Cynthia Freeland (Philosopher Queen) says: My neighbor rang my doorbell one night and had in her arms a mama cat and kitten that had been trying to find shelter under her house. She has two big dogs and knows I'm a cat person so she brought them over to me. I gave some food to Mama, who was ravenous, and put them in my laundry room. Baby Socks, as my neighbor called him, kept screaming the most piercing meows. It was hard to believe that anything so tiny could emit such loud, piercing, piteous wails! When I checked on them later I was so happy to find Mama relaxing and feeding little Socks.

The next day plot thickened. I learned from my friend at the local county animal control of two new kittens in need of bottle feeding. I thought maybe I could get mama kitty to adopt them, so I drove 40 miles each way to pick them up. I brought these TINY newborns into the house, and after about 20 seconds of sniffing Mama accepted them and began happily nursing all the babies. What a lovely lady. I decided to call her Sylvie because I felt she needed an elegant French name. :-) I hoped I could find her a good home.

Sylvie, her son Socks, and adopted sons Itsy and Bitsy became a family. The laundry basket was a good holding pen for the kittens and they seemed to feel comfortable and safe in it. One morning I found Socks out of the laundry basket, running around, trying to tear up a loose piece of paper towel. In the next few weeks he turned into quite a comical little adventurer, full of mischief and desperate to play with his little brothers or his mother. But Sylvie was just annoyed by his jumping on her head and often batted him away, and the little ones were too small and frail to play. So I tried to divert his attention and keep him entertained. He cracked me up, running around in uncoordinated bursts of energy and chasing his toys. One day I found a small basket unused in a closet and had an intuition that Socks might like it. Boy was that right -- he was one wild and crazy guy playing in (and out and under) it!

Itsy and Bitsy started developing into fun little kittens -- boisterous Itsy with his darling round body and head and tummy spots, and Bitsy with his darker, fluffier face and sweet, shy nature. Socks was constantly trying to get Mama, Itsy, and Bitsy to play with him. Sometimes Mama played but, being still young herself, she could get a bit rough. So Socks more often played with little Itsy, repeatedly knocking him down while Itsy batted away at Socks. It was hilarious to watch. Itsy was a fighter and Bitsy was a lover.

One day I went to a party at work and one of our graduate students, Wade, told me he was interested in adopting Socks. He came to visit, met my house guests, and the deal was done. When it was time for Socks to go, I sent his purple basket along with him to remind him of home. I was so happy he was going to have his own home where he would be the center of attention and cared for, but I knew I would miss him a lot. It was rough at first and Socks cried because he missed his mommy, but he adjusted and began enjoying his new surroundings and making new friends. Wade kept me updated with stories about how Socks settled in, growing into a very outgoing cat who liked to play with visitors. He continued to love his purple basket and liked tipping it over so he could “hide” underneath it and grab things through the holes. One day I went to visit and was so happy to find that Wade had replaced Socks’s little basket with an identical but much larger laundry basket. Socks loves it! He is so handsome now, all grown up and looking a lot like his mama.

I'm also very happy to report that Itsy and Bitsy have found a forever home together! I miss them like crazy. As for Sylvie, I couldn’t give her up. She is now my beautiful, long-haired, semiferal-but-slowly-learning-not-to-bite black beauty. I think she’s very happy.