Ricky and Racky

My brothers, sister and I were waiting for the school bus at the bottom of the hill.  Our house sat atop the hill.  A gravel road ran alongside the house.  It split our property.  With the house on one side, there was a stable on the other side.   My Mother was milking a cow at that very stable that particular morning.  We could see the bus in a distance.  It would make several stops before arriving to pick us up.   But that is not what caught our attention.   Instead, there came running as fast as it could a cat being chased by another cat.  We recognized our female cat.  She was in the back.  The cat in front was one we had never seen before.  But it was much larger than our cat.  It led us to believe it was a male.  Why was our cat chasing another cat?  The answer would come later that day after we returned from school.

“I was milking the cow,” said Mother.  “Susie liked to be by my side as I would squirt milk at her to drink.  But Susie heard something in the loft of the stable and took off running.  I was close behind.  Susie had, had her kittens.  She had made a bed for them between hay bales.  But upon arriving in the loft, there was something blocking the only entrance to her kittens.  I pulled back a bale of hay to expose a male cat over her kittens.  He took off running with Susie close behind.  I think if she had caught him that she would have killed him.  I looked on to see four little kittens.  There were two dead and two alive.  But I could tell the two alive had injuries.  If it had been any longer before we got there, they too would have been dead.”

In the days to follow, the two small kittens seem to fight for survival.  They had problems, but would survive.  They were both male kittens.  We named them Ricky and Racky.  One kitten was blind in one eye.  The other would be a cripple.  Ricky, the one eyed blind one, got around good.  The blind in one eye never stopped him in his playful nature.  Racky, though, wasn’t as lucky.  He was slow to get around.  He gained weight and was such a soft kitty.  We gave both special attention and love.   And rightfully so; they deserved it after the ordeal they went through.

Instead of living in the stable where they were born, we moved them to the main house.  Mother cat apparently agreed with the move as she never tried to move them back or anywhere else.  We did have dogs and other cats.  And being it was a farm, they had the run of large open spaces.  They never had any crucial conflict with other animals.  They got along with everyone.  They were content to stay around the house though.  Although their lives started with tragedy, they did live lengthy lives even with their handicaps.

I never knew some male cats kill kittens.  There are reasons for that given in books written.  But to experience it first-hand, it leaves a forever lasting memory.  With so many predators out there, even among their own, for the cat, how do so many survive?