Imperfect Genius

We aren’t sure what happened exactly, but for several weeks we’ve known a stray cat (or perhaps several) had been able to find a way in and out of the house because we discovered a chair covered in fur, where it had obviously been sleeping. And we noticed a cat running away from the house a couple times when we pulled into the driveway.

Because the house has been under renovation, it’s no longer sealed as most homes are. Baseboards have been removed, floorboards taken up, openings covered with plastic, etc. Somehow a cat found it’s way into the house and had kittens in the space beneath the porch. Work continued on as usual and because we didn’t know about the kittens, it’s possible that we enclosed the space in such a way that the mama cat couldn’t get back to them. Or maybe she was hurt while hunting for food in the neighborhood, which made the kittens orphans.

We don’t know what happened exactly, but we’re very sad all the same. What pains our hearts the most is the fact that, for one reason or another, the kittens starved to death and that means they suffered and were scared and no one was there to comfort them… it’s just very upsetting. I wish we could have discovered them sooner. I can’t help but cry when I think about it.

Chris feels like it was his fault because he nailed some floorboards back down last week. I pointed out that he couldn’t have possibly known and that maybe something else happened, but I understand why that doesn’t make him feel any better. The kittens still died, regardless of why. He’s also the one who found them, which makes it worse. There were five fuzzy, solid black kittens. He’s taking it very hard.