Meanest mom in the whole world

At least that's how I feel today.

We loaded up all the kitties and met a couple of people to adopt them out today. Unfortunately, the first two that we adopted out were PS's favorites. I didn't think it was a big deal, because she has really taken care of and played with them all. But she cried and cried when we gave away the little black one. She isn't usually emotional or overly dramatic, so I think it really hurt her that we gave that particular cat away. Really, if I had known that she had truly grown so attached to it I would have kept it home--but I just wanted to reduce the number of cats in the house and give away whichever ones we could get rid of first.

And in addition to being a mean mom, I am a terrible pet owner. Because we lost mama cat today. We were meeting people in the parking lot of a strip mall because I didn't want a bunch of strangers knowing where I live. So we put all the cats in a carrier and loaded them into the back of the Suburban. When we opened the carrier, inside the Suburban, mama cat spazzed and took off inside the car. She managed to hide in a crawlspace up under the dash. I was trying to coax her out when she jumped, right toward the open door (she has always been very skittish around us). I manages to grab her back leg, but she slipped away and took off in the very crowded parking lot. We looked for about 20 minutes (and it was 108 outside today), but could not spot her anywhere. We went back twice, and DH is about to go again, since the store is closed and we think she will be more likely to come out when there a fewer people around.

But I honestly don't think we have any chance of catching her. Even if we find her, I don't think she will come near us--she is very wary of people. So the wild, stray mama has gone back to being a wild stray. I hate to see the cycle start again, since we hadn't had her spayed yet. And there is so much traffic in that area, that I hope she can escape to a neighborhood where she will be a little safer. Sigh--I feel terrible that we lost the mama.

Meanwhile, we are down to three kittens, and I am meeting with someone tomorrow who wants one of them. The problem is that each of my children has declared a different kitten to be her favorite, so no matter which one I gave away, I am likely to have another child in tears. I knew it would be tough when it came time to give them away.

And since this post has been so depressing--a little funny:

We were driving to meet a potential adopter with the kids and the cats all loaded up. PS was drinking with a styrofoam cup and managed to poke her straw through the bottom of the foam cup, leaking Dr. Pepper everywhere (the kids get a max of 1 soda per week. I had to throw that in because I cringe when I see kids drinking soda all the time.) Of course, the carrier full of kittens was right beside her, and she got Dr. Pepper all over the poor kittens. When we arrived to meet the potential adopter, all of the kittens were soaked and sticky and looking like they had just come through a hurricane--poor little things. The adopter, fortunately, wasn't bothered by wet, sticky kittens, so we managed to give one away and took the others home for a bath.

P.S. Bathing kittens early gets them used to taking baths and supposedly helps tremendously with allergies.

P.P.S. I have never been a big fan of leather seats, but they are great when you have kids who spill sticky stuff all over the car. Just get butt warmers, which are awesome in the winter, and pretty freaking handy when you have PMS, too.