Our Fur Babies: Our Kittens

Almost 4 years ago this spring, a feral momma cat had a litter of 4 kittens around our home. We were keeping an eye on her, making sure she had good food to eat, and were making a plan to catch her and the kittens. She kept moving them around and she finally moved them where we couldn't find them, until a stormy, rainy May morning. 

On a Monday morning in May, I woke up early to get ready to go to an appointment. It was raining hard and thundering. When I went out to feed Snowflake, I keep hearing what I thought was a bird. At first, I didn't think much of it, but the sound became louder and more persistent. So I started following the sound. It was then I found them, two little kittens curled up together in our front yard soaking wet, cold, and scared. I was amazed to find the one making all the noise was the littlest one. I picked them up and carried them into the house. I dried them off and put them in a box with a bunch of towels so they could snuggle and get warm. 

Not sure what to do I called my MIL who has recused a lot of feral cats and asked her what to do. The first question she asked me was if I had found the other 2 kittens. So upset by finding the first two abandoned, cold, and wet. I didn't think about the other two. After telling me what to do, I went to look for the other two. I found one of them crawling out of the culvert underneath the driveway and the other one still inside. It was raining hard by now and the culvert was getting fuller with water by the minute. I screamed, yelled, and coaxed the other kitten out. I took them inside, dried them off, and put them in the box with their siblings, then headed off to my appointment. 

So that is how 4 little kittens wormed their way into my dog lover's heart. I taught them how to use a litter box. I taught them how to drink formula out of a bowl. Luckily, they were old enough that I didn't have to bottle feed them, but I still had to get up at night to feed them. We kept them in our closet and bathroom. It turned out that there were 3 females and one male. We took them to the vet and they were in good shape considering what they had been through.

I would have loved to keep all four of them but I knew that was impossible, especially when DH is allergic to cats. Since I knew we would have to find some of them good homes, I spent a lot of timing holding them and petting them so they would be gentled. The male was spoken for quickly and we knew we were going to keep the runt that called me to them. So we were looking for a home for the other two females. We finally decided just to give one of them away, so we kept the other little one that was with the runt. Their names are Copper and Bashful. 

Copper is an orange tabby and was the runt. She weighed .4 pounds at her first vet visit. She is now close to 18 and her belly sways as she walks. She loves to walk in front of you, flop down, and roll over on her back, because she loves to have her belly rubbed. She is an easy going cat and loves to lay beside Snowflake. 
 

Her imperious look.

Her rub my belly please look.

Bashful is a grey tabby. Her names suits her well because she is very shy, but she loves to be loved on and held when she chooses. She has a habit of trying to groom me when we let them in the house. She doesn't like my camera and often hides when she sees it. I have to sneak to take pictures of her, which is hard to do because she has quick reflexes. She is my little hunter and has gotten scolded many times for the dead or injured birds and baby bunnies we have found. I have sat and watched her in fascination as she ate a mouse. It was so gross, but cool at the same time.

She is stalking something as long as it is not a bird or baby bunny, I am fine with it.

She spotted me and the camera but I was too quick for her this time.

They are outside cats and are let in when it is really hot, cold, or stormy. We put them up at night so they won't become coyote snack food. They are excellent company when I am outside working. They also alert me when something or someone strange is in our yard, by growling. So they are good guard cats. It would be hard to imagine life without these two. I never saw myself as becoming a cat lover, but these two proved me wrong. They are one of life's simple surprises.

Living life simply and enjoying every minute of it!