The lessons have been rich in adopting these three kittens. It has added a level of responsibility that I never had as I chose not to have children. These three little kittens are my babies, my sole responsibility. They depend on me to feed them, clean up after them, love them, play with them, teach them. At times it has felt overwhelming doing it all on my own, something I am sure my single mom and many other single moms feel. I am blessed with a reprieve as the neighbors in the big house love them and have shared in the love and entertainment of these three little beings.

When I go to work or out for an activity (which has been severely limited since I got them) I can hardly wait to get home and check on them. Are they OK? What have they been doing? I am grateful that they have each other so I know they are not lonely but I have seen that they miss their human Mama when I am gone. It is wonderful to have some live beings waiting at home for me after being a widow for 8 years.

Naming one of them after my Mom has been interesting. I was drawn to do that as I brought them home on her birthday and wanted to honor her with love. Even though we had a difficult relationship most of our life, we were able to heal and I was the one of the four siblings that walked her home. It has been an interesting challenge as Traci is the one of the three kittens that challenges me the most. Was that by divine timing that I brought them home on that day and felt inspired to name one after my mother? There were times in the early beginning that if I wasn’t so committed to keeping these three kittens together, Traci would have been the one to go. She still continues to challenge me and it has been interesting to watch her develop and grow into the cat she is becoming.

These kittens were raised with a little dog who used a puppy pad. So they were trained to use the litter box or the puppy pad. I set up a litter box for them and showed them where it was at when I first brought them home. Two of them had no problem using the litter box and the other one, Traci, refused to use it. She peed on the futon couch and I figured out to put puppy pads on it to protect it. We struggled with the lesson of using the puppy pad for awhile. I layered up the futon and put a puppy pad next to the litter box. Every time I had a chance to grab her from using the pad and drop her into the litter box I did. She also watched her sisters and eventually got it.

Traci showed me the lessons of love and patience that a Mother uses with her little ones. I passed the test, grateful that I was dealing with cats instead of human babies. Traci didn’t want to use the same litter box as the other kittens so I set her up a separate little box. It helped. She looks so innocent but has a very strong will, just like her namesake.

It has taken time and patience, on the part of the cats and myself, to get to the place where we finally have a good routine established where they have two litter boxes, one inside one outside. I keep them clean throughout the day, and everyone is happy. If the litter box isn’t clean, they want to dig in the gardens. That is unacceptable and has been another lesson that continues. Fresh dirt and kitties?!! Isn’t that for digging? It keeps me challenged to find ways to cover the fresh dirt so it isn’t appealing to them. I am composting leaves over new areas with fresh plantings.
Part 4