With so many wonderful places to see, I try not to I returned to the same place. But sometimes it cannot be helped. In March, I went back to Lake Guntersville State Park to attend the RV Entrepreneur Summit. Since I’d already experienced the place less than a year earlier, I made no adventure or site-seeing plans. It turns out, it was just as well since the campground itself came with enough adventure and drama. By the time I left, I had spent a good deal of time worrying about and rescuing cats.
The story actually starts more than a year ago when I stayed at Lake Guntersville State Park for the 2018 Oliver Travel Trailer Owners’ rally. I booked a month at the campground because of the price break and because I don’t love the travel part of the traveling life.
During my stay, I met a small friendly cat who loved to be pet. Whenever I saw her, she’d fall on the ground and wait for for me to pet her, sometimes rolling on her back to present her tummy for rubs. She’d start purring before I even touched her. I saw her on a regular basis and started leaving food for her.
The best and funnest thing about this cat was that she wasn’t afraid of my dog, Solstice. Solstice grew up with my cat, Kitty. Kitty didn’t like Solstice from the day I brought her home until the day she died. But campground kitty wasn’t like Kitty. Solstice would stand over her and expect her to scramble away the way Kitty did. Instead, campground kitty would rub up against Solstice’s legs, would raise her face to Solstice so they could go nose-to-nose sniffing each other.
I inquired about the cat at the campground office and was told one of the camp hosts fed her but that she didn’t really belong to anyone. I considered making her part of the road crew, despite the fact that it was a terrible idea because of my tiny space and because Kitty took to campground kitty exactly the same way she took to Solstice. Hissing, angry growling and generally wishing the other dead.
As the month progressed, campground kitty got fatter and, even though she was tiny and probably only a year old, it became clear she was pregnant. Trying to take her with me was a bad idea to begin with, when I figured out that she was pregnant, it became an impossible one.
Fast Forward 10 Months
As I said, I arrived back at Lake Guntersville State Park for the RV Entrepreneur Summit in mid-March. After setting up at my site, I settled in for the night. And early the next morning I headed to the bathhouse for a shower because I prefer showering in bathhouses rather than my trailer.
Halfway there, who do I see? Yep, campground kitty. I recognized her right away even though she was five or six trailers away and I called to her. I don’t know if she recognized me too or if she just has a keen sense of whether someone will be kind to her, but she came running. It surprised me, how happy I was to see her.
After that, she fell back into the previous year’s pattern by hanging out at my trailer. I pet her, fed her and, unfortunately, noticed how fat she was. Again. Fatter than when I left the year before so she was either farther along or had more babies in there.
A few days later she disappeared and the next time I saw her she was skinnier. By my calculation her kittens were St. Patrick’s Day babies. After that, she came around every morning for food and sometimes again at night. But mostly she stayed away, carrying for her babies I assumed.
I tried to find where she stashed the babies. It was late March so the trees were just beginning to bud for the season and weren’t yet so full as to make them impassable. Solstice and I walked through the woods across the street from the campground as I’d seen her cross that street many times. We walked the “B” section of the campground where I parked since that was the section she seemed to stay in. I looked under campers, called to her. But no luck.
Pat, the guy in the site next to mine and also a big animal lover, set up a kennel outside under his trailer with blankets, hoping she’d bring the little ones there where they’d be safe and warm and protected from the elements. He was also feeding her. Still, no luck.
Lost Babies
Then a couple weeks later, I was in a conversation with a fellow camper when she told me a kitten fell out of the bottom of her trailer. Turns out, mama put the kittens up inside the trailer, under the floor. The woman took care of the one that fell out but was leaving in a couple days. She lived in the area so would be putting her trailer in the storage area at the park rather than taking it back home again.
I told her about the kennel Pat set up, asked her to bring the kittens over there when she left. Or to let me know, and I’d do it.
Two days later, her trailer was gone.
And that morning I’d seen the mama so I knew she wasn’t in the moved trailer. And the kennel was empty. The storage area is at the end of the regular camping area. And Lake Guntersville State Park is a big campground.
I felt angry at the woman for moving the trailer, presumably with the babies still inside. If mama never found the babies, they’d starve and die. And, really, what was the woman thinking? It would also mean she’d have dead cats under the floor of her trailer.
If I tell myself to see the woman with kindness then I tell myself she must’ve figured mama would hear or smell or somehow otherwise figure out where they were.
However, I was convinced there was no way mama would find those babies as the distance between where she’d left them and where they presumably now were was too great. Granted, I know nothing about cats. So I could have been wrong.
