Lions, & tigers, &....KITTENS, OH MY!

Hello Internet Friends! I think this post will be the most unique & undoubtedly the cutest you'll ever see on this blog. 

For a few months now, a cat has been chilling on our back porch. She comes & goes, of course, as most feral cats do, but I've caught her more than once enjoying an afternoon nap on our porch swing. She allows little to no interaction - she stares with HUUUUGE green eyes at the slightest sound of humanity nearby & flees far too quickly when we come outside for us to even think about coming over to her. My biggest victory with her so far has been the little paw prints of dirt that I saw leading up to the bowl of warm milk I'd sat out for her on a cold morning.

But this week, we noticed another victory that had occurred quite clandestinely! Kittens. Yes, kittens! When my dad pulled out the lawnmower and started it up this past weekend it startled one of the four little guys enough to get him to crawl out from under one of the other 2 lawnmowers my dad's got stowed away back there. (He's got a big manly lawn tool problem.) And with that first little one's bravery the rest followed and soon they were crawling all over the porch, dangerously close to escaping & dangerously tiny. I'm talking, they fit perfectly in the palm of my hand!

So we scooped them up and put them in a little box, hoping that mama would be chill with it. And...she was! Not only did she seem to have no problem with it, but the next morning she was in the box with them! We set up a bowl of cat food & water for her and she hung out! She even stayed there when we came onto the porch to sneak a peek! Alright, alright...she definitely hissed a few times, but eventually she got cool enough with us to hop on top of the table & grab some chow while we were outside with her! Talk about a 180 from her pre-mom self!  My mom was even able to pick up one of the kittens without any sort of reaction from her.

Mama keeping watch. 

Tragedy of tragedy, this morning mommy & babies were nowhere to be found - the box was empty. We were beyond bummed, but the internet has assured us that feral moms, and even some domesticated moms, move their kittens numerous times while they're young to ensure safety from predators, like the daddies, and privacy. The food is still out for her, so we're hoping she'll keep coming around but if not, we enjoyed her little family while we got to see them! :)

Yes...we named them! LOL 

It was such a cool experience, but definitely a sneeze-inducer for me & my mom who are both allergic to cats! HAHA! I couldn't be out on the porch for more than 10 minutes without dissolving into sneezes & watery, itchy eyes. Regardless, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of a striped tail.

Hello there, World!

My name is Jessica. I'm 22 & I'm a senior in college with my fingers crossed for my grad school application to be accepted. Not that you're particularly interested.

If you're here, if you've clicked on this blog, you are probably particularly interested in something I'll be blogging about, though. Animals. I'm going to go out on a proverbial limb here and guess that you clicked on this blog to read about animals. I'm also going to assume that if you're interested in reading about animals, you probably love them as much as I do! If so, kudos. And welcome!

Over the course of the past year, I've talked more about animals, thought more about animals, and loved more animals than I've ever done. Last summer, my boyfriend's puppy Luke was lost for 2 weeks...and the outpouring of support from the animal rights/rescue community, whom I had never interacted with before, stunned me. These people didn't know us or little Luke, (a Mastiff mix, who is not actually little by any means), from Adam, yet they were ready and willing to help us from the word go. We were eventually reunited with him through the help of 2 rescuers who lived in his neighborhood! Let me tell you, fellow animal lovers, that if you've never lost a pet then you cannot imagine the overflow of relief and something like unadulterated joy that comes from seeing them again. He had literally disappeared into thin air and after 2 weeks, we were all but sure he was gone forever. And just like that, there he was. Magic.

I've always been an animal girl: we've had dogs my entire childhood, not to mention an endless array of beta fish & parakeets. I've always cooed at the cows and horses who line the roads when we visit my Grandpa who lives in the smallest farm town in existence. I've always clapped and whistled for the stray cats who roam my neighborhood to come to me, (we all know they never do, don't we?). But I've never thought about doing anything with animals other than owning a couple of them. What else was there to do? The purpose of this blog that you've so intentionally clicked on, I'm sure, is to document my meager attempts to answer that question as best as it can be answered! 

Currently, I'm cutting animal tested products out of my life. The convictions of my heart have been changing rapidly and animal rights has become one of those I feel at the forefront. I don't know that I will stop at becoming as cruelty free as I can be, but I know that's where I will start. Feel free to follow along as I begin to navigate the brave new world of animal rights!...and leave comments & suggestions, I'm open to them all!

Welp. Here goes nothin'!