Our cats and kittens are the healthiest I've ever seen on the farm. We quit giving them milk, and I give them a dollop of my crockpot yogurt or cooked pumpkin every now and then. Pat supplies nutritious soft food packets to go with their dry kibble, and coyotes have pretty much stayed away this year. Things are looking up for the feline population. Yay!!
Early this summer, Mrs. Mewer had two babies in an old silo that had no
roof and, thus, not much protection from the elements. When we finally figured out where she had the babies, I crawled in through a small lower "window" opening, put down a sheet of plastic, and fixed them a
bed-in-a-box. Mom and babies seemed content.
Things went well until a heavy downpour one night in late June. Fortunately, Pat thought of the babies, ran out in the rain, crawled through the same little opening I had used, and rescued the almost-drowned rats. She dried them off and got them settled in the milk barn. Once again, Mom and babies were content.
Their harrowing experience gave birth to their names: the little male (on the right) is Agua (Spanish for water) and the female is LaPli (Creole for rain). They're getting to be big kitties already, full of energy and looking for adventure.
As a sidebar to this story, we have an odd little male cat named Ranger. Nursing mother cats allow him to crawl in with the babies as though he's the babysitter. Mom can get out for a little exercise and Ranger keeps the babies warm :-) You can read an article
here and see that it's not such an oddity, after all. Below you can see him with LaPli ... and I don't remember where Agua was!
In July, Mom Swirly had 5 kittens in the junk pile where she had had her previous litter. It took me quite a while to find them, but I finally prevailed.
What a surprise to find FIVE orange and white kittens: 4 female and 1 male; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme ... and Mustard (the male). They're so rambunctious now, it's impossible for me to get a decent picture of them, so you can see them in action on the video.
Next up, Mom Marmalade. She's a tiny cat who had her two fat babies in the lumber shed. It wasn't long before she started moving them; first further back in the shed, then back towards the front, then under the lumber pile outside of the shed, and finally into the hay barn. That's where this picture was taken.
Their faces are so fat that I burst out laughing whenever I look at them. Weldon named them Rolly and Polly.
The newest of the summer babies, born at the end of August, don't have names yet. Gretchen is their mom and she always has her babies in the milk barn. Totally unacceptable, but try to tell her that! There are 4 little ones in that box with mom. I guess we'd better come up with some names pretty soon. You see there's plenty of room in the box? That's for Ranger :-)
Anyone need a sweet kitty? Come and get 'em!
