storm drain rescue

There has been a small white and multi-color cat hanging around the back yard for a few months now. And it became quite obvious a while ago that she was going to be a momma…best guess is that she delivered sometime around the fourth of July…in the neighbor’s garage. We had decided that we were going to talk to the neighbor, ask them not to disturb them (if possible) for a little bit and we would get them out of the garage and deal with them. Usually momma would come to eat and then rush right back to the garage to her little ones. Last Sunday she was hanging around, didn’t seem inclined to go anywhere but also wouldn’t really settle down in one spot. I walked up to the garage with our neighbor Tim and we looked thru the windows, saw no sign of kittens…when the woman who lives there came home we went up to talk to her. Her daughter, about 10 years old or so, answers the door with a tiny little furball in her hands. Evidently momma was moving them and they thought she had left one behind and took in and were bottle feeding it. I asked if I could reunite it with its momma and she handed him right over. Momma and baby were both thrilled to be reunited. She settled down and let him feed a bit…then she picked him up and off she went…with 5 of us following. She started out heading towards an empty house across the street. Not a bad place, there was room under the porch so I was thinking ok, not a bad place for the kittens…but NO!!! she comes back off of the curb and down a storm drain…really? Sigh…ok so we look in and there she is with the kitten all settled in. Forward to yesterday….we got home last night and Tim is fashioning a sling type of thing out of a pillow case and string. His plan was to lower it in to the drain, nudge the little guy onto it, pull it up, and then hopefully momma would come out on her own…we change clothes and go to help out, taking a carrier with us. Come to discover that she can’t (or won’t) come out of there. We are waiting for another neighbor to appear with his implements of destruction (pry bar and pick ax) and then we are going in…well Tim gets tired of waiting, grabs the grate and lifts it right out of there! Fortunately the drain is only about 2 feet deep, and the bottom is covered in dirt and weeds. So no worries about stray snakes/alligators etc that used to be family pets and got dumped in there or anything….Mike goes in. The problem is that there is a bar across the middle preventing free movement. He gets in there but can’t turn/bend to get to them. He comes out and in I go…I ended up straddling the bar and even then it was quite the twist to get them. Handed the kitten out and then reached for momma. She didn’t fuss or anything. I figure if she hadn’t been out of there since Sunday she was probably too weak to really put up a fight…got them both into the carrier and they are now safely tucked away in our spare room.

We think that unfortunately she had the other 6 in the drain when the storms rolled thru Saturday night 

Tim is asking about when the kitten will be ready to leave momma. We told him about 2 months and are going to try to talk him into taking both of them….

Good job, and thanks for rescuing them both!

Thank goodness the little girl saved one. Those poor other babies!:(

But momma and baby are alive, thanks to you two! What's mud and dirt when it's a mom and baby?:D:love::love::love:

Oh my God....

God bless you and these little ones you rescued. I'm so sorry about the ones that were lost.

:love::love::love::love::love::love::love::love:

Oh they are both so precious! Bless you for saving them.

God BLESS you for saving them!!! Nature is cruel. But at least they're safe.

You and Tim have earned your "rescue wings"!!

Our Awesome Angel Army has gathered up the Litte Angels and soon they will find homes with Our Angels , and be adopted and be part of a group of Angels visiting all the Wold.
They will be Eternal Baby Angels and have an extra good time as their start in life was so sad.:love:
God Bless You for saving that Momma Cat and her Baby , that Kitten is truly so wonderous:love::love:

I'd guess the kitten is about 2 weeks old. Good job on the rescue!