I am a sucker for animals. About a week ago I came home from work and running into the road was a black cat and her babies, trying to go where I don't know, but I just about almost hit them. Our neighborhood is crawling with stray cats, so I figured this was one and with her own babies. Sure enough, the mother was defending her brood when I approached with my friendly charm. I fed them some cheese and the next morning it was gone. I told the kids and we went on our own investigation where there are two buildings and a small enclosure where the mother took shelter. I was talking about it with my neighbors and we all got together and one guy got bit and had to get treated since he has diabetes...they called animal control, held 4 kittens after they were caught and the poor kittens (souls) were after a day, sitting very wet and shivering in a small animal carrier wet to the bones. I was furious, the wind was blowing and for the weekend to be left that way?? I couldn't take it! The abuse of leaving them sit in unsanitary conditions. The animal control officer was contacted but didn't come on that Friday, and on Saturday is when I got involved. I told the girl that I'd take them to clean them up. I took one by one out of the carrier and took some liquid soap and gave them a shower in the sink with my loving hands, wrapped in a towel and returned them into my twice the size larger carrier, clean with a clean towel and food and water (also something they didn't have). We lost one of the four, it jumped from the deck off the third floor and fell to it's fate, not death, thank god, but it got away so fast that it probably ran to its mother. So three little kittens about the same age and looked like my two kittens, all black and greenish gray eyes. They were much better after being soaked in their own piss. I made another extension with a storage bin laid on its side and put a small sized litter box to keep the food and feces seperate and clean. That was Saturday, the officer came but the guy downstairs didn't know I was cleaning them, word didn't get to him...oops. Sunday they were safe and I kept them indoors in the cage/bin I set up. They were scared. My kitties smelled their presence and was staying close to us. We went to bed Sunday night, and Monday morning the kittens were GONE! My house is a little unorganized in some spots, but I can find my way thru it, but them kittens hid all too well. It was late morning that I discovered that they were in the woodwork under the cabinets in the kitchen and a bigger hole in the wall that two kittens had crawled in and out of. My Landlord would not be pleased to hear that I had five kitties running around when the limit is 2. I was feeling very helpless, these kittens didn't care if I sprayed water on them, make the sound of the sander blast in the air, or a drill, they were toughing it out. Then in all the frustration of it all, the officer was directed to my apartment to retrieve the kittens and boy did I have news for him! I explained the issue I was facing and he told me I was on my own; we figured we'd starve them out of the walls and woodwork. I left for work in the afternoon and came home and they were out of the woodwork and somewhere in the apartment. I closed the doors to all the rooms that I could. A couple hours later I heard kittens' meows, and it wasn't mine. So I found two in the Den and captured them in the cage and locked them in with some food. In the morning on Tuesday, we found the other kitten in Mertz's room. All three accounted for and I called the animal control guy back to tell him the kittens were caught. Left them out on the stairway and he later came by to take them to the journey that awaits them. Maybe death, maybe another chance somewhere in a shelter. I just loved them even for the short time I had them. They just wanted to be kittens, but I sadly couldn't keep them the way they deserved to be kept. I honestly didn't want to have animal control take them but since the guy downstairs was bit, they had to put them on watch. What I think happened is he grabbed the kitten in such a way that he probably hurt it and it reacted in defense, because I had no issues with them and was plenty careful, wearing medical gloves (while cleaning them) and holding them only by the scruff and slow approach, etc. So it was pretty eventful here to the point where some of us got a bit frustrated, and 'why did I get involved'? I couldn't see the kittens dying on the porch out of hyperthermia... and then when the animal guy came would the people have gotten charged for cruelty? I don't know and I had to do what I had to do for these little souls.