My Worst Best Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day - when you’re single, it can be lonely; when you’re in a relationship, it can be stressful. Damn the greeting card industry and their made up holiday! Not surprisingly, I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day. I usually find myself alone or disappointed. But all that changed on February 14, 2013.

It started out as a pretty typical Valentine’s Day for me. I was in a relationship that was in it’s last year. I didn’t know at the time, but it would be the last Valentine’s with that ex. Our relationship was on the rocks and it was a disappointing day filled with unwanted gestures and arguing. On top of that, it was a rainy dreary day - not unlike this past Valentine’s. We got back to my place after our thoroughly unromantic “date” and I could hear crying outside. It sounded like a cat, but I did my best to ignore it. However, I could still hear it even once inside.

After not too long, I decided that I’d had enough of “romance” and asked my ex to leave. Once he was gone and some time had passed I went outside to investigate the crying. I fully expected to find a cat stuck in a tree as the crying was so loud. Instead, I found a cardboard box that was soaking wet lined with dingy wet towels and 4 ratty soaking wet jellybeans! One of them (I eventually found out it was a little girl) was crying at the top of her lungs. They were all huddled together and she was the only one hollering. 

I didn’t even think about it and just rushed inside with the box. Tbh, at first, I was afraid that they were rats or something because they looked so bedraggled and tiny. Once I got them cleaned up and dried off, I realized I had found 4 little tuxedo kittens. According to the vet, they must have been barely 2 weeks old when I discovered them. There were 3 little boys and one little girl. Boy did she have a set of lungs! It was really amazing that I heard her crying, she was such a tiny little nugget!

After a trip to the vet, I was told that they had an intestinal bug - not uncommon in feral born cats, but it was contagious. I had 2 cats already - Hocus and Hazel - and I couldn’t risk their health. But the babies couldn’t be adopted out until they were healthy. So, for the next 2 months, I had 4 kittens living in my bathroom!

I won’t lie, it was tough! I was going through some major personal changes at the time (I’ll save that story for another time…), working A LOT serving at the Ale House, all the while bottle feeding multiple times a day, teaching kittens how to pee - did you know that they needed to be taught? - giving them regular baths and being a human kitty condo! I was covered in tiny scratches from head to toe. It was to the point that, because I wore a short sleeved shirt at work, customers were often asking if I was ok or if there was a problem at home! Everyone sighed in relief and shook their heads chuckling whenever I replied, “No, just kittens.” Lol! Fun cat lady fact: Really young kittens can’t retract their claws - of course, I don’t know if it’s because they aren’t ABLE or just don’t KNOW that they can yet. Regardless, each kitten was equipped with 20 little staples that stuck out ALL THE TIME. It made it very easy to climb me, to my chagrin since all 4 would climb me at once! My solution? I would always go into the bathroom, fully covered. I wore jeans - found out the hard way that yoga pants aren’t thick enough - a thick hoodie, and yes I did have to pull the hood up over my head, as well as thick slipper socks. I even wore fingerless gloves! Bottle feeding those little gremlins could be dangerous!! Lol!

Those days all I did was get up, kittens, work, kittens, fall into bed exhausted then get up and do it all over. I really thought that I was going to lose it! One story that sums up my whole experience is the time I actually cried over spilled milk! I had just got home from a long shift at work and was preparing the formula for the kittens. I had some leftover formula from the morning still in a bottle in the fridge. I think it may have been the last bottle that I had or maybe the last nipple - Hanuman had a habit of chewing the nipples and I was going through them like crazy! Anyway, when I took the bottle out of the fridge, I dropped it and the bottle shattered, covering the kitchen floor with formula. So naturally I sat on the floor and bawled uncontrollably. My emotional state was very fragile, to say the least, I was “on a break” and wanted nothing from my ex, I was working full time and closing at work a lot. I had no time for myself and I snapped. So I literally cried over spilled milk! 

It was one of the hardest times in my life. Of course, taking care of the kittens added to my stress. But I realized later that the kittens helped me, too. During that period of time, I was lost. I didn’t know what direction my life would take and I was feeling really low. But I still had to get up because the kittens needed me to feed them. I didn’t sit and stew, I sat and let the kittens climb me. They needed me, they gave me purpose. I believe that they saved me.

The little girl went on to find a happy, loving home. But I couldn’t find anyone to take the boys. I wasn’t unhappy about that. After spending so much time with them for 2 months, I knew that they were already home. Just look at them now! The Big Three!! They’re my ratty little jellybeans that became my best forever Valentine’s Day presents!

Happy Gotcha Day to Krishna, Hanuman and Ganesha! Mama loves you to the moon and back!!