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It's been 8 months since I have been on HRT, and I am feeling great. It's amazing how smooth my process has been. I am a senior in high school and I already have my name and gender marker changed legally and I am living my life authentically, I am extremely proud of how far I have come in just 2 years. I have opened so many people's minds about my community and I have been given so many opportunities so represent my community. I can't wait to experience more!

So. Since we both have tomorrow off, and I was feeling the joy of having time to get some things done, and its' a gorgeous day outside, we decided to clear off the porch of all the winter and home improvement debris that has collected on it. It was going well when we were moving the cardboard boxes off the porch to take to the van when we found...kittens. Yup. Six tiny little kittens about twice the size of a gerbil. Have I mentioned my neighborhood has a stray cat problem? So we called around, and the humane society's foster program is full, and the rescue has a $30 fee per animal, and I frankly can't afford a $180 bill for six cats that are NOT MINE. Both my cats are male, neither had kittens, and both have been neutered and i have the vet records to prove it. They are feral strays, but young enough to be domesticated, if someone would take them. So now I feel bad because the plan is basically let the mother take them and move them to a new location, and they will grow up and have more, and our neighborhood will continue to be overrun by feral cats living short, hard lives. The average lifespan of a feral cat is 5 years, compared one in a good home at 15 to 20 years. And they are young enough that they wnated to interact with us, and could be easily domesticated. I feel like I failed them, but there really isn't anything I can do. We literally cannot feed them every two hours like they need with our job schedules, so taking them in and finding homes for them when they are weaned to normal food isn't possible either. Sometimes there is no good answer. And of course Nikki is sad that I won't let him have the one that looks like Yuriko. But we have four pets right now, and we need to keep reducing the number, not growing it both for our financial changes and consideration of people who have to care for them when we travel. I still feel bad saying no though.

Thank you, I just feel so bad that I couldn't't find a place to give them better lives. If I had any doubts about the statistics of feral vs. household cats before, they are gone now, I never see the same cats more than two years around here. I think the five year average is a bigger area figure, and in my area it's much smaller. We just had to dig the body of a less than two year old feral kitten we watched grow up through the windows in our back yard (it's privacy fenced, they like hanging out in it) out from under our computer room after the smell became noticeable. Mama cat has moved them, and they are off to face their short lives. : ( At least Creed and Yuriko were saved, even with her sad end Yuriko lived 14 years and had a busy cat life bullying the daylights outta our dog and her brother.