From commentor Cat Hair Everywhere:
My cat Zinnia was part of a feral litter born under a bush at my former school several years ago. The custodian was watching over the litter (he loves cats too) and one day when the kittens were only two weeks old, he found the mom kitty dying. It appeared she had gotten into some kind of poison or something. He was devastated, and called the SPCA to come put her down. When I came through the office, the box of kittens was sitting next to the secretary’s desk. I grabbed the box and took it back to my classroom. The teacher next door called her husband and he brought us kitten formula and bottles. The custodian, much relieved, made the kittens a comfortable bed in the box and, with the help of my students, we bottle fed the kittens. The custodian took them home with him at night, and we traded off weekends. My principal pretended he didn’t know what we were doing, and conveniently never
visited my class during the weeks the kittens were there.
__
My first and second period class was a English class for students who didn’t qualify for special education, but were reading 3-grades below level. It was kept under twenty students, but many of them were drug or alcohol babies and many had emotional and/or behavior issues. Because the class was my smallest and because it was the time when the kittens most wanted to be out of the box, I let them wander around the classroom. Several of my tough boys told me they didn’t like cats. I told them that was their loss, but they always had the option to ignore the kittens. I also warned them if they were mean to the kittens they would be in big trouble. Pretty soon, I noticed those same boys were holding their pencils under their desks, trying to lure the kittens over to play. Then I started hearing, “Mrs.! Mrs.! The kitten is sitting on my lap.”. I would tell them that they could gently put the kitten on the floor if it was bothering them, and they would reply, “Oh, that’s okay.”
__
In the first two pictures, you can see Zinnia’s brother and sister, Stripe and Duchess sitting with a coupleof my ‘cat hating” boys. When the kittens were old enough, I took Zinnia, the custodian took Stripe and the other boy, and Duchess and the other girl went to loving homes. The custodian and I trapped one other feral who we thought was an sister to our kitties from a previous litter and had her spayed. She still lives at the school, and the custodian still feeds her on the patio outside the teachers’ lounge.
__
Zinnia (bottom picture) is still a little shy, but she is a sweet and loving cat. She brings my husband live rats and bugs for the two of them to “play” with. I’ll never forget the time he was lying on the floor doing the crossword and Zinnie dropped a huge, live bug right on the crossword, then looked at him like, “look what I brought you!”
bjacques
She’s a cutie. But why is she pixellated? ZOMG! She’s a purebred LOLcat!
JPL
Another rescue story, another happy ending. Cat Hair Everywhere, you are so lucky to teach in an environment where the principal knows when to pretend he/she doesn’t know what’s going on. Animals not only give us unconditional love they have the power to teach us how to love.
WereBear
OMG! Kittens!
I am thinking Zinnia is an awesome girl cat name.
debbie
Only a sister named Petunia will do.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Epic win.
Keith G
Sorry, but this is not “value added” instruction since no test correlations are present. Arnie Duncan and Michelle Rhee are not amused.
/snark (just in case)
Kittehs, squeeeee!!
Ash Can
What a sweet story. A great way to start the first day back to work/school after the holiday whirl.
harlana
Very sweet, heartwarming story. Also adorable kittehs, thank you!
bystander
Therapy cats! Right up there with therapy dogs. Get the ASPCA involved, some service vests and make ’em official in the classroom. What a great experience for those kids.
CatHairEverywhere
I don’t know why the pictures look so weird. They are from before the days of digital cameras, so I had to scan them in. Scanner fail. (or scanner-user fail)
@Keith G.- So true these days! I was so thankful that my principal allowed me a lot of freedom with that class. I ended up teaching them so much about social skills and manners, in addition to reading. Now that I am not teaching full-time, and the curriculum has become so lock-step, it makes me sad to think of my kiddos floundering without me. That class was always the one no one wanted to teach, but I loved those kids.
@bystander- I wish I could have had a full-time classroom animal. It did those kids a world of good to have the kittens in there. I had one girl a different year who had such sever emotional problems- it wold have helped her so much to have a dog or cat to hug.
My wonderful principal is retired now. He was the last of the old-time administrators. Too many of them now would never allow me to have a box full of kittens in my class. I was careful to survey my students for cat allergies and make sure that he would receive no angry parent phone calls, and I am sure that helped.
Sko Hayes
Kittens are irresistible, which is why I have two cats.
As Ogden Nash said,
TaMara (BHF)
@CatHairEverywhere: The whole story is so full of win. And how lucky your students were to have such a great teacher. Yes, classroom pets, an excellent teaching tool. Our library has a read with a dog day once week, where kids can read with dogs. I can only think this is awesome.
TaMara (BHF)
@bjacques: Win!
@WereBear: I had friends who named their cats after vegetables. Zuke (zucchini), Rudy (rutabaga), etc. I always thought it was a great idea. But flowers are terrific, too.
4jkb4ia
Bernie Miklasz does a perfectly fine job of disgusted today
Lovely cat and story
4jkb4ia
And what is worse: this is only the headline of Nate’s post–“The 2010 Seattle Seahawks. Worst. Playoff. Team. Ever?” I don’t think I have to link to the post, even.
Jenn
Wonderful story, thank you! (How is it possible it’s 2011?! Ugh, back to work.)
Scott Parkerson
On cat’s names: nothing wrong with naming them after flowers. My cats are named after the mice in Disney’s Cinderella (Gus and Jaq).
Here they are going Galt: http://instagr.am/p/2RJp/
Betsy
@CatHairEverywhere:
You are awesome.
That is all.
NobodySpecial
I love Duchess’ eyes.
Amanda
Nothing better than tiger stripe tabby cats. Well maybe tuxedo tabby cats. I have one of each, brothers, also from a mom who was feral. Got them both as kitties. Thanks for the great morning story!
koalaholik
Wonderful story, lucky kitties! I have four babies that were ferals born on my back deck. I trapped Momma Kitty and had her spayed (love Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance) and brought the four kittens in to socialize them and give them away. That was 10 years ago, I still have them. There is never a dull moment in my house.
CatHairEverywhere
@NobodySpecial: From what I have heard, Duchess is huge now and a beautiful gray/orange tortie. Stripe is gigantic and skinny. Zinnie is so pretty in person- she is partially tortie spotted and partially striped. The funniest part is how the bottom of her tail is tortie and the top half is striped.
asiangrrlMN
@CatHairEverywhere: Cats are gorgeous, and the story is wonderful. I bet it made you smile inside to see these rough-n-tumble boys cuddling with the little kittens.
@Scott Parkerson: Awww! Gus and Jaq look so snuggly and cute.
pjcamp
“look what I brought you!”
You mean like this?
http://www.simonscat.com/flyguy.html