The Saga of the Twins, Part I

Hi everybody, CC & Scout here. We have a long story to tell, and it's not over, even now after three years! But already we're ahead of ourselves...

Scout: One spring afternoon in 2007 Mommy was out on the porch with The Baby in her cage (this is pre-Catio) and out of the corner of her eye she spotted something crawling up the brick wall, just like a lizard. It was Me, Scouty, scaling the wall! I'd come over to look for kitty food crumbs because I was so tiny and starving.

Mommy: I went and told Daddy what I'd seen and we decided to put food and water out and see what happened. That evening, the tiny orange fuzzball returned, then his orange & white brother with a calico cat we assumed was their Mama. They inhaled the food and scampered off, the kittens going up and over the back wall like miniature spider-men.

This went on for quite a while. We put out a litterbox and a small nightlight so we could watch the little family, who came in at dusk each evening.

CC: We were very afraid of the big two-legged things. Our Mama had taught us to be very cautious because she had heard that the only reason the two-leggers were feeding us was to fatten us up for their STEW POT! So we were good kittens and didn't let them approach us.

Mommy: The kittens were extremely feral and skittish, yet they knew that we were feeding them and they were curious about us. They would appear at the walls' intersection, a 10' height, when we were in the spa and watch our every move. We'd talk to them and try to coax them closer, but they were having none of it. By August we knew we'd have to TNR them, at the very least.

Scout: We both really like tuna. Kitties, tuna is a tool of Basement Cat! One night I was settling in to a nice dish of tuna and the next thing {{SNAP}} I'm in a place I don't understand and I can't get over the wall!

CC: And it happened to me, too!

Mommy: The poor little things were terrified. They were climbing the walls in the bedroom to try to get "over" to safety. Daddy and I felt horrible but we knew that this was for the best. The little guys settled into a nest of towels under a bureau and we spent time with them, letting them get used to us at close range.

Scout: After many many sleeps we came out and played a little. Mommy and Daddy sorely abused us by picking us up and petting us. It was awful.

But we dicovered that we loveLOVE LOVE Johnson! He loves us too. He's our "Manny" and to this day we follow him all over. That's his back fur on the bottom half of the next pic. He spent hours with us in our sequestering room.

CC: Well, all good things come to and end and one day we were corralled (still NO TOUCHING!) into a ptu and to the v-e-t. There they did unspeakable things to us, like TOUCH our furs and take our nuts!

Mommy: CC had an undescended testicle and he came back from the vet with a 2" incision on his tiny tummy. We felt so bad for him! The twins now had the run of the house and access to a small auxilliary outside area (the "little out") where the litterboxes are.

Scout: And I escaped! I squeezed and squeezed and got out through a 2" crack in the little out! I was free! I ran and hid in the neighbor's bushes and savored my freedom. Then I got hungry.

Mommy: We were distraught. The little guy was gone all day, then later that night we heard him crying in the bushes. Because of the "NO TOUCHING" rule we had to be clever, and I patiently lured him closer with deli ham (always a winner!) and finally into the little out, which Daddy had made escape-proof .

Boys: So here we are with Rupert, out and about and Skitty-Kitties whenever the Man or Woman comes near. If they can catch us unaware we love a petting, Scouty even drools. (I do Not!)

Tomorrow: The TOUCHING begins!