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The Preacher’s Corner
By Rev. Dr. Milton Winter Please do not bring me any more kittens Someone
did a terrible thing to me last week. About supper time last Thursday,
subject or subjects unknown left a cardboard box with four kittens
beside the driver’s side door of my car. As it
happened I was heading out to vacuum my car. I had earlier shifted some
boxes in the carport, and spotting this one with the kittens — I did
not as yet realize there were animals inside — assumed I had missed a
box and sort of tossed it on top of the others in the corner. I had the
vacuum running and so did not hear anything from the box. However, when
I finished cleaning the car and switched off the vacuum, I heard
furious mewing, and immediately thought one of the neighborhood strays
had given birth to kittens in the shrubbery around my house. It was
only then, upon careful investigation that I discovered what was in the
box. Whoever brought me those kittens surely does
not know me personally, or they would have realized that I know
absolutely nothing about kittens! They were not old enough to have
their eyes open and were crying — not screaming — piteously. I could
tell they were very, very hungry. Who would take little babies that
young from their mother? The box had towels in the bottom, so they had
not simply climbed in. Two of the kitties were gray and white, two were
all gray. My first thought was to call a friend
who works with our local humane shelter. She said they were overwhelmed
with animals and could not accept any more just now. It is no wonder.
My own neighborhood is overrun with cats and dogs that apparently
belong to nobody. Everybody down here likes to claim they are
“pro-life,” but once it is born, they just turn it loose and let it
wander. I think the real attitude is “pro-birth.” And yes, I think it
applies to the way we treat humans as well as animals. Knowing
that something had to be done, I checked online what a kitten with its
eyes not yet open needs, and headed out to Walmart in the hope that
they would still be open and would have the special “cat-milk
substitute” that was recommended. I remembered somehow that cow’s milk
is not right for cats. They did, and so I fed the wriggling little ones
with a dropper. Finally after many dropper-fuls they quieted down and
went to sleep, all in a pile in the center of their tiny box. My dog
was going crazy with all this racket, so I bedded the little ones down
in the utility room—thankfully it was still hot outside that night, for
baby animals must be kept warm. Church business
was taking me to Iuka the next morning, so I decided to see if any of
the shelters over that way had room. I was in luck! The nice people at
the Corinth Animal Shelter said to bring the babies right over, so
after an early morning feeding we set out for Alcorn County. The sound
of the car’s engine immediately quieted the crying kittens, and I was
reminded of the story my parents used to tell, that riding me in the
car was the only way to quiet me when as an infant I suffered from the
colic. I cannot say enough good things about the
Corinth Animal Shelter. It is where I found my own dog, “Gracey.” In
fact, they just happened to have another dog last week that could have
been Gracey’s mother or sister. But Gracey does not want any
competition for my company, so I just left the kittens and a donation
and drove on to Iuka, with a prayer that all would turn out for those
helpless little quadruplets. When I got home my
phone was ringing with offers of help from Holly Springs animal lovers
who had heard what had happened. God bless our little town; we do stick
together! So the story turned out all right. In the meantime, please do
not bring me any more kittens. I wish I could gather up all the
homeless creatures and make them all pets. But this is not a perfect
world, and if you would, give a donation to our humane shelter, or
volunteer to help those good folks, and let’s try to make sure so many
homeless, helpless animals are not brought into the world to fend for
themselves. “My kittens” were among the lucky ones. A sadder fate
awaits so many others. We can make a difference, and I hope you will
resolve to do so.
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