Still, I worried about starving babies all morning as I went into town to do my grocery shopping.
It felt like a long shot but, when I got back, I decided to drive to the RV storage area before unloading my groceries. At least 30 trailers lined the area and I had no idea which one they’d be in. And I really didn’t want to crawl under 30 trailers.
I drove up the dirt road between the two rows of trailers. I turned around and drove back down again. It was hot and muggy so I have no idea why I thought to do this but I turned off my radio, my air conditioner and I rolled down the window.
Found Babies
I heard something.
Tiny mewing. I jumped out of the van and listened again. Another mew. I turned to the sound and saw the little gray fur ball on the ground under a trailer.
I picked up the tiny thing. It was still too young to walk. I wondered if the woman moved the trailer and left the kitten where she’d found it days before. Under her trailer. The kitten seemed okay, probably hungry and probably confused. But otherwise okay. At least if the amount of mewing was any indication.
I listened but heard no other kittens. So I drove to my trailer and unloaded the groceries. Now what? I had no idea. The gray no-tail kitten kept sucking on my fingertips. I don’t know the age when kittens can eat but I thought I’d try soft cat food. It was messy but I got a little bit down her. Or him. And that calmed the mewing.
While this was going on, Kitty hissed up a storm at the invader in her house. I thought (hoped) maternal instincts might kick in because the kitten was so little. Nope. Kitty hated the little one as much as she hated her/his mother.
Solstice, on the other hand, filled with curiosity, kept trying to shove her big nose at the kitten to investigate.
Traveling with pets, some days, feels like a circus life rather than an RV life.
At least, I saved one. I told myself. Then I started thinking. Maybe there was a chance, even if a slim one, I could find the other ones and coax them out. I returned to the trailer where I found the gray fluff in the storage area. This time I crawled under it.
I’ll spare you the details of how long it took, how dirty and sweaty I got and what I had to do to get to them. But, some time later, I drove back to my trailer with four kittens, including the gray no-tail one.
I fed the others then put the four in Pat’s kennel. I left the door open since they couldn’t walk in hopes the mama would hear or see them or smell them when she came back to our area of the campground for food.
And she did.
She would spend the next three weeks in Pat’s kennel tending to her babies.
Solstice Loves Babies
Solstice was enthralled with the little kittens. I’m not sure if it was love or just simple curiosity. Every single time we went outside, she’d pull me toward the kennel where she’d stick her big head in to see what the kittens were doing.
Since mama was used to Solstice, she wasn’t worried at all. She stayed perfectly calm, albeit alert, whenever I picked up her kittens or Solstice pushed her big nose into the babies.
I wished I’d gotten photos of Solstice with the kittens. It was adorable and sweet.
In the Meantime
So, while the days and weeks passed as the drama of the mama and her kittens unfolded, another cat began hanging around for morning and evening food. In between, I’d often find the new one under my trailer or sprawled on the picnic table at my site.
The new cat was tiny and looked suspiciously like the mama. Plus the two played together and the mama was often licking the other one.
It doesn’t take a genius to conclude the little one was from mama’s litter the previous year.
I Say Goodbye
Pat agreed to take all six cats with him when he returned to Ohio. He wasn’t sure when he was going to leave but thought in another month or so. I was glad they’d have a home, food and love. I said goodbye to the little nuggets, their mama and last year’s baby.
And I went to my next destination. I felt good about what I’d done and how I was leaving. I reunited a mama with her four kittens. Plus, I found them a home.
Pat and I had many discussions about the feasibility of him taking on six cats. Keep in mind, he already had two indoor-only cats in his trailer. However, unlike Kitty, his cats liked the campground cats. Pat told me he frequently found last year’s baby or mama on his RV step with his two cats interacting with them through the screen door.
Now, you might think this is the end of the story. At time I said goodbye, I certainly thought it was too. Turns out, it’s just the beginning. Come back next week and I’ll finish the tale.
Links to Referenced SSL Blog Posts Above:
- RV Entrepreneur Summit: A Recap
- 5 Best Things I Heard at the Oliver Rally
- Road Dog: Introducing Solstice
- Road Cat: Introducing Kitty
- Obituary of a Supersize Dog
- Tips for Using an RV Campground Bathhouse
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I hope you took cats to a spay and neuter clinic?
You are such a generous person. I love this story!
Very sweet story!
Love the story. The cliff hanger is too much. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story.
Can’t wait to read the rest of the story…
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Loved the story … looking forward to the ending. Love, Marie