Who is Eating My Cats?

Nothing beats having a good kid dog.  We are lucky to have the sweetest, dumber than a rock puppy named Diego who loves nothing in the world than following my little children.  He would do anything for them I know it.  Diego was getting a little lonely because our sixteen year old Aussie died last fall (more on that later) and he needed some company so he would quit running off to the headquarters to play with the blue tick hound so we bought him a girlfriend.  She is precious.  She is a red Australian Shepherd with beautiful green eyes and we named her Chispa, which means 'spark' in spanish. (or so I've been told b/c I don't speak spanish....yet).  But deep down, I am a cat person.  If I'm ever left alone to my own devices in my old age I will be the hometown 'catlady'. 

Unfortunately, now my cats are disappearing or I guess have officially disappeared.   These are not house cats so don't pull out the tissue yet and I was the only who even knew their names.  They were recycled versions of four generations of barn cats without a barn.  They lived in the pasture, underneath the broken down jeep or in my garden.  They wouldn't let me tame them or pet them unless they were in labor with kittens.  Isn't that weird?  I fed them everyday, much to the chagrin of my husband who thought I was ruining them.  I tried to explain that there wasn't much more ruining you could do because if you can't love on them and talk baby talk to them or buy them sparkly collars, they were pretty much useless to me.  I'm not even sure they hunted or kept away the snakes.  I guess we'll find now out won't we?  Because they're all gone.

The evidence was left in the middle of the dirt road going up to our house.  Daisy had met a bad end but made a coyotes dinner.  Tom disappeared entirely.  Bob was run over and left her kittens underneath a catclaw bush for me to try my luck with.  I can't even begin to tempt them up to the house.  I hear a big owl at night trying to find them as well.  So now this is exactly what I need.  I go out every night with my flashlight and a bowl of cat food and try my best to get these kittens out of the catclaw so they will eat and not be eaten.  As if I don't have enough to worry about.