This post is the second part of a story I started last week. If you missed last week, catch up by reading Part I. But, to recap, I reunited a mother cat and her four kittens. Plus, I met the mama’s baby 10-month-old kitten from her previous litter. When I left Lake Guntersville State Park, I did so with the belief all six cats would soon be on their way to Ohio to live with Pat, an animal lover, I’d met at the campground.

I left thinking I wouldn’t be back for another year. I left thinking six cats had good lives ahead of them because they had a home and someone to take care of them.

So, now, before I continue with Part II of my story, please look at the title again. The first word. I have a story to finish but, if you are looking for happily ever after, this isn’t the post for you. In the end, I saved none. Or at least that’s how it feels.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

I said goodbye to mama, last year’s baby and four 4-week-old kittens. From Lake Guntersville I drove and hour north and spent 10 days in Huntsville. Then I went on to Hohenwald, Tennessee, where I had work done on Quill. After my trailer was serviced, I boondocked in Meriwether Lewis State Park (just outside of Hohenwald) for two weeks. And, in the middle of my time there, I said goodbye to my best good road dog, Solstice.

It wasn’t in my plan to stay in the area after the trailer was serviced, but I needed to wait for Solstice’s ashes. And that meant I might as well attend the Oliver Rally. And guess where it was? Yep, back in Lake Guntersville. After the heartbreak of losing Solstice, I thought it would be nice to be around people I knew. I’m so glad I ended up attending the rally.

Plus, as a rally side note, I learned ladder ball. Then, five minutes later, entered a ladder ball tournament with a partner who also learned five minutes earlier. And, three hours and seven games later, we emerged as the second-place winners.

Back to Lake Guntersville

I called Pat before heading back to see if he and the six cats was still there. He wasn’t. Then he told me he didn’t take any of the cats. Apparently, mama moved the four kittens in the days before he left and couldn’t find them.

So once I got set up, I went for a walk to look for them.

Turns out, they were easy to find. Mama had taken up residence under a big Class A a few campsites away from my site. The owner, an 80-year-old camp host, started feeding them, petting them. The kittens were almost double the size as when I’d left a month earlier.

Here, however, I’m afraid, the story takes a turn for the worse. A few days before I arrived, the two gray kittens—now seven weeks, more mobile and more adventurous—were playing near the camp host’s car. She didn’t realize it and went to leave. I’ll spare you the details but neither cat survived. She was devastated. So was I.

But, I became determined to find the rest a home. I was super sad two had been killed, but now it was two less to find homes for. New tally: four homeless campground kitties. Mama, baby from last year and two 7-week-old yellow kittens.

The mama and the two kittens stayed down at the camp host’s RV, but the baby from last year started hanging out at my trailer much like she had when I was there a month earlier. Mama still came around for food and pets. And I returned to feeding them daily.

Yellow Kittens

I found a woman at the campground who said she’d take the two kittens. Her granddaughter visited them every day, each day coming up with new names for the pair. Pancake and Waffles one day. Kitty and Katty the next. And so on.

From the internet I learned that kittens wean between 8 and 12 weeks so I shared with the woman their birth date and I told her if she waited a week, the kittens would be eight weeks and ready for a new home.

Later, one of her friends visited and when they walked by my trailer, the friend said she wanted to see the baby from last year. I know I had no right over these cats, but I took on the task of finding them homes so felt like I did have a right to say who could have them and who couldn’t. I wanted them to find a good home. Not just a home.

And I didn’t have a good feeling about the woman’s friend. Actually, it wasn’t about the woman herself as she was perfectly nice. It was more about the situation she described. I was convinced last year’s baby wouldn’t get vet care (and she really needed spayed to stop the cycle of spring kittens) and she’d mostly be fending for herself on the woman’s farm.

Fortunately, it turned out, she didn’t want last year’s baby. She said she needed kittens as she thought they’d adjust to her other animals better. I was glad to hear it because I had no idea how I was going to tell her she couldn’t have last year’s baby.

Because of the hot weather, each morning I got up early for a walk. And each morning I would end at the Class A to play with the kittens. They didn’t always come out if the mama wasn’t around so I didn’t think too much about it until three days had gone by without seeing them.

Turns out the woman’s friend took the two kittens. I only felt marginally better when the woman showed me a photo of her friend’s granddaughters playing with the kittens. At least they were indoors and loved. I sent out good wishes that they’d continue to be loved and care for as they outgrew the cute and small kitten stage.

And then there were 2 homeless campground kitties.

Another Move

Once mama had no babies to care for, she moved to my trailer for the constant attention and always-full food dish.

I wasn’t having any success with finding them a home. And the days were ticking away. So, I decided that, at least, I could stop the continual need to find homes. I’m not sure why but people in the area don’t get their pets spayed and neutered. I’d contacted several rescue groups without luck. The reason the rescue groups never got back to me, I’m told, was during spring and summer, they become overrun and overwhelmed with kittens.

