Gatti

Our stay at the campground in Terracina was made more pleasant by the presence of a pair of cats, a mother and her young kitten.

It was clear that they were comfortable there; the mother walked into our room with us as we opened the door. The kitten was more circumspect. It took a bit of coaxing with string and baiting with chicken scraps to convince it that humans were OK. By the time we left he/she was quite willing to just wander up for a good petting.

Even as I bonded with the little one, I felt a deep sadness. It would have been nice to take it home with us and the timing would have been perfect; I estimate the kitten was roughly 7-8 weeks old and it was already mostly weaned. But, even though the coloring was different and it would have grown to have a unique temperament, it is just too soon after Jet for me to take in another cat. It is too bad, since the campground was closing for the season and both cats will now be alone for the winter with little to no human contact at just the time when being acclimated to humans would imprint and help the kitten from becoming fully feral.