Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Snowball and Tiny’s mom, 2015
Bad quality camera used when I was 10. The only thing I have of Midnight, what I called the black cat I met in 2015. She appeared mainly black, but with deep brown fur. It was summer, and I was 10 years old. Midnight started visiting our porch for food, and I was happy to be around such a friendly cat. I sat with her on the porch and spent time with her. One day, she brought her litter of four adorable kittens to our porch, and I was so thrilled to see real kittens! I spent even more time out there and played with them. Despite taking place on just our porch, it was quite an adventure with all the things that happened. It’s quite a story. Midnight even stopped an overly excited large loose dog that ran for our porch. I had no idea how to stop it and was scared it would hurt the kittens. But Midnight was there, lashing her claws at its face with a screech to keep it away. It was quite something to witness.
I named the two male Siamese colored kittens Snowball and Snowy, the female Siamese Swirl, and the black female Tiny. Look, I was only 10. Tiny was actually the smallest, with the other female and two males being bigger, but she was Midnight’s favorite since she was the only one who looked like her. Tiny also took longer to get used to us. While the Siameses were already crawling over me when Midnight did so, Tiny was crouching back and hissing. She eventually came around. Since Midnight was the mother, we temporarily gave her a blue collar to deter people from attempting to take her away.
After a few weeks, Midnight unfortunately began trying to take her kittens away. The first time she brought them back, but Swirl was missing and we never saw her again. We only had Snowball, Snowy and Tiny left. The second time, Midnight tried hiding them under the car at the next door neighbors house. I’ve cleaned out a spare room in the house that would be a good place for the kittens to stay, and convinced my parents about it. Luckily Snowball came to me on his own when I was out on the porch wondering what to do, so we took him in and gave him water. He started meowing by himself, so I convinced Snowy to come by patting the grass. Thanks to that, Midnight brought Tiny to the porch herself. They kittens drank lots of water once inside. Tiny had been very weak, and we aren’t sure she would’ve survived out there. I understand Midnight was only doing what she thought was best, even though it was flawed. She was starting to teach them to eat prey even though they’d been eating the food we gave. Maybe she wanted them more for herself, even though she’d left us to babysit them on our porch multiple times. We aren’t sure. I’m glad it worked out for the kittens, even though we’ll never know what became of Swirl.
For a while we let Midnight in to see the kittens. She taught them how to use the litter box and still gave them milk even though they were eating regular food. We even let her stay overnight. But the day eventually came when we couldn’t let her in anymore. We gave Snowy a good home with another kitten to be his friend, a gray tabby named Maggie. And we took care of Snowball and Tiny so they would have no fleas or tapeworm and would be healthy. Letting Midnight in could reintroduce problems we didn’t want to expose the kittens to.
We tried helping Midnight, tried possibly getting her a home since we couldn’t keep her inside. My parents didn’t want to deal with her constant desire to be outdoors where who knows what could happen, nor her bringing in prey and parasites. The no kill shelter didn’t accept her. Since she was a black cat, we didn’t take chances with a regular shelter. We returned her to our neighborhood as there was nothing we could do. Sadly, Midnight passed away about a few months later. We last saw her limping and rolling as she tried rushing across our lawn. She was bleeding. She ran out of sight and just nothing we could do. The neighbors informed us of her passing.
In memory of Midnight, on my main Nintendogs+Cats Golden Retriever game (the one with “goldie”), I got a cat reminding me of her. I wonder what happened to Midnight that day, and how she became a stray. She was so friendly, yet unspayed and out fending for herself. I wish we could have done more for her, but my parents weren’t really into, well, animal stuff. They’re better now, but back then it took convincing and unnecessary arguments to make it to giving the kittens a home, and I only got to keep two instead of one since they’re Siamese mixes. I was only 10 and trying my best. I hope Midnight didn’t suffer much in her last days, and I’m glad she knew her kittens were left in good hands. Rest in peace, Midnight.
I’m grateful Midnight chose us to care for and love her precious kittens, who are still very sweet and lovable 9 years later. To have such sweet, gentle cats in my life growing up, and getting to raise them as kittens and seeing them grow, is something special in my life I will always cherish.
