Watching Cats

Last week tiny Miss Dumpling had her first litter of kittens.  She is only one year old and can be forgiven for her lack of experience in picking a safe spot to give birth.  Possibly the labor pains came on her suddenly or maybe she just wanted to stay cool in this Oklahoma heat wave we’re having, but I found the new family of 5 right on the edge of our little goldfish pond.   You can see her little calico face peeking out under this ornamental grass left of the frog.

I could just envision the little ones venturing out in a couple weeks and falling promptly in the pond, but before I could get very worried, she had moved them nearer to the house.  The next day I found them on the other side of the house.  Then in the tongue of a hay trailer and today she has outsmarted me completely and I can’t find them at all!

Our other farm cat mama, Mrs. Morgan, was always much more predictable.  Her maternity route was barn loft…brick pile…euonymus shrub. And when I called “kitty, kitty” she always answered me and gave away her position.

I have a feeling it’s going to be more difficult to keep track of these new kittens and get them gentled down for new owners, but it will be a bit of adventure and mystery, both of which I usually enjoy.

I did have an unsettling adventure with a cat of a different breed a few years ago, though.  As I was returning from a walk one evening, I saw a big black cat run across our country road into some tall CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) grass.  It was much larger than my black tomcat; more the size of a big bobcat, but it had a long tail that curved down and almost touched the road as it ran. 

I hurried home to the computer and looked up wild cats.  The only photo that really matched was that of a black leopard or jaguar, sometimes wrongly called a black panther. Neither of these is supposed to live in Oklahoma, however.  

I told a couple hunter friends about my sighting and they tried to convince me it was probably just a big domestic tom cat or a bobcat and that the evening light had distorted its size and color. And could I just have imagined that long tail?

From then on, though, I kept a careful watch when I was walking!  I didn’t see him again for a couple years.  Then one evening about dusk, he ran across the road only 20 feet in front of my car.  I got a real good look this time!

When my husband Bob and I talked to a local game ranger friend, he did acknowledge there were other similar reports, but he wouldn’t confirm there could actually be a beast like this here in northwest Oklahoma.  Finally, however,  Bob and I both saw him this year about a mile from our house, crossing the highway.  He does exist!

Did he escape from a zoo somewhere?  Was someone trying to raise him as a pet and gave up?  Could he have been part of a government relocation project? I don't know.  I just hope he continues to be afraid of us and always runs fast in the opposite direction.  I like cats, but I can do without this wild kingdom type adventure again.

Today I'll resume the search for Mrs. Dumpling's family.  I want to find them and know them better.  I would prefer, however, that their black cousin stays well hidden somewhere... for a very long time!