My family grew up in a 100 year old two story house with a porch and a cellar. The porch was about 3 feet off the ground and as a result, there is about a one and a half foot space between the bottom of the house and the ground. This housed among other things, the heating and cooling system and some wiring. It also proved to be fertile ground for all the knocked up cats in the neighborhood to come and give birth to their broods.
Each time there was a cat hanging around the house, my brother would go outside with a bowl of water and a plate of food. In the beginning it was whatever leftovers he could scrounge up. Eventually, he began to buy some bonafide cat food.
Over the years, my brother has probably fed and housed close to a hundred cats and their kittens. Some made it to be inside pets but most just stayed outside until they got bored with us and moved on.
After last week’s box of kittens episode, my brother was so sad that he went to the shelter and adopted a gray kitten. She’s a little girl cat about a month old. He hasn’t named her yet.
