Basket o' Kitties

Around here, we never know when a mom is going to bring in a surprise for us. This mama kitty had all of 1 kitten in her last litter. When she decided to deliver this litter in the deepest depths of the berry vines, we figured we might never see them. We haven't had many come in from the wild this year. We were mighty surprised to see this litter...and a litter of 5 no less come in from the wild! So far, everything we've done to try to help her out has been rejected. LOL! She wants it all her way. She hid them behind the dryer for a week... Then she moved them behind the washer. Now...they won't be hidden any longer! They're EVERYWHERE! We've started supplemental feedings to give Mom a break. They tend to rat-pack her from time to time, and she's starting to get grumpy about all those tiny teeth! Can't say that I blame her there...

Meanwhile, back in the house...


Tiki has a new buddy...Half Pint. We've had a lot of kittens lost this year. This is one of the laundry sink babies. One of the "wild" litters was dragged in very sick, and whatever they had spread like wildfire. It wiped out Half Pint's litter in 2 days. Those kittens were fat and healthy one day, and literally dead the next. I grabbed this one up hoping to save at least one...and it looks like we did. We believe the illness was passed by fleas, so that was our first chore - deflea the little fella.

We'll be keeping the 5 little ones above inside until they're old enough for their vaccines because I'm not sure what we're battling out there. I know most of the older kittens survived, but many didn't. None of the little kittens survived, except this one. We don't know how many were out in the brush that we never saw this year. We do know we no longer see several adult cats as well...and these are cats we've had several years. Since we're also on the coyote track and the bobcat track...those are possibilities as well. Sometimes Willow lets me know that there is something she doesn't like out in the brush... That's rural living for you! You always have to be wary of what might be out in the brush...