The Season Where Kittens Rain

My co-conspirator tonight is very small and rather quiet. She is resting on my shoulder, nestled at the nape of my neck. Her name is Fergie, and she is a kitten about six weeks old. Fergie and I would like to let you know that kitten season is upon us. It is whipping through The Underground Tailroad like a hurricane. You know it’s coming, you prepare, and you dread the arrival, but there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, that’s not really true. There is something you can do about it: spay and neuter your cats.

I will abstain from flouting statistics. I’m not one for scare tactics either. I’m not going to conjure up some graphic showing 1000 cats in a pile. I’m simply going to ask us to be mindful as stewards on this planet. Humans domesticated cats, and we have a responsibility toward them. It is our job to keep them healthy and to keep their numbers in line. Nature suffers from too many cats, and the kitties suffer, too; and, honestly, during kitten season, which really can stretch for months across the warm part of the year, animal rescuers everywhere suffer. We suffer from lack of sleep, bottle-feeding orphaned newborns who show up on the street or in shelters. We suffer from the burden of numbers, making space wherever and however we can. We suffer from not being able to save them all…these wee, harmless kittens which grow into lovely, adoptable, and often-euthanized cats. The same goes for dogs.

In May, alone, over forty kittens joined The Underground Tailroad. Some were old enough to go directly to rescues and adoption room floors. Some were visiting guests from partner organizations who needed bottle feeding and TLC. Many, many, many were from the Jackson County Animal Shelter or from community members who were going to take them to the shelter. In a lot of these cases, these are kittens born from owned, unneutered cats…not foundlings picked off the street. In some cases, these are litters born to mamas who had litters last year. I have people calling me, asking for help rehoming cats, and when I ask how old the cats are, I find out we’re talking great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and their children – kittens, that is. We do not have places for all of these cats, and we don’t like to watch them die. I’ve watched my animal control cohorts become attached to lovely creatures, only to have to kill them for lack of space or a cold induced by stress and a lack of a home. It seems hardly fair to the animals or to the people who care for them. If we care, really care, we spay and neuter.

Fergie has moved to the keyboard now. She is sleeping, curled up between my wrists. I love this little girl, with her orange forelock and kitten curls. I also don’t know if she’ll live. It’s tough being an orphaned kitten, and anyone who knows me knows that I fight for my kittens. Veterinary nursing training and a streak of obstinance, along with a deep-running sense of responsibility, mean that I battle hard for these darlings. But Fergie is having a really rough time. She doesn’t feel well, and she hasn’t felt like eating much. Bottle feedings are bittersweet. I work to save her with injectable fluids and oral medications throughout the day. She has her own little bed space, nice and warm, a nest where she can be comfortable. When I check on her, my pulse quickens a little, because I don’t know if I’ll find her alive or dead.  So, tonight, she is here with me, gently wheezing as I type. Her mama was feral and too hard to handle, and since we don’t yet have a program in place to help ones like her where we live, she was euthanized, leaving a whole litter behind. Fergie didn’t need to be born, but she is here, my little messenger, breaking my heart with every uncertain breath. If only we could combine breath and tears together to create a magic spell, one where humans take the initiative and spay and neuter, realizing such magic is a gift of love within our grasp.

I’m not sure what the answer is in order to make spay/neuter for our domesticated animals a societal norm. Some places do better than others. We have low-cost spay/neuter clinics across the country. Indeed, our own Asheville Humane Alliance in North Carolina performed 23,290 spay/neuter surgeries in 2011, alone (Humane Alliance, Facebook, 2 January 2012). Organizations provide vouchers to help lower costs for the surgeries, to make them more affordable, sometimes free. Transports are arranged to shuttle animals to and fro. Where I stand, outreach seems to be badly needed. We can’t count on people to take their animals in to be fixed, and often people are misinformed about when and how often animals reproduce. It takes them by surprise, and quite quickly can become overwhelming. When people are overwhelmed, sometimes they lash out and blame, and sometimes they shut down. Problem-solving becomes stuck in a bottleneck of frustration, perhaps even apathy. I know as well as others that there are some people who just don’t care. They don’t see a problem in the first place. But I am here to try to help change that.

I am sensible enough to know that change takes time. We have made strides in animal welfare through the years, so it isn’t all bad news. I’m also an optimist, with a keen belief in our human capabilities. At the same time, there are so many social issues we do not yet have a handle on. Realistically, it is going to take a lot of work, dedicated effort, and sacrifice to ameliorate this human-caused state of affairs, just as it is with pressing issues across the globe. Children go to bed without food. Mothers walk ten miles to get a couple gallons of water. Families lose their homes due to financial crises or the turbulence of nature. People fight and kill each other every day. But I believe if we turn to our communities, work together, depend upon each other, we create an infrastructure for a caring society. I believe we each have skills to bring to the table, and it is how we tie them together that matters. Honestly, I want to live in a society that cares about kittens just as much as it cares for humans, because THAT society demonstrates deep empathy. Deep empathy is strong. That’s an infrastructure which can withstand the challenges of life, overcoming them with creativity and purpose.

