Moth Ball

This is Moth Ball's mother, Devil Eyes.

I could sit for hours watching two stray kittens play.  They are of such innocence.  They can spend an unnumbered amount of time just running at each other.  Even Mother is not beyond their playful antics. From my den window, I watched two kittens at a neighbor’s house across the street.  The mother cat, Devil Eyes, had found what she thought a safe place.  It was under the house through an open vent.  She would eat food put out at my house and then cross the street to call her two out for nursing.  When finished nursing, they played.  If unexpected danger came, a dog or human, through the vent they went running while Mother found other protective cover.  I wondered how they were able to get through such a small opening.  But I have read cats can squeeze through small openings.  But apparently that opening did stop the much bigger Mother cat.

I had noticed sometime that the kittens were there, but apparently the owner took a while in learning this.  When she did, she took steps to solve what she thought to be a problem.  She closed off the vent with heavy blocks.  But she did not stop with just that.  She had her son throw moth balls in her yard.  A deterrent she saw to rid herself of unwelcome cats.  On any given day, the smell of moth balls linger.  Before the mother cat made it in finding a new home, she lost one kitten to the traffic in our subdivision.  She moved the remaining one kitten under my house inside my vent.  

Many property owners don’t like a cat using their garden as a litter boxes.  Moth balls are a toxic and can kill a cat, a dog, or other animals.  If consumed, they can destroy the liver.  Moth balls are registered pesticides which are illegal to use for anything other than what is described on the container. Could not the owner find a safer deterrent?  I think so; information is available out there if one simply looks.

Cats are not necessarily the pesky creatures many like to believe.  In many cases, the good outweighs the bad.  Even I don’t like the cat using my garden as a litter box.  But I had a mole problem in my garden.  I don’t have one now with the stray cat coming around.  They also rid an area of mice and sometimes pesky insects.  I watch as my indoor cats take flying leaps to catch flies that may have entered the house through opening a door.  They make it better than a fly swatter.  

Devil Eyes has taught her little white kitten to eat solid food and drink water at my house.  The little white long haired tabby has been given the name Moth Ball.  It becomes a reminder of the neighbor across the street.  As for what is the kitten’s gender, it will reveal itself in time.  Meanwhile from a distance, a remarkable trait stands out.  Moth Ball has a set of beautiful blue eyes that stare back at me.  As she stares, I wink my eyes at her. I have heard this is a form of communication.  I think maybe the kitten is sizing me up with her stares.  Maybe someday; she will allow my touch.