Untitled fiction story (titles welcome)

[Phoenix]

NOT COMPLETE YET

When it's finished if any Cats Protection volunteers want to use it for anything you can. I wrote it to bring to people's attention the sort of life a stray cat experiences before being rescued. (If you think I should make any changes feel free to say)

I was born into a home along with several other kittens, because our mother had escaped and mated with some tom cats on the streets, which made us a so called “oops” litter. I only have a dim memory of the time in that house; although our mum’s people let our mum raise us to eight weeks before abandoning us.

I would rather not remember that day; they picked us up and put us in a basket. We were put in our mum’s people’s “car” and taken away. It was a long car journey and none of us knew where we were going. I was travel sick; but my sister was even more travel sick. At that stage none of us had names; we didn’t even know what names were!

After a while mum’s people pulled up in the car and opened the boot. The man got the cage out then without any pretence of ceremony tipped us out onto the grass. We all started wailing – wouldn’t you if you were tipped out of a cage next to the road? All we could do was watch as the people drove off.

We tried following the car, crying for them to stop, desperate for them to come back and tell us it was all a huge mistake. Tell us they were going to take us back home. We quickly discovered this was useless though, it was starting to get dark and it was cold despite the fact it was a summer night. The temperature dropped rapidly; forcing us to take shelter in a hedge that went along the side of the road.

We were feeling cold and sick with hunger. None of us had eaten anything since we left home. No-one came for us so we had to take it in turns that night to try catching something to eat. I found a bird’s nest complete with baby birds; my two other brothers picked a fight with the parents, while my sister and I helped ourselves to the babies. The family of birds tasted good; the four of us kittens were hoping there would be more for breakfast time.

Morning came and with that breakfast time. We’d not slept much that night, partly through missing our mum and partly because of catching and eating the bird family. We had to wander off away from the road in order to find some breakfast. We went through the hedge and came across open fields, which we had never seen before in our lives. We went out hunting for some food in those fields after separating. By this time both my brothers were scratching a lot, as was my sister. Later, I learnt these must have been fleas.

One of my two brothers had a run in with a fox. He had tried to help himself to the fox’s food and the fox hadn’t taken kindly to it. The fox spun round and attacked him, tearing at him with its teeth. The fox turned on the rest of us when we arrived and chased us off. I never saw any of my siblings again; I have no idea if any of them are still alive.

So there I was, sat all alone in the field without my brothers or sister. I had got myself lost after running from the fox and hadn’t stopped until I’d collapsed
from exhaustion. I found myself near a farm, so I decided to try my luck there. I came across a barn, where I sneaked in for warmth. A saucer of milk had been left out there, which I helped myself to. I decided this would be the perfect place to curl up and sleep the day away.

[lynz85]

awww thats so sad i hope it has a happy ending. i hate thinking about how people can do things like that to animals.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by lynz85

awww thats so sad i hope it has a happy ending. i hate thinking about how people can do things like that to animals.

It will have a happy ending, not going to say any more because I've already planned the story (if you like I can PM you the outline lynz)

[lynz85]

whens the next bit of story coming? i think at the end of the story, we can put forward titles and vote?

[dandysmom]

Can't wait for the next installment ... very moving so far ......

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by lynz85

whens the next bit of story coming? i think at the end of the story, we can put forward titles and vote?

When I've written it

If you'd like to suggest titles in this thread as well, then I could start a poll on another thread when the story's finished.

[angieh]

Sorry RCR - I got as far as the kittens being turned out of the car and had to give up for the moment. That is so very very sad. Not your fault, I know it happens but how could anyone .................. ?

I'll come back later and try to read the rest. Sorry, bit of a wet lettuce today.

[Phoenix]

It's based on some of the stories from the rescue I volunteered at. The cats and kittens in the story are not real but they are based on real cats I've worked with (including the histories some of them)

[Phoenix]

Changes made to first part

I was born into a home along with several other kittens, because our mother had escaped and mated with some tom cats on the streets, which made us a so called “oops” litter. I only have a dim memory of the time in that house; although our mum’s people let our mum raise us to eight weeks before abandoning us.

I would rather not remember that day; they picked us up and put us in a cage. We were put in our mum’s people’s “car” and taken away. It was a long journey and none of us knew where we were going. I was travel sick; but my sister was even more travel sick. At that stage none of us had names; we didn’t even know what names were!

