Snakes, Scorpions, and 4 Lost Kittens!

We were a cat-less home.  Mr Holly said he doesn't care for cats.  He thought they we were aloof, he hates cat hair all over the place, and he especially hates the smell of dirty litter boxes.  So we didn't have a cat.  I have my Piggy, a Boston Terrier, and he has Daisy, a Miniature Schnauzer that looks like a poodle mixed with bad hair.  She is so devoted to him, I honestly think she believes that 'I' am wife #2...in line after her.  But that's a whole other post!

So like I said, we were a cat-less home.  Then we bought a house in the high desert of Arizona.  Home of the Rattle Snakes and Scorpions.  We have lived in Arizona for decades and never had an issue with scorpions in the past.  Sure we would see one once in a while...outside!  But in this new house we were finding at least one daily!!! I spent more time vacuuming up crickets then the carpets. (crickets are the scorpions main food source).  Everyone including our vet was telling us to get a cat.  She said cats are not Super Scorpion Killers, but they do kill insects like crickets that scorpions eat and they have the ability to play a scorpion to death without getting stung. 

Have you ever been stung by a scorpion?  I have...it was WAY more painful then giving birth without pain medications or an epidural..I have done both so I can give my honest appraisal on which is worse.  I was stung on my big toe.  It hit me several times before I was able to kick my foot enough to get him off of me.  The lightening bolt pain that shot up to my thigh was so excruciating that I had to take 4 doses of Codeine (and I am a light-weight who falls asleep after taking Advil) before I had enough in my system to finally knock me out 4-1/2 hours later!  I don't think the pain stopped at that point, I was just so intoxicated with Codeine that I passed out.  Needless to say, I do not want to experience that ever again.

So Mr Holly and I talked about getting a cat to keep our house free of Scorpions.  We decided on a kitten because the Vet said it's easier to introduce a kitten into the household of dogs then to bring in a full grown cat.  We thought finding a kitten in the springtime would be a breeze, but it turned out that every time we called on one they would be gone already.  The nearby shelters had plenty of cats...but no kittens.

By July we had given up on the hope of finding a kitten.  One day while visiting a friend I kept hearing something that sounded like a kitten crying.  It was pouring down rain outside and I kept hearing it so we went out exploring and found four tiny kittens in the shrubs, soaking wet.  There was no mother in site and I could not just walk away and leave them there, so we brought them inside and dried them off.  Most of their eyes were barely even opened yet.  They were so skinny and cold.  Two were long haired and two short, one boy and one girl of each.  We decided to pick up some kitten formula and bottles and raise these kittens ourselves.  We figured that once they were old enough we would keep one or two and find a home for the others. 

I bottle fed these babies for the next several weeks, around the clock. Once they were 8 weeks old weaned off the milk and eating dry food we knew it was time to find them homes, but I could not bring myself to let any of them go.  I had bonded with them over the previous six weeks.  We were terrified that a new home might not be as good for them as ours was.  What if the new home has a mean dog, or bratty mean kids?!  What if they just throw the kitten outside?!  We were working ourselves up into such a worried mess.  So we decided to keep them all.  Here we had been searching for one kitten and now we had four! 

When they were 4 months old I took them all in to our vet to be spayed and neutered.  She asked if we were fixing them before they go to their new homes.  I told her that we had decided to keep them all.  I am sure she thought we were out of our minds...but she was too sweet to say that to my face (and this office visit probably paid her rent that month as well). 
  

So meet the our cat family...

Kitties in a basket about 1 week after finding them.

Kittens (when they were still babies) eating out of dish...only 3 can eat at a time so one waits for an opening.

Marvin eating a spinach leaf.

Marvin and Piggy playing with a toy.

Molly in the dog food dish.

Current pic of Molly standing in the shower...with the water on. They love water!

Madeline my shy beauty.

My big Cuddlebug Harry enjoying playing in the rain on the patio.

Spring is right around the corner and these guys are ready for the cricket invasion to begin.  They can spot a moth or granddaddy-long-leg spider at 20 paces and they are on them so quick it'll make your head spin.  I don't think we are going to have a scorpion problem this year.  As for the Snake issue...I bought a big stick.

72" Snake Stick is just barely long enough for me. I caught this big boy in the garage and released him a ways from the house.