Snowball and Tiny’s mom, 2015
Bad quality camera used when I was 10. The only thing I have of Midnight, what I called the black cat I met in 2015. She appeared mainly black, but with deep brown fur. It was summer, and I was 10 years old. Midnight started visiting our porch for food, and I was happy to be around such a friendly cat. I sat with her on the porch and spent time with her. One day, she brought her litter of four adorable kittens to our porch, and I was so thrilled to see real kittens! I spent even more time out there and played with them. Despite taking place on just our porch, it was quite an adventure with all the things that happened. It’s quite a story. Midnight even stopped an overly excited large loose dog that ran for our porch. I had no idea how to stop it and was scared it would hurt the kittens. But Midnight was there, lashing her claws at its face with a screech to keep it away. It was quite something to witness.
I named the two male Siamese colored kittens Snowball and Snowy, the female Siamese Swirl, and the black female Tiny. Look, I was only 10. Tiny was actually the smallest, with the other female and two males being bigger, but she was Midnight’s favorite since she was the only one who looked like her. Tiny also took longer to get used to us. While the Siameses were already crawling over me when Midnight did so, Tiny was crouching back and hissing. She eventually came around. Since Midnight was the mother, we temporarily gave her a blue collar to deter people from attempting to take her away.
After a few weeks, Midnight unfortunately began trying to take her kittens away. The first time she brought them back, but Swirl was missing and we never saw her again. We only had Snowball, Snowy and Tiny left. The second time, Midnight tried hiding them under the car at the next door neighbors house. I’ve cleaned out a spare room in the house that would be a good place for the kittens to stay, and convinced my parents about it. Luckily Snowball came to me on his own when I was out on the porch wondering what to do, so we took him in and gave him water. He started meowing by himself, so I convinced Snowy to come by patting the grass. Thanks to that, Midnight brought Tiny to the porch herself. They kittens drank lots of water once inside. Tiny had been very weak, and we aren’t sure she would’ve survived out there. I understand Midnight was only doing what she thought was best, even though it was flawed. She was starting to teach them to eat prey even though they’d been eating the food we gave. Maybe she wanted them more for herself, even though she’d left us to babysit them on our porch multiple times. We aren’t sure. I’m glad it worked out for the kittens, even though we’ll never know what became of Swirl.
For a while we let Midnight in to see the kittens. She taught them how to use the litter box and still gave them milk even though they were eating regular food. We even let her stay overnight. But the day eventually came when we couldn’t let her in anymore. We gave Snowy a good home with another kitten to be his friend, a gray tabby named Maggie. And we took care of Snowball and Tiny so they would have no fleas or tapeworm and would be healthy. Letting Midnight in could reintroduce problems we didn’t want to expose the kittens to.
We tried helping Midnight, tried possibly getting her a home since we couldn’t keep her inside. My parents didn’t want to deal with her constant desire to be outdoors where who knows what could happen, nor her bringing in prey and parasites. The no kill shelter didn’t accept her. Since she was a black cat, we didn’t take chances with a regular shelter. We returned her to our neighborhood as there was nothing we could do. Sadly, Midnight passed away about a few months later. We last saw her limping and rolling as she tried rushing across our lawn. She was bleeding. She ran out of sight and just nothing we could do. The neighbors informed us of her passing.
In memory of Midnight, on my main Nintendogs+Cats Golden Retriever game (the one with “goldie”), I got a cat reminding me of her. I wonder what happened to Midnight that day, and how she became a stray. She was so friendly, yet unspayed and out fending for herself. I wish we could have done more for her, but my parents weren’t really into, well, animal stuff. They’re better now, but back then it took convincing and unnecessary arguments to make it to giving the kittens a home, and I only got to keep two instead of one since they’re Siamese mixes. I was only 10 and trying my best. I hope Midnight didn’t suffer much in her last days, and I’m glad she knew her kittens were left in good hands. Rest in peace, Midnight.
I’m grateful Midnight chose us to care for and love her precious kittens, who are still very sweet and lovable 9 years later. To have such sweet, gentle cats in my life growing up, and getting to raise them as kittens and seeing them grow, is something special in my life I will always cherish.
