On Tuesday May 27th I went over to a friend’s house and came home with four kittens. One was the mommy. We think the mommy is still a kitten herself, maybe 9-10 months old.
So when I arrived at my friend’s house, she made an offhand, not even serious, remark, “You want a kitten.” Then she took me out to a scrap-wood pile and there was mommy and three kittens. All scared of people. They were living in the woodpile and all very skittish.
Part way through my visit, I went back out to peek at the kitties from a distance. The babies all ran and hid in the safety of the woodpile. I squatted down and held out my hand to the mommy, talked softly, and called, “Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.” She came forward hissing, growling, and pacing. Eventually, she rubbed on my hand and I petted her and picked her up. I even got her to purr very, very, very, very, very softly. I knew then that she was not a truly wild cat and had been with people early on in her life.
I couldn’t stand the thought of them going to the Humane Society where they might be put to sleep, so I offered to take them and find them homes. We put mommy in an animal crate. Now for the hard part, getting the skittish hiding kittens.
My husband and oldest son arrived and carefully disassembled the scrap-wood pile until we could reach in and quickly grab whatever part of a baby we could before they scurried off to another hole in the pile. We got all three babies without injury to kittens or humans.
We did have a slight scare with a startled squirrel who was also hiding in the woodpile and felt trapped with all of us around him. We gave him an escape route, which he gladly took and ran away.
Mommy and babies are doing fine and are so adorably cute!
We named the mommy Serena. She is a good mommy and an absolute love. She purrs when you just look at her. She loves to be scratched and petted. She talks to her babies in meows and trills.
The dark grey and white one is a boy we named Rolff. He is a pistol and loves to play, even when the other two are sleeping. He’s very adventurous and loves to explore.
The tricolor calico is a girl we named Tilly. She is so sweet and cuddly. She’s just this little round fur-ball.
The all white one is a boy we named Snyme. Don’t ask about the name. My oldest son, who helped rescue them, named him and is going to keep him.
They are all a bit skittish with noises and movement. Mommy trained the babies to be quiet and hide. They are good at that. We are going to adopt them out through Dreampower Animal Rescue where they will be fixed and find good homes.
I wish I could keep them all, but I already have three cats, a dog, and three Guinea pigs. Serena, the mommy, will be the hardest to give up. But I feel good about rescuing them and knowing they will get good homes.
One other note not related to the kittens, if some of you are wondering what happened to me for a month, I was on a sudden sabbatical. I wasn’t able to blog at the time. Hopefully I’m back for good.
Thanks for reading.
