It was during this our second summer, that a single incident was yet again to change our whole direction of life, it simply began one afternoon when I was about to feed Yakky, the now elderly and almost blind duck which I had begged my parents to be allowed to keep. Since moving back home she had become my responsibility once more, so I made her a little play pen near to the parameter of our land, and in her little domain she had a small hut in which to shelter and a tiny oval pond that I had dug out, concreted and filled with water for her, and each time it rained it kept the water topped up nicely. This particular afternoon I went into the enclosure with her food but couldn’t see her anywhere, so I called her name, fully expecting her to come waddling through the ground level ‘pop hole’ situated at the front of the hut, but she didn’t appear. So I opened the door, and saw in one corner a rather traumatised duck, and in the opposite corner of the second compartment, lying on Yakky’s straw bedding, were four black and white spitting, snarling balls of fury. The feral foursome couldn’t have been more than four to five weeks old, and so I presumed the mother cat had deposited them out of harm’s way in Yakky’s hut, a safe haven indeed, and with live food en suite! I managed to retrieve my duck without being set upon by the kittens, and quickly left them to their own devices, hoping meanwhile the mother cat would return to take them smartly back from whence they came. The rest of the afternoon and most of the evening I spent in a sort of makeshift hide, a duck tucked under one arm- simply because it was the safest place for her, considering there were afghans almost everywhere – and in the other hand a pair of binoculars focused on the little hut. But I waited in vain, for the mother cat never returned. I strongly objected to having four more mouths to feed, but it was either that or let them starve. Had they been all friendly, perhaps I wouldn’t have resented them quite so much, but as it was, the food had to be thrown in their direction, and it was only retrieved by them when I was well out of sight. The duck took up residence inside the confines of our new home, the doorways being fenced across to stop it from wandering. As may be imagined, this state of affairs made it more than awkward for us when we needed negotiate the wheelbarrow and such – like in and out of the house, while circumnavigating an inquisitive duck! Eventually, as one would expect the kittens being the curious creatures they are, couldn’t resist a closer look at the object which brought their food, so gradually at feeding times, the space between us began to lessen, till eventually they became so domesticated they actually ate from a plate, instead of grabbing the meat and returning to base to devour it, like the wild animals they were initially. But that was all very well, one problem at least being solved; the kittens could now be removed from the pen and Yakky could return to her rightful home – but what on earth could I do with the four kittens? They were now dicing with death on a daily basis by getting nearer and nearer to the afghan enclosures. There was only one thing for it, another pen would have to be erected to house them, but this time it would have to be completely enclosed or they would be able to climb out. The house building stopped for a while whilst we worked on the kitten pen. We chose a sheltered site under a large apple tree where we built a chalet style wooden house which had four separate beds inside. Outside we cemented several small tree stumps into a flagged area and beyond this was a small lawn, It was then all enclosed with chicken wire. The news that we had some rather lovely spacious ‘cat kennels’ seemed to spread quickly round our neighbourhood, and in no time at all I was getting enquiries about looking after other people’s cats whilst they were on holiday, and these owners actually asked how much I charged! Realising that it would help enormously with the finances by running a cat kennelling business from home I applied for a licence, selected further desirable sites and extended the feline accommodation by building more and similar units.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 07:25:31 +0000
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