After a while mum’s people pulled up in the car and opened the boot. The man got the cage out then without any pretence of ceremony tipped us out onto the grass. We all started wailing – wouldn’t you if you were tipped out of a cage next to the road? All we could do was watch as the people drove off.

We tried following the car, crying for them to stop, desperate for them to come back and tell us it was all a huge mistake. Tell us they were going to take us back home. We quickly discovered this was useless though, it was starting to get dark and it was cold despite the fact it was a summer night. The temperature dropped rapidly; forcing us to take shelter in a hedge that went along the side of the road.

We were feeling cold and sick with hunger. None of us had eaten anything since we left home. No-one came for us so we had to take it in turns that night to try catching something to eat. I found a bird’s nest complete with baby birds; my two brothers, my sister and I helped ourselves to the babies. The family of birds tasted good; the four of us kittens were hoping there would be more for breakfast time. The mum and dad birds were obviously out hunting.

Morning came and with that breakfast time. We’d not slept much that night, partly through missing our mum and partly because of catching and eating the bird family. We had to wander off away from the road in order to find some breakfast. We went through the hedge and came across open fields, which we had never seen before in our lives. We went out hunting for some food in those fields after separating. By this time both my brothers were scratching a lot, as was my sister. Later, I learnt these must have been fleas.

One of my two brothers had a run in with a fox. He had tried to help himself to the fox’s food and the fox hadn’t taken kindly to it. The fox spun round and attacked him, tearing at him with its teeth. The fox turned on the rest of us when we arrived and chased us off. I never saw any of my siblings again; I have no idea if any of them are still alive.

So there I was, sat all alone in the field without my brothers or sister. I had got myself lost after running from the fox and hadn’t stopped until I’d collapsed from exhaustion. I found myself near a farm, so I decided to try my luck there. I came across a barn, where I sneaked in for warmth. A saucer of milk had been left out there, which I helped myself to. I decided this would be the perfect place to curl up and sleep the day away.

Story Update

Hours passed, then I was rudely awakened by a yowl from the doorway. I jumped and looked round quickly to see who it was yowling. I saw the largest male cat I have ever seen stood in the doorway!

"What are you doing, stealing my breakfast?" he yowled aggressively.

I took one look at the huge male cat then scrammed. I didn't want to stick around! There was no way I was going to be able to fight him, considering I was about eight or nine weeks old. The tom cat chased me away before returning to have the remaining milk and eat the food the humans had brought out. I noticed there were several more cats about the farm, all living in and around the place where huge creatures lived. Those creatures ate strange smelling stuff called "straw" and all sorts of yucky stuff that I wouldn't touch with the proverbial rat tail.

I tried approaching some of the other cats, but I was scared off when I heard the sound of something banging. The human who banged the "car door" came rushing up with some wet stuff in a bucket and threw it all over me. I shot off and kept running until I couldn't run any more. I came across a large, long shelter on wheels eventually and climbed in to go back to sleep. When I woke up, I felt a motion underneath my paws.

[Phoenix]

I will be making more changes to this before I complete it.

I was born into a home along with several other kittens, because our mother had escaped and mated with some tom cats on the streets, which made us a so called “oops” litter. I only have a dim memory of the time in that house; although our mum’s people let our mum raise us to eight weeks before abandoning us.

I would rather not remember that day; they picked us up and put us in a cage. We were put in our mum’s people’s “car” and taken away. It was a long journey and none of us knew where we were going. I was travel sick; but my sister was even more travel sick. At that stage none of us had names; we didn’t even know what names were!

After a while mum’s people pulled up in the car and opened the boot. The man got the cage out then without any pretence of ceremony tipped us out onto the grass. We all started wailing – wouldn’t you if you were tipped out of a cage next to the road? All we could do was watch as the people drove off.

We tried following the car, crying for them to stop, desperate for them to come back and tell us it was all a huge mistake. Tell us they were going to take us back home. We quickly discovered this was useless though, it was starting to get dark and it was cold despite the fact it was a summer night. The temperature dropped rapidly; forcing us to take shelter in a hedge that went along the side of the road.

We were feeling cold and sick with hunger. None of us had eaten anything since we left home. No-one came for us so we had to take it in turns that night to try catching something to eat. I found a bird’s nest complete with baby birds; my two brothers, my sister and I helped ourselves to the babies. The family of birds tasted good; the four of us kittens were hoping there would be more for breakfast time. The mum and dad birds were obviously out hunting.

