Cat-Nap

Nope! I'm not talking about a day-time 10 min. power nap. It's fairly comparable to kid-nap, minus the kid. Our neighbors have a cat that has had a few litters. Well since they are our neighbors and there is a space between the concrete and vinyl fencing, the kitten's are always in the backyard and meandering around everywhere. So for a number of weeks now we have been trying to get close enough to where they will let us pet them. No matter how much we dangle sticks or other items, it's never worked. They've been pretty curious and coming closer but still haven't allowed any contact...until yesterday. Tyler has usually been the instigator but yesterday I was saying good-bye to my sister, holding the screen door open and one of the kittens was getting closer and closer. I called to Tyler and he came. He knelt down holding the screen door open saying, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty." And trying to tap his finger on the porch trying to attract some sort of attention. It was at least on the walkway to the porch. He told me to go and grab the mac and cheese we had made that had bits of ham in it. Mmm... good idea, trick and bribe the animal. So I do it and I hold the door, while Tyler flicks pieces of ham onto the concrete, drawing the kitten closer. Finally he put a piece on the threshold and then just inside the door on the rug. Meanwhile, I'm trying to close the door little by little. So even though I expect it, it still threw me off but Tyler just grabs the kitten, it's poor little claws grasping for dear life as it let itself be tempted and lured into unknown territory. (Luckily we know we are good people.) He kept feeding it some pieces of ham, and boy was it hungry, and totally freightened. It just kept right up against the screen door trying to stay as far away from us as possible. It would let us pet it and everything. It was soooo adorable!! Anyways, after a literal 4-5 mins Tyler picked it up and put it outside. I'm sure the kitten was super happy to know it didn't have to stay with us FOREVER! Poor thing!

So basically... this is what happens when you want a pet and you don't get one. I hope this phase of trying to "trap" a kitten has stopped until we finally decide that we want and can actually get an animal we decide on.