Coffee Cup Kitties

It's taken me a while to get this story posted, but I thought some folks here would like the story. In Lamar, we have a little old burger shack place called the Coffee Cup that's been closed for many years. Last year, some people started to renovate it, but they stopped work and left after taking out most of the floors and the ceiling. On Sunday July 1, I got a phone call from the animal coordinator of SCARF. She had seen a kitten sitting in a window inside the Coffee Cup. I told her that if she could track down the owner of the building, I'd go in and trap the kitten. I went by and looked in the windows, and saw two kittens once or twice, and after a few days, we had an agreement with the bank that owns the building to let me in. I set up two traps, and immediately caught not a kitten, but the mama cat. I picked her up in the trap, and she absolutely looked wild, so I took her in for the TNR treatment: spay, rabies shot, ear notch. I thought that I would keep her confined in my garage for a couple of weeks and let her live there, as she couldn't be released back at the Coffee Cup. When she recovered from the anesthesia, she turned out to be tame, so the poor kitty has an ear notch for no good reason. Lesson learned: make sure the kitty is wild and not just freaked out by the trap. Anyway, mama was safe. It took me several more days to catch the babies. They would not go into the traps, and I couldn't get into the building over the weekend. I was able to feed them under the door; since the floor was missing, I could slide shallow dishes under that. On Monday, I took their mama over in a carrier, butted the traps up to the wire door, covered everything up so the kittens would have to go through the trap "tunnels" to get to mom, and got both babies. The little dlh grey tabby is a male, the little dsh black is a female. I was thinking that coffee related names might be good, but I haven't come up with anything specific for them yet.

Bless you for getting mom and kits safely out of a construction zone. What does she look like? Has she been named yet?

Did they also serve tea in that place? If so the little gray boy could be Earl Gray, the cute lil black girl could be Chai.

The Coffee Cup has been closed for almost 30 years, so no groovy tea drinks were ever served there. Probably not much coffee either, to be honest. The middle school is very close, and I remember the kids getting soft serve ice cream there. Fiff, I emailed the pictures to you right after I posted this, so you should be receiving the pictures shortly if you don't have them now. I should go over and get pics of that building to complete the story I suppose.

I see the girl takes after mom for her looks. Cute lil family. The babes are so adorable! No problem getting them into loving homes after some proper socialization when they're old enough.

Are you sure there were only two kits? That's a pretty small litter IMHO.

I have been looking in the windows over there every day. No sign of any more kittens yet. If I see more, the traps will be back out.

You can name the momma cat Coffee or Java.

I'm hoping you got them all already. How young is mom? If she's really young then two kits for a litter isn't so surprising.

I'm not that good at guessing ages for adult animals, but she may be a couple of years old. If she was hurting for groceries, she may have had a small litter because of the bad nutrition. I couldn't keep food in her dish the first few days I had her. She ate three times the food any of my cats eat each day. She's eating normally now, although I have to put out kitten chow for the babies in the upper level of the crate while she's eating downstairs if they're going to get any. She's nursing them well, though.

She's a good mommy. I bet somehow she knew the kitten chow has more calories and she needed them. Pretty obvious when you consider the amount of food she ate the first few days, she must've been starving. I bet she fills out in no time and will be quite the beauty.

Can you ask the vet who did her spay if he could guestimate how old she is? They're usually pretty good at it.

good story with a nice ending, and such cute kitties

For names, how about Beans and Biscotti :-)

Our rescue had an animal named "Beans" this year, so we can't use that name again (unless they're transferred to Look What the Cat Brought In), but Biscotti is a cute name.

I'm so grateful you caught them!

Latte? Espresso? Moccacino? Or maybe just plain Joe!

Cafe, Biscotti and Bignet?

Thank you so much for saving the adorable family. It sounds like they are just a cute little bundle of kitties.

Where did they all eventually end up? How did this story end?

They are adorable and glad you were able to get in and save them. Clever names better than
what I came up with.

The kitties are here. They are in a big wire crate on my front porch, as the babies aren't tame yet. They have mosquito netting over the crate, and I put ice packs under their blankets during the heat of the day. Mama is still nursing, but the babies eat kitten chow and canned food too. They let me handle them, though they don't love it. We are hoping to get them into the good cat rescue in the Springs soon. I already have foster kittens in the bathroom, and have no place for the big wire crate inside my tiny house.

Ohhhhhhh, I wish I could cuddle those lil cuties! I've been told more times than I can count that I have an uncanny way with animals. They'd be purring for me in no time.

Fiff, they would be so lucky if you were closer. As it is, they have to make due with me, and any other SCARF volunteers who happen by.

Wish Fif could be the universal snuggler! So many kittens, so little Fiffur.

Gbste, will Mama let you pet her?

Mama cat is very loving and affectionate. She lets me put Vetericyn on her sore ear and on her surgery scar with no problem, and lets me carry her through the house with the dogs following along and checking her out the whole way. I should have taken my time getting her to the vet for spay. When I go out to check on the kitties, she will stand up and put her paws on me when I open the door (if she's not too comfy on the cool blankie above the ice packs or nursing the kittens). This affectionate behavior should help her get a good home when she goes to the cat rescue, even though she's a black kitty.

Sounds like she a sweet kitty despite being in such dire straits. I've been meaning to ask what are they
going to do with the Coffee Cup.

The Coffee Cup is just sitting there. Evidently whoever started to renovate it ran into asbestos. The bank owns the building now, and they don't seem too sure about what they want to do with it. It's too bad--it's a cute little place; the kind where the food is handed out the window, very 50s. Plus it's only a couple of blocks from my house. It would have made a neat little dog walk destination, and I'd have an ice cream cone to reward me for the effort. I'll try to get some pics over there tomorrow.

It sounds like the type of place if I ever won the lottery. I would open as a breakfast/
coffee shop. Pet friendly of course.

Then again I would have to buy a ticket.

Mama kitty sounds wonderful.........even after all she's been through she's not grumpy at all. I'd take her in a heartbeat. I LOVE black kitties!

And yes, I wish I could snuggle all the kittens in the world but there just isn't enough time or me to go around. I will just have to make do with Bij for now.