Along came the cat ...

... and ate the kid.

It is a week before Pesach. We still have hardly started our Pesach cleaning. My wife is due to give birth some time in the next couple of weeks - and my 11 year old son came home today with two kittens less than a day old!!! Their mother abandoned them and so he and a friend had to save them. By the time I came home from work the neighbours had already bought kitten food (at an enormously (enor-mouse-ly?) huge expense) and phoned all the cat protection agencies in Jerusalem - none of whom wanted day old cats (the only option was to call the city vermin removal service, who would probably come along and kill them on the spot).
What to do? They need feeding every 3 hours (even during the night). It took an hour to try and get one load of food into them. They probably won't survive the night anyway. And if they do they will begin to wee in the corner and scratch the kids. BUT they still have their umblical cords attached, they have this eensie weensie mew, and they are so scrawny and helpless.... According to the 'tzar ba'alei chaim' organisation, if we can get them to survive for a week they will try and find a home for them (before putting them to sleep if they don't succeed). (And I'm a vegetarian - I can't even kill a cockroach, how could I kill two cats?)
All I could think of was the story in the Gemara about Rebbe and the rodents (well, first the calf, then the rodents).
We are about to celebrate the festival of freedom. We will begin our seders by saying 'anyone who is hungry should come and eat' (I know all the drashas and Torah on that, I know we don't really mean it, but still, the idea is there, right at the beginning before the pareve chicken soup). Did I have any choice?
And even though Avi promises me that he will get up every 3 hours during the night and feed them, I know that he couldn't even get up for Shul this morning, with me trying to wake him.
In chad gadya we say that the cat ate the goat. These cats aren't even eating cat formula, but they sure have devoured our kids (who were in tears at the thought of anything happening to them).
just about the only thing I can say positively about this whole episode is that at least I can share it with you - the rest of the world. Please give me some words of encouragement and support. And if you would like a day old kitten (or more likely a dead kitten by the time you read this) please feel free to come over and get it.
Thanks for reading
Chag kasher v'sameach
David

PS they look exactly like this only much smaller and not as stripy