Stinker’s Little Stinkers

Stinker’s Little Stinkers, aka Stinker’s Kittens

Stinker was not my favorite of Tiger’s kittens. It’s not her fault, it just happened that way.

She was the last of the five to find a home, when I’d reached my limit of kitten poop and scratchy little claws. I quickly found homes for the others, and intended to find a home for the last little striped kitten, but the outrage from my guys convinced me to grudgingly allow her to stay. But she wasn’t my buddy. In fact, if we were going to keep a kitten, I had four other choices before her—and they all got adopted!

“We” settled on the name Stinker, but I’ll admit that I may have had a lot to do with that. Sort of my way of, “she can stay but everybody’s going to know that I don’t like it”.

Truthfully, she wasn’t a terrible cat, just rather a dud, in my opinion. Not all that friendly, but not really sassy, either. To me, she didn’t have much unique personality. And she was so striped! We already had a striped cat, Little Bit, who was full of enough personality for six cats, and I didn’t really want to bother trying to tell them apart.

But my family won, and Stinker stayed. They thought I was pretty rude to give all her siblings away.

Most cats work their way into my heart eventually, but I just didn’t really click with Stinker. She seemed whiney and talked too much. That Stinker, I’d say!

She’s two now.

One time during this past Winter, someone brought Stinker into the camper where my husband and I stay. She claimed a space on our bed—my side, of course! I just rolled my eyes and scooted her over to Greg’s side. She came back.

Well, apparently nobody told Stinker that she wasn’t my favorite. She let all of my indifference roll right off her back as she settled into the bed, purring loudly!

I rolled over and went to sleep.

The next days played out in a similar way, until I noticed that Poppy the Grump started attacking Stinker for no reason. Just out of the blue, she’d make an ambush. I rooted for Stinker.

Stinker is not so bad, I thought.

Stinker got pregnant. The attacks continued. We offered her a safe place, and somewhere along the way, I realized I sort of liked that old Stinker.

Stinker had babies two weeks ago! Wouldn’t you know? Two stripes, an orange tiger, and a black one! They are getting cute now, even the tiny little Stinkers! And Stinker? She’s the best mama cat ever! She adores her babies and proudly purrs when you come to visit!

Two More

Yesterday, I responded to a call for two tiny kittens with no mama. I picked them up, hoping we could pull one over on Stinker!

The kittens looked just like Stinker’s babies! They were tiny for their age, and starving, so they tried to nurse on my neck!

I put them into a little basket on the heated seat. With the engine running and that soft heat beneath them, they slept like babies all the way home.

At Home

When we presented the first kitten to Stinker, she looked at it like, “Where have you been all this time?” She quickly began licking it and rolled right over! The kitten had no problem figuring out what to do! Same with the next kitten. No problem at all!

Stinker did look a bit dazed, as she gazed at her expanded litter. The new kittens are more vocal shall we say! They have stirred up the pot a little, by plunging in and getting their milk. Last evening, Stinker had to growl a little to settle them all down, since the kittens all acted in the typical way—pushing and shoving, squawking and squeaking!

My Little Trick

When Greg came home last night, I said, “Let’s go see the kittens!”

“Ok, let’s go”

We traipsed up to the loft and Greg began chatting with the kittens and Stinker. All at once, he was like, “Wait—how did we get two orange ones? What in the world? How did this happen? Where did all of these come from?”

He looked genuinely confused, and I just laughed!

I explained about the orphan plight, and he looked relieved to know that he wasn’t seeing double! Then we all sat around and just enjoyed the kitten show.

So Stinker’s little stinkers are a real hoot! They are good for entertainment and for cuddling! And pretty soon, they’ll be good for adopting too!

Stories…

Over the years, we have enjoyed many cat stories. Some of my favorites have to be found in the James Herriot collection. We just love the Cat About Town, Buster, and the story about the Christmas Day kitten, although it makes me cry every time.

Those stories are all in Treasury for Children, but even more selected cat stories are in the James Herriot Cat Stories. James Herriot has such an engaging way of writing. You feel like you know the animals in his stories!

But don’t be fooled into thinking that James Herriot just writes stories for children—not so. In fact, the children’s collections are excerpts from his extensive library, written for everyone! We do enjoy his humor—usually at his own expense.

Do you enjoy cats?

Have a great day!

Laurie