave Jessica the task:

The kittens have moved up to the accommodation block recently. Their mom has officially disowned them; whenever they come near her she hisses to ward them off. Baggie, the black kitten, has discovered how easy it is to catch the free range chicks, and has gone from being the skinniest of the three to the plumpest and sleekest. Petrus (the farm manager) is not thrilled with Baggie, but one of the dogs that they bring to the office recently ate 3 chicks, so he is a little quieter about the matter now.

While it is fun the watch the kittens playing together, there are some disadvantages to having them live by us. One is that they like to be on schedule and loudly complain when their meals are served too late. We had an open garbage bin sitting out, and I noticed that two of the kittens were sitting on the rim, picking things out. I went closer and saw that the third, Cleo, was digging in the garbage can, eating some beef bones. She was concentrating so hard on this that I was able to pick her up by the scruff of her neck. She somehow managed to hiss with a big beef bone in her mouth at the same time. As soon as I let her go she was off and running… with the bone firmly clasped in her little teeth! After we found all the garbage from that container spread all over the tarmac, we brought a garbage can with a lid up. Kittens are very inquisitive, and though they can often save themselves, it is not always possible.

Cleo the kitten had a big ‘Adventure’ two Wednesdays ago. I was coming back from preschool when I heard this loud meowing coming from down the hill towards the jungle. I thought it was just a hungry kitten so I went to look. I was standing on top on the septic tank and realized it was coming beneath me… in the septic tank. There was a large hole in the side, and the poor thing must have fallen in or been chases in there by a dog. I went down the office and told mom, but she wasn’t worried because she thought it was safe on a ledge. She and dad went a little ways off and tried to calmly discuss what to do. Micayla and I sat on the front step of our house. Then I heard a splash come from the tank. I looked in and saw that the Cleo was trying to climb out of the dirty water: up a vertical wall opposite of me. I tried hard not to freak out as it kept falling back into the water. It had its paw stuffed into a chink between the bricks, and it kept on falling into the water. We tried to pull it out with a long stick, but it couldn't hold on. I found a long wide board and we stuffed that down the hole. It grabbed on, and we went away to leave the kitten to climb out itself because it was still afraid of us and might jump back into the water if we frightened it. Mom and dad went back to the office because they thought it would climb out itself. But they made us promise not to try and pull the kitten out ourselves. We went around putting up signs in the bathroom and telling people not to flush any toilets, as this might cause a wave and wash the kitten back into the water... So we told Baba Gwala, one of the Zulu farm workers, and he was very concerned. He came and carefully pulled the kitten out. We were afraid that it might fall back in but it didn't. Where this kitten would usually disappear in the blink of an eye when a human was close enough to tough it, it didn’t move as he lifted it of the plank on which it had been rescued. Cleo was way too weak to even move. Dad came and gave it a bath, but still it just lay there. Then we dried it off and took turns holding it and feeding it warm milk to keep it warm. I had made a bed for it with a cardboard box and a hot water bottle to keep it warm. After it was fed and warm, it began to purr VERY loudly. I suspect it liked being pampered. After another meal and a long nap, it was ready to go, so we put it outside. Cleo had a moment where she was torn between the nice warm house and her bed with the hot water bottle in it, and the free and wild life of the outdoors. In the end she chose the out doors. I suppose the blood of the African wild cats flows thick in her veins, and no amounts of love and creamy milk will wash that away. The whole ordeal took about 3 hours. We don't know how long it was in then skeptic tank... I had heard meowing the day before coming from the same spot, but if it was hanging onto the side of a vertical wall, it was probably only in there for minutes before I heard it. But it is alive, and will wander into our kitchen and ask for milk whenever it is hungry, and its siblings will tag along too. She is still a little timid, but there are times where she feels relaxed enough to play with our fingers. This story will probably bring out a few chuckles, at the very least a smile, but I tell you, I have never felt more anxious and scared than the first few moments when I saw it swimming around in that septic tank. As we said later, nothing deserves to die that way.