I have cats coming out of my ears!!
First let me introduce my TWO cats (in case there are new readers). The only two cats I own. First is Gray Kitty...
She was born in 2001 and that is also when hubby acquired her. I first met her in 2006 when I met my hubby. She was our only cat for many, many years. Then we decided to get another cat since she's getting older and not keeping the mouse population down like she used to, so we got OrangeJello (or MichaelOrangeJello as I like to call him haha).
We finally had him neutered a few weeks ago. Just in time too because he was constantly getting in fights with other cats and was even attacking Gray Kitty. I was not happy.
Not even a week after we neutered him I walked out to the pasture to open the hay ring so the horses could finish off the hay and we could put out a new bale..... and found a stray mamma cat and her five kittens in the horses' leftover hay!!!!! She'd just given birth within days because they still had dried umbilical cords attached.
My first thought was that OrangeJello must be a daddy and we didn't get him neutered in time lol. It's possible, but who knows really. The mom ran off and I had to move the babies because I couldn't not put out hay for the horses. I was terrified that by moving them she wouldn't come back to them or she'd hide them. Luckily she seemed to like her huge pet taxi full of hay and kept them there for a couple of weeks. I fed her every day, but she was super skittish and hissed, then ran away when I got too close. I tried to only go over there when she was away so that I wouldn't spook her.
On Thursday I walked out to the pasture before work to feed her and spotted her trotting away with a kitten in her mouth. I was heartbroken because I thought I wouldn't be able to find them. I followed her and found where she was keeping them. As soon as she put the kitten down I ran her off and gathered up her kittens. I put them back in the pet taxi and closed the door. Hubby set up the live animal trap and put food in it... then we went to work... and I stressed. all. day. long... I was so scared she wouldn't come back and I would have to bottle feed them, or that they would go too long without food while I was at work.
Hubby went home for lunch (only a few hours later) and luckily she was in the live trap!!!! He put her in the pet taxi (she strolled nonchalant into it) and closed her in. Then when I got home from work we moved the pet taxi to our screened in porch. I am so much less stressed about them now that they are contained.
To my huge surprised when I opened the pen to give her some food she rolled over on her back (on top of her kittens) and purred!!! She wasn't feral at all. She let me pet her and she rubbed against hubby and crawled into his lap. She's a total sweetheart. :D She only hissed at us the first day and now she's just so loving. Here are some pictures from today.
I moved them to the smaller cage with blankets instead of the closed in taxi with hay. They seem to like it. Their eyes are open and they are walking around pretty well. They didn't eat any of their soaked food because they had full bellies of milk, but they will start eating soon. I'm guessing they are about four weeks old going by their development and when I found them.
So now I have a whole passel of cats! We've already found a home for one kitten once he/she is weaned. I'm keeping my favorite one with the orange face. We are going to spay the mom and turn her loose because she most likely belongs to one of the neighbors. If she decides to stick around that is fine with me. I've already started calling her Emerald (Emi) because of her eyes. The other kittens we will either find homes for or we will spay/neuter them and let them hang out with our crew. :D Welcome to the family kittens!!
Old pictures.
She was born in 2001 and that is also when hubby acquired her. I first met her in 2006 when I met my hubby. She was our only cat for many, many years. Then we decided to get another cat since she's getting older and not keeping the mouse population down like she used to, so we got OrangeJello (or MichaelOrangeJello as I like to call him haha).
Old pictures.
We finally had him neutered a few weeks ago. Just in time too because he was constantly getting in fights with other cats and was even attacking Gray Kitty. I was not happy.
Not even a week after we neutered him I walked out to the pasture to open the hay ring so the horses could finish off the hay and we could put out a new bale..... and found a stray mamma cat and her five kittens in the horses' leftover hay!!!!! She'd just given birth within days because they still had dried umbilical cords attached.
My first thought was that OrangeJello must be a daddy and we didn't get him neutered in time lol. It's possible, but who knows really. The mom ran off and I had to move the babies because I couldn't not put out hay for the horses. I was terrified that by moving them she wouldn't come back to them or she'd hide them. Luckily she seemed to like her huge pet taxi full of hay and kept them there for a couple of weeks. I fed her every day, but she was super skittish and hissed, then ran away when I got too close. I tried to only go over there when she was away so that I wouldn't spook her.
On Thursday I walked out to the pasture before work to feed her and spotted her trotting away with a kitten in her mouth. I was heartbroken because I thought I wouldn't be able to find them. I followed her and found where she was keeping them. As soon as she put the kitten down I ran her off and gathered up her kittens. I put them back in the pet taxi and closed the door. Hubby set up the live animal trap and put food in it... then we went to work... and I stressed. all. day. long... I was so scared she wouldn't come back and I would have to bottle feed them, or that they would go too long without food while I was at work.
Hubby went home for lunch (only a few hours later) and luckily she was in the live trap!!!! He put her in the pet taxi (she strolled nonchalant into it) and closed her in. Then when I got home from work we moved the pet taxi to our screened in porch. I am so much less stressed about them now that they are contained.
To my huge surprised when I opened the pen to give her some food she rolled over on her back (on top of her kittens) and purred!!! She wasn't feral at all. She let me pet her and she rubbed against hubby and crawled into his lap. She's a total sweetheart. :D She only hissed at us the first day and now she's just so loving. Here are some pictures from today.
She has the most incredible green eyes!
She's tiny too!!! So small for a grown cat!
She's tiny too!!! So small for a grown cat!
This one is my favorite! He/she has very wide classic tabby stripes
on the body and is the only one with an orange face.
SO CUTE!!!!!
They are all so different. You can't see my favorite very well in this pictures because he/she is under the gray striped kitten on the left haha.
I moved them to the smaller cage with blankets instead of the closed in taxi with hay. They seem to like it. Their eyes are open and they are walking around pretty well. They didn't eat any of their soaked food because they had full bellies of milk, but they will start eating soon. I'm guessing they are about four weeks old going by their development and when I found them.
I hope you're proud of yourself Pops!
So now I have a whole passel of cats! We've already found a home for one kitten once he/she is weaned. I'm keeping my favorite one with the orange face. We are going to spay the mom and turn her loose because she most likely belongs to one of the neighbors. If she decides to stick around that is fine with me. I've already started calling her Emerald (Emi) because of her eyes. The other kittens we will either find homes for or we will spay/neuter them and let them hang out with our crew. :D Welcome to the family kittens!!
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