Saturday, August 10, 2013

The Kits and Mrs. Mewer

If you follow this blog, you've met Mrs. Mewer before.
On July 4th or 5th, we knew she had had her babies, but we didn't know where or how many. Pat just happened to see Mrs. Mewer sometime later in the hay shed behind the barn stall area. She was also pretty certain there were SIX babies in there.

I had started making regular trips to the hay shed, sitting quietly on a pallet or softly speaking in kitty-talk. Sometimes Mrs. Mewer was there, sometimes not; but I never saw the kittens ... until five days ago. Mrs. Mewer had them out in the open and, when she heard me coming, she came towards me, but the kittens scampered for safety amongst the hay bales. However, before they got that far, my camera was able to verify that there were, indeed, six of them.



 * * * * 
This afternoon, as I finished "washing" the car, I heard Pat down at the barn calling for me. It took a little while, but I finally figured out she was telling me that Mrs. Mewer was moving her babies.

I dashed into the house, grabbed my camera, and ran down to the barn. Pat told me that these two had followed Mrs. Mewer from the hay bales to the back door of the old milk barn. They seemed uncertain as to what to do or where to go, so Pat had picked them up and put them in a cardboard box.
In the meantime, Mrs. Mewer went back to the hay bales, this time asking just one to follow her back to the barn. Unfortunately, when he got there, something spooked him and he scurried under the freezer.
 
Pat and I waited patiently, and, sure enough, Mrs. Mewer headed for the hay shed. This time it was two babies who followed her.
 
It was amazing to watch and wonder how she communicated with her babies, sometimes having two follow her, sometimes just one.

Mom had one more baby to bring to their new home. I think she was wanting to move more quickly this time, knowing that rain was on the way. No time for monkey business.
 
The one kitten was still under the freezer, so when Weldon went down to do chores, he moved the freezer and I was able to use a broom to get him moving in the right direction. Weldon then scooped him up and I put him in the box with the others.

Not that they wanted to stay put. Most of them insisted on climbing out and Mrs. Mewer just ignored them. I think she was plumb worn out from nursing six little ones for over a month.
* * * *
Weldon just came in from chores and said that Pat put out some soft food for the kittens and they chowed down. Yup, they were hungry! These cats are so smart. Mrs. Mewer knew she didn't have enough milk for them anymore, and she also knew where she could get some food for them.

Simply amazing!