"THIS IS MY SPACE!"
"DO WE LIKE THIS PLACE?"
ALMOST ASLEEP
DOWN FOR THE COUNT.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
SPIRITS VIGIL
Keeping Kittens corralled for a picture is almost impossible. There really are 4 kittens. The other kitten who looks just like the one in the middle is chowing down on food. Every time I put him up there he runs back to the food. The kitten on the left is Dipper (his feet are just dipped in white). The Kitten on the right is Digger (he can dig up the litter box with so much gusto you'd think a 10 pound cat was there). The two kittens who are exact twins except for their sex haven't names yet because they look so much alike I don't know who is in my hand unless I flip them over, LOL
Spirit loves to mother her crew.
Dipper and mom relaxing. Notice her poor teats. She lets them nurse, they are so sore. I can't put anything on them because the babies would lick it.
A love bus for Dipper and then she makes him lay down again.
For never have been a mom and not their mother, she is doing a phenomenal job of caring for them (I know some humans who could take lessons from her).
I went back in and tried to get more pictures. They were in go mode, there was no sitting for a "still" photo.
I rescued 5 more kittens last week, they are about 3 weeks old. I tried to introduce them to Spirit. It was a very definite no. She hissed at them like she was saying, "You're not mine".
Zeda and Zachary hanging a bluebird house
check out the challah and cinnamon roll tutorials this week
Friday, May 20, 2011
I'M HERE FOR MY SUPPER
Meet one of my neighbors who comes for lunch everyday. In fact she is here for supper and midnight snