[greglovesoldtrucks]

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.

[Diana Holbrook]

It's a sweet kitten. Congratulations.


(And nice work saving it's life.... I'm sure you did!)

[greglovesoldtrucks]

Thanks, but my wife was the one that actually saw what was going on and saved it. I am just the support system now I guess.

[stan4]

I have a 7 yo son who would NEVER do anything like that. He was never a tail puller or jump on the dog kind of kid.

I also have a younger girl, but she seems naturally gentle and affectionate with animals.

You DO have to teach kids appropriate behavior with animals. The animal rules, so to speak (I had to teach them how certain behaviors were inappropriate in dog culture, etc), are not always obvious/intuitive.

But "Don't toss a baby cat into a storm drain" is pretty self-explanatory.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by greglovesoldtrucks

Thanks, but my wife was the one that actually saw what was going on and saved it. I am just the support system now I guess.

Yes, and you look like you're doing just fine.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by greglovesoldtrucks

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.....

That last pic says kitty is there to stay!

[Parnassia]

I've met kids who really seemed not to understand what was cruel and what wasn't. They didn't seem able to extend empathy beyond themselves. I've met kids who were actively malicious too, going out of their way to torture something and enjoying the spectacle. I've rescued animals from thoughtless kids before. When I explained what happened to the animal the lightbulb seemed to go off and they got upset and very remorseful. It became real. They didn't act as if they intended to actively hurt from the get go. Think about the kids who shoot a bird with their first BB gun. The fact that they actually caused injury or death hits them after the fact.

I once babysat two brothers at my house, not theirs. I loved roaming around the area hunting for lizards and snakes. Thought the boys would enjoy it too. We walked along a concrete flood control channel where I often found reptiles basking on the concrete. I saw a rattlesnake down in the bottom of the channel (behind chain link fence, barbed wire, 12 feet below us...not remotely dangerous) and pointed it out to the boys, telling them a bit about snakes. Next thing I knew, the younger boy had picked up a large rock, shoved it through a gap in the fence, hit the snake and broke its spine. It would take it days to die. I was furious and let him have it, explaining how cruel he had been and how the snake would suffer for nothing. Both boys were immediately remorseful, crying, and worried about how to help the snake. I found a way to climb down into the channel and put the poor thing out of its misery.

I suspect more often the disconnect is that they can't imagine what the possible outcome of their actions would be. Here's a kitten. Grandmother told us to get the kitten out of her house. The kitten keeps following us. Here's a storm drain. If we put the kitten in it the kitten can't follow us. The storm drain has water in it. We get curious...can kittens swim? We've never seen that before. It doesn't occur to them that it might be terrified or drown. They don't connect the dots. The dots are all separate in their minds.

[movingvanmorrison]

Some do, some don't.
Just to make sure, it's better to teach than not to teach.

[jbgusa]

My mother married my stepfather, who had a Royal Standard Poodle, when I was 17. I did not know what he wanted when he rested his head on my lap and started nudging my hand. I asked my stepfather if he was lining up for to bite.

[petsandgardens]

That last picture especially...looks like kitty found a home.