I also researched and found an organization where I could buy spay certificates for $35, then take the cats to a specific vet and present the certificate. Problem was, they didn’t get back to me either. So I called the vet’s office and they told me it had been over a year since they’d seen one of those certificates. I assumed that meant the place was no longer operating.

Even though it meant paying full price, I made an appointment for mama and her little girl. We had one dramatic moment when mama jumped out of my van at the clinic. And the clinic is next to a highway. I had this sickening vision of taking her away from her home to do something good for her only to have her hit by a car. Ugh.

Fortunately, she didn’t go far. She hated being in Solstice’s kennel for the ride to the vet but she still trusted me so catching her was easy. I talked to her and she came right back to me.

To see this through, I ended up pushing back my departure date. Twice. First, the vet’s office said the cats would get dissolvable stitches but when I picked them up five days before I was scheduled to leave, the vet instructed me to bring them back in 10 days to have the stitches removed. So changed my departure, adding on an additional week to my stay in Alabama.

I returned to have the stitches removed two days before my new departure date. When the baby’s stitches were removed, she hadn’t healed, or even closed, all the way. The vet told me to watch her as she might have to come back in to close the wound. So, for a second time I pushed off my departure date. This time adding two more days. I figured it would give her a little more time in my trailer, out of the dirt and grass.

Oh, did I mention, after the surgery baby started spending about 16 hours a day sleeping in my trailer? Mama joined her baby for an hour or two at a time.

Homelessness Ain’t for Sissies

Years ago, I read that outside dogs and cats have an average life span that’s half of indoor dogs and cats. I assume a homeless outside dog or cat has a shorter one still. At only two years, mama kitty might be proof positive of this.

I don’t remember seeing this last year when I first met her, but when I saw her again this spring, I noticed a swath of fur missing near her back end. It’s subtle because other hair has grown over and around it but she’s definitely missing a chunk. I imagine something swatted her and it resulted in a scar where hair no longer grows.

Then when I returned to Lake Guntersville six weeks later, I immediately noticed her tail looked funny. It was floppy in an unnatural way. When I pet her, there was a prominent lump at the base of her spine. Bone, I think.

I’m not sure what happened—whether something like a coyote got her or a person was mean to her or if she just had an accident—but her tail is dead. I pinched it to determine if she had feeling in it. Nope. Now it’s a liability to her as she drags it around behind her.

I debated about getting her tail removed when I had her spayed but, had I done that, I wouldn’t have been able to get last year’s baby spayed. I made the call based on a belief that it was better for their health (and the community) not to produce more babies. No way to know if I made the right call.

Leaving Them Behind

In the end, I contacted four rescue groups without a single reply. I reached out to everyone at the Oliver Rally (about 200 people) as well as two people I know in the area. And I talked to many people in the campground. But I just couldn’t find a home for mama and last year’s baby.

You might be wondering why I couldn’t take them with me. Many reasons. First, my cat just hated them. She hates all other animals and never even liked Solstice. When the cats were in my trailer for food or naps, Kitty hissed up a storm. From her point of view, her life was pretty terrible during the month we were there.

Second, most campgrounds require cats to be inside cats or on a leash or in a pen when outside. Mama has been outside her whole life so making that conversion would be really hard. Baby would be easier but she would still need some training. And I’d run out of time.

Finally, after losing Solstice and with Kitty being 16-years-old, I’ve considered different possibilities when both have crossed the rainbow bridge. I might do some international travel. So, I just don’t feel I’m at a place where I can take on another 15+ year commitment.

Also, if I get another pet at some point in the future, I’d like another dog.

Another Goodbye

I was single-minded in my focus to save six cats. And I did everything I could think to do for a happily-ever-after ending. But at the end of this story, it’s all I have. Just an end of a story. No resolution. Just the continuation of the life. I got back on the road. And mama and last year’s baby continue to live in the campground.

I talked to five campground hosts, asking each one to please please please watch out for them. The 80-year-old host whose trailer mama had taken her kittens to was the most responsive so I purchased a 15-pound bag of food and left it with her. I told her about baby’s sutures and mama’s tail. I explained that baby wasn’t as skittish as she was when I arrived and it would only get better if she had human contact. The woman loved taking the yellow kittens into her RV and cuddling them. So I knew she might be willing to keep it up with baby and she happily said she would. She also said she would let baby sleep inside her RV.

For me, I desperately hope they will both be there next spring when I return for next RV Entrepreneur Summit. I may be able to get mama’s tail removed then. And, once again, I’ll try to find them a good and loving home.

Now, I’m no psychologist but even I know saving those cats had little to do with the cats (even though they would’ve been the beneficiaries had I actually been successful) and everything to do with Solstice. Afterall, I was fine to leave mama last year.

The formula is something like: I couldn’t save Solstice a month earlier so maybe I could make up for it by saving six cats. Plus it was because of Solstice that I ended up back at the campground the second time.

So, you can probably guess what driving away from the campground was like. Yep, I bawled like a baby. Because goodbye is hard.

Links to Referenced SSL Blog Posts Above:

• Rescuing 4 Kittens in Northern Alabama
• Obituary of a Supersize Dog
• Road Cat: Introducing Kitty

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