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Scrawny little thing was Momma when Sissy set her on the living room floor after class one day. Whether lost or deserted, the cat had targeted Sissy as a likely human to spare her future loneliness and provide her love and care.

Following Momma's twenty minute ride "home", she entered my house with the words explore and conquer escalating her already keen vision and superior sense of smell. Unaware of her tiny physique, she immediately let my other cats know she would dish any and everything but take nothing. The other cats assessed her in wonderment - probably thinking she did not even smell like she was from our county - which she was not.

As the days and the weeks passed, Momma began putting on a few ounces. Her appetite clearly suggested the idea of future starvation prevention relished her thoughts. Her hefty appetite did not bother me one bit. In fact, I was pleased when she began to look like a normal healthy cat.

Despite my appreciation that Kitty, as she was called in the beginning, had become happy and healthy, and no longer had to want for basic needs, on occasion, I reminded Sissy that I did not want anymore cats; and that I really did not know what we were going to do about Kitty.

Kitty, however had her own ideas and thus began to "guard me". By this I mean she began to block the other cats from coming anywhere near me and if they as much as looked at me she would stare them out of the room.

As the cat wars escalated and time continued to pass, one day it occurred to me that Momma's belly seemed a bit more round than I would expect it to be. I passed the initial thought off attributing her little bump to her need to eat extra for fear of starving again. After all, Momma is a small cat. There was no place for her to grow except outward.

Consequently, the bump continued to grow. I began to have second thoughts about the bump. I suggested to Sissy the bump was more than just a bump. Momma had three kittens.

It was a cold winter morning - raining - damp - dripping water seeped through the aluminum patio roof that obviously needed caulking-or whatever it is one does to clog holes in that kind of material. The poor cat lay on a moist sheet that had worked well as a cat bed when the weather was warm and dry but was completely insufficient for a mother cat giving birth to vulnerable kittens.

It just so happened I was the only human available to come to the aid of birthing Momma and so I provided her with dry bedding and put a bucket beneath the patio raindrops.

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