Best Intentions

I think most people who know me would say that I have the best of intentions; the results of my actions, however, are not always reflective of this. On Wednesday, a colleague came into my office and said that she saw some kittens crawling around behind our office building. Now who can resist cute, cuddly kittens, right? Well, we deemed it was our responsibility to "save" the kittens from an uncertain future by catching four of them (under great protest), putting them in a box in my office, and sending them home to Gracious Acres with me.

I knew DH was not going to be terribly excited to have four kittens roaming the farm again; we don't have the best luck with keeping kittens alive. This time was no exception. The first night, I put them in a dog kennel with some milk & Tender Vittles. They ate okay, but they were still very hissy and scared...rightly so. Leah the cat was NOT happy and pouted shamelessly.

Yesterday morning, I put some fresh milk in the kennel and left for work. When I got home, I let them out of the kennel to roam about and get a feel for the place. Before long, they hid under the front porch (unaccessible by anything bigger than a kitten). I placed some food near the porch and saw them come out to eat it, and I thought they would be okay under the porch over night. About 10:30 pm, we heard a horrible commotion out there with lots of hissing and cries from the kittens. This morning they were nowhere to be found.

Of course, I feel awful. Should I have let them run wild in town, should I have brought them to the animal shelter? I don't know anything other than sometimes I should just not try to be the "patron saint of all feral animals." Yes, DH, I have learned my lesson (until next time).

When have your "best intentions" turned out for the worst?