A Tale of 6 Kittens
Looking back here on my LJ, I realized that I never posted about what I've been dealing with the last 2 months.
On July 1st, Mark and I were out at the barn helping to bring in the first cutting of hay. While we were there, Josephine, the barn owner, told us that she had found a litter of kittens in the tractor shed with no momma. She watched them for a day or two, but didn't see a momma. Then the neighbor told her he had shot a white cat who was "after his ducklings." (Note: barn cats almost never go after waterfowl, esp of they are well fed - which Jo's cats are because she feeds them, so the "after the duckilings" excuse rings false to me.) Jo thought the cat the neighbor had killed was probably the momma. She loaded the babies into a box and brought them into the barn in hopes that another mother cat would adopt them. No such luck.
When we got back from bringing in the hay, Mark and I went to the box and found 5 7-10 day old kittens (eyes were just opening) all mostly white, in a pile. The moment we touched them, they came alive, screaming and clawing and trying to suck on our fingers. We knew they were starving. We grabbed them up and raced to PetCo for KMR. On the way to PetCo, Jo called to tell us she had founf a 6th kitten by the hay cutter, also white, but sick and crying. We said we'd be back to get it once we had the 5 settled.
Kitten #6 appeared to be older than the others, but we kept him since he was sick and all by himself.
My good friend, Robin Olson who runs Covered in Cat Hair also runs Kitten Associates, a cat rescue based in Connecticut. She stepped up immediately and offered to take the babies into her adoption program when they were old enough.
The kittens are two months old now and growing. There are 4 boys and 2 girls: Justin, Jazz, Screamer, Vash, Shiro and Princess. Plus I am fostering two kittens for the 100 Cat Foundation, Mack and Pebbles. All this in addition to my own cats. O.O
Kittens on July 1st
Click to viewMy adopted cat, Rikki, became Nanny-Cat! He came from GA and was going to be euthanized for being FIV+. I was supposed to foster him until a spot opened for him at RIkki's Refuge, but when I had him retested, he came ou negative, so we kept him.
Justin is the Great Hunter! Rikki is not impressed.
Feeding time at the zoo...
Kittens on Aug 9...
Feeding time at the Zoo - redux
Kittens on Aug 29.
There are more videos of the kittens on my YouTube Channel. :)
I'm also sad to report that my beautiful little dog, Cassie, died on August 8th. She was 12 years old. :(
She is featured in my very first youtube video about Tinkerbell. She is the smallest dog.
And here too:
I've "adopted" a Caanan hound cross from Miami Dade AC. Good friend, Dwayne who runs Green Acres Animal Sanctuary, is fostering her for me until I can go down to FL and get her, but she is proving to be such a help to him with his horses, I think she may stay there. :)
Check out Issy's new dog that is staying with me for a while http://youtu.be/AI2rSwBRnhM
The babies leave for CT on September 21st. They are getting spayed & neutered on Sept 18th. I'll miss them, but I am sure this won't be the last time I have orphans to raise. :)
And that's been my life for the last two months. No one can say my life is boring. :D