We Played Animal Shelter for a Day

Four three month old kittens now have a shot at a decent life, thanks to my children and the Will County Humane Society in Shorewood.

Our family delivers newspapers by night. My teens stuff Sunday inserts for other carriers and I write while they work. Last week, as I opened my laptop on a workstation at the warehouse, Daniel, 15, said, “Aw, isn’t he cute?”

I turned around. Daniel was cuddling a scraggly, black kitten. I had heard someone had dumped a litter of five kittens near the warehouse, but this was the first one I had seen.

“He looks like he needs meal,” I said.

“Maybe the gas station next door sells cat food,” Daniel said.

He handed the kitten to Rebekah, 17, for safekeeping. Soon a gray kitten stuck its head around a garbage can. Daniel returned with a ham sandwich. Rebekah fashioned a water bowl from a water bottle.

My husband Ron, who was also assembling Sunday inserts, had already talked to some of the other businesses in the area, all of whom agreed this was a dangerous place for kitten to grow up.

Two men had already extricated one of the kittens from underneath the hood of truck. Another man had seen a coyote chase two of the other kittens.

“I thought they were goners,” he said.

By the time Timothy, 20, had arrived to clean the center, I had formulated a plan. We would take the kittens home to spend the night in The Higher Ark, our remodeled garages where we once hosted a youth group.

The Higher Ark had air conditioning and it was a comfortable space away from the main house, just in case the strays had worms or any diseases. We already have cats, so we didn’t need our benevolence rewarded by a big vet bill. However, except for looking thin, the kittens looked healthy.

We put the first two kittens in the bathroom—the only place in the warehouse with air conditioning—and lowered the garage doors. Instantly, the temperature shot up 20 degrees. We sucked in hot, thick air and spent a stifling hour searching for the kittens’ siblings.

Daniel found two more, both females (the other were males). Another gray one was hiding below a pallet and a fuzzy striped kitten was attempting escape from a box underneath a work station.

While my kids settled the kittens in Timothy’s car, I called the Will County Humane Society, but everyone had left for the day. So I called my veterinarians. They keep a cage in front with an occasional kitten or two for adoption. Maybe that cage was empty.

“We already have two kittens here,” the receptionist said. “Have you tried animal control?”

I was horrified. “They’ll euthanize them!”

“Not necessarily,” she said soothingly. “They try really hard to find them homes.”

I vowed animal control would be my final call. Timothy and Rebekah took the cats home; Daniel and I stayed to stuff inserts. After setting up water, kitten food and litter boxes for our temporary tenants, the kids returned to the center.

By morning, the kittens were no longer hiding under the recliners. They had consumed a substantial amount of food and water and were amenable to petting.

"Don't name them and don't get too attached," I said, noting the resemblence between the little black kitty and our Midnight. They would be so sweet together. "We are not keeping them."

I called Larry Ringbauer, shelter manager at the Will County Humane Society, and poured forth our story.

“You’re in luck,” he said. “We have a few cages available. Bring ‘em in, the fifth one, too, if you ever find it.”

Unfortunately, we never did find that fifth kitten. Timothy and Rebekah brought took the cats to Shorewood. They came back, impressed with the friendliness of the intake volunteers.

“Only the barking of the dogs scared them,” Rebekah said, marveling.

Timothy added, “Larry said, ‘Tell you mother to write a story about the kittens. Maybe they’ll be adopted sooner

For more information: 815-741-0695 or www.willcountyhumane.com.