For my part, I am here with Fergie, whose tiny paw is draped across the back of my hand. I am here with her sisters and brothers. I am here with some mama cats and their kittens. Heck, there is even a litter of puppies riding the Tailroad that is my life these days. We are in this together, just as you are with us. My son is eight years old, and, if anything, he is a testament as to the potential the future may bring, for he witnesses the work, the triumphs and the suffering and the losses, and he understands quite easily what it is I am asking for. He believes in it. I’ve woven it into his reality. Reaching to our children is one of the best things we can do for the future. But for now, it is midnight, and it is time for me to bottle feed some more babies before heading to bed and hoping that Fergie may live to purr tomorrow.

Beginnings that Continue

I’m not very certain how The Underground Tailroad began. All I know is that I live and breathe it every day, just as it challenges me every day to be a better human being. It isn’t just an animal rescue effort; it is a state of mind. You see, I believe we have the power as individuals and organizations to work together to make life better for all living things on this planet. Too often we cut ourselves off from one another, and gaps arise. Gaps are insidious and open the door to the creation of bigger problems down the road. We become entrenched in our own visions and miss the blind spots. We strive to reach goals while ignoring the goals of others. We look to the now or live in the past and forget there is a future, especially in this time of instant gratification with technology at our fingertips. With so much information available to us, it can be overwhelming, and we can easily fall into the trap of circling the wagons instead of exploring new horizons.

The Underground Tailroad loves new horizons, the creation of new solutions to old problems, seeing problems as opportunities, the building of relationships across cultures and organizations. It asks only that one keeps an open mind and a love for others at hand. It offers a welcome mat for those standing out in the cold and rainy moments of life, and, I hope, offers them sunshine and optimism. It will continue to be a constant work of progress, just as a human’s journey is. We strive, we triumph, we fail, and we have to continue striving nonetheless. We also need to remember that there are neighbors all around us, and they come in all shapes and sizes and forms. We need each other in order to thrive.

Now, I AM an animal welfare advocate. It is as natural to me to fight for the feathered, furry, and purry, as it is to breathe. It spills out of my pores and has throughout the entirety of my life. But I see our relationships with animals as being integral to having a prosperous society. Humans can be cruel, and it has been demonstrated that humans who are cruel to animals lean toward being cruel to other humans, as well. So, on the one hand, we have animals as an indicator as to how humans may treat each other. But we can flip this relationship, too, as I choose to do, and see animals as a driver for change.

For example, the number of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is on the rise in the United States and beyond. So much is still being discovered about ASD, but it is recognized that animals, particularly our canine companions, can truly help children on the spectrum with their sensory integration issues. A dog can connect a child with his or her family and world in a unique way. If we can truly recognize this tie that binds, how a furry friend can open doors, then we become better human beings. This relationship is not limited to children with ASD. We see such relationships, this building of connections and empathy, across many levels, from therapy dogs for veterans with PTSD, to children becoming confident readers with dogs as reading buddies. With bullying becoming a mainstream issue in our public school system, it would seem to me that we’d do well to look to the opportunities of the human-animal bond to create confident, caring children who can grow into resilient, compassionate adults.

I’d also like to take a moment and focus upon our relationship with animals through the lens of what we eat. We stuff our faces with whatever is presented to us, most of the time. So often we are hustling and bustling through life that it is just easier to grab something to eat without a moment of conscience, but if we are going to create a strong global society, we are going to have to slow down and consider the ramifications of our choices and actions. We allow animals to suffer through farming practices that are degrading. They aren’t just degrading at a level of quality of care and lack of scruples for the animals. These practices are degrading in reflection of being human. We tolerate cruelty at an epidemic level because it isn’t staring us in the face. By the time a chicken is on our plate, it has no voice, and our cravings take over our conscience and commitment for compassion. We take very little ownership as individuals for the suffering of others, but the truth is that, as individuals, we are responsible for the suffering of others every day.

Every day of my life I wake up with a to-do list a mile long. The list is not just one of action but one of thought, and it is constantly evolving with much room to grow…so much room to grow. It isn’t without frustrations. There are plenty of those, most of them my own making. It takes an extra second to reflect upon one’s self-made frustrations, and when we live busy lives, taking that second requires an effort than can definitely be a personal challenge. Pause and reflect is easier said than done. Yet, as I work with various organizations and with community members, I find the personal growth to be remarkable. The Underground Tailroad thrives upon these relationships because they go to show how easily we build walls instead of bridges, but bridges are so much better. I choose to build bridges, and I hope you make that choice too.