Posts Tagged ‘kittens’

Unhappy Ending

I had a very satisfying stepdown week, totaling 17 miles at an average pace of 8:29. I finished the month of April with 91 miles.

I missed my Wednesday run because I was up all night Tuesday with this little guy.

A feral cat (actually, Zen‘s sister, “Tuna”) gave birth on our patio to a pair of kittens. One must have died shortly after. She rejected the other and ran off. We took him in and after a frantic hour of research to figure out what to do, we spent the night bottle feeding him every two hours and trying to keep him warm.

On Wednesday morning, he was not doing well and we called around trying to find someone who could care for him properly. But if you’ve ever faced a similar problem you know that rescue charities, humane societies and the rest are overwhelmed at this time of year with newborn animals.

I wish I could report that we saved him and found him a home, but in fact we had to take him to the city animal shelter, where he was euthanized.

My wife and I cried our eyes out.

Zen and the Art of Vacuuming

A couple of months ago we took in a feral kitten we had been feeding (along with her sibs and mom) since she was a few weeks old. It was an unusual decision for us, since we have never had a pet, we prefer dogs, and the Lovely Mrs. A. has a cat allergy. Nevertheless, we grew greatly attached to one of the brood who, unlike her family, was completely comfortable with our presence at all times and allowed herself to be handled without complaint. We named her Zen for her calm demeanor, and we have all adjusted to the new situation nicely.

The Lovely Mrs. A.’s allergy requires medication on her part, and frequent vacuuming of the house on my part. Which brings me to my point: Does vacuuming count as cross-training?

Perhaps the act of vacuuming itself wouldn’t qualify, but it also involves lifting and moving furniture, repeated bending over for hard-to-reach areas, and wrangling the cat because she’s afraid of the vacuum cleaner. Add all that on to the repetitive aerobic motion, and working over the cat condo with the brush, and I think it beats 30 minutes on the life cycle or a couple dozen sit-ups.

Throw in window washing and carrying the groceries in from the car and you could probably give up running entirely. And you would save on apparel, too.