Morning came and with that breakfast time. We’d not slept much that night, partly through missing our mum and partly because of catching and eating the bird family. We had to wander off away from the road in order to find some breakfast. We went through the hedge and came across open fields, which we had never seen before in our lives. We went out hunting for some food in those fields after separating. By this time both my brothers were scratching a lot, as was my sister. Later, I learnt these must have been fleas.

One of my two brothers had a run in with a fox. He had tried to help himself to the fox’s food and the fox hadn’t taken kindly to it. The fox spun round and attacked him, tearing at him with its teeth. The fox turned on the rest of us when we arrived and chased us off. I never saw any of my siblings again; I have no idea if any of them are still alive.

So there I was, sitting all alone in the field without my brothers or sister. I had got myself lost after running from the fox and hadn’t stopped until I’d collapsed
from exhaustion. I found myself near a farm, so I decided to try my luck there. I came across a barn, where I sneaked in for warmth. A saucer of milk had been left out there, which I helped myself to. I decided this would be the perfect place to curl up and sleep the day away.

Hours passed, then I was rudely awakened by a yowl from the doorway. I jumped and looked round quickly to see who it was yowling. I saw the largest male cat I have ever seen stood in the doorway!

"What are you doing, stealing my breakfast?" he yowled aggressively.

I took one look at the huge male cat then scrammed. I didn't want to stick around! There was no way I was going to be able to fight him, considering I was about eight or nine weeks old. The tom cat chased me away before returning to have the remaining milk and eat the food the humans had brought out. I noticed there were several more cats about the farm, all living in and around the place where huge creatures lived. Those creatures ate strange smelling stuff called "straw" and all sorts of yucky stuff that I wouldn't touch with the proverbial rat tail.

I tried approaching some of the other cats, but I was scared off when I heard the sound of something banging. The human who banged the "car door" came rushing up with some wet stuff in a bucket and threw it all over me. I shot off and kept running until I couldn't run any more. I came across a large, long shelter on wheels eventually and climbed in to go back to sleep. When I woke up, I felt a motion underneath my paws. I got really wound up when I realised the long shelter was moving. I hid away inside it until it was no longer going anywhere.

The long shelter finally came to a halt. The people who were in it opened the doors and started pulling the two legs scratching posts out. I'd already ripped the back of the settee a little bit and shedded my fur on it (that's why it's called fur-niture, it exists for our fur so I learnt later). I waited until the coast was clear before darting out.

I heard shouts from behind me but kept on running. I stood panting for a while from stress once I'd lost the strange two-legs, before I heard another cat.

"What's a little one like you doing without a mum?" chirped the strange cat.

"I got thrown out about a week or two ago" I mewed, then told my tale.

"Come and join myself and my daughter from last season" invited the strange black and white cat.

I set out walking with her, having to jump forward every few steps in order to keep up. Eventually, we came across the edge of the town, where I saw there were several cats. One of them was my new companion's daughter, a young tortoiseshell. I saw another cat trying to join the feral group as well, a black male who would never survive on his own. It was obvious he couldn't see where he was going because he was constantly walking into the other cats and any plants that were around. The young tortoiseshell was the one to tell me how they and the black cat had ended up there. The black and white had been born on a farm and left to stray, the tortoiseshell had been sold from the black and white's litter then thrown out of her home when she was no longer a cute little kitten and the black cat had found his way to the ferals after he was abandoned when he became blind.

We spent our days trying to survive, hunting during the night when the two-legs were all away and hiding away during the day where we could. We didn't stay in one place for sleeping, we sheltered where we could. The huge tabby and his queen friend were the unofficial "leaders" for want of a better way of putting it. The tortoiseshell and her mum were the ones to really look after me though, they made sure I learnt what was food and what wasn't. Through them, I learnt how to scrounge food out of bins.

The tortoiseshell proved to be very active. I hardly ever saw her resting, she usually went out hunting and played with the kittens from the feral group. The black and white and the tortoiseshell taught me all I know, as did the black cat and a big male tabby. I stayed with the ferals for six months, all of us doing our best to survive.

After the first week living with the ferals, I noticed some of them would disappear off for a while, then return with marks on their ears. The large tabby and his best female friend were among the first group to disappear and return, the two-legs had taken them. Within the six months all the other kittens had vanished, leaving me as the one remaining kitten. Most of the ferals had been taken and returned, there were only four of us left who hadn't. As well as me being the only kitten free, the black and white, the black and the tortoiseshell were the others who had not been caught. That was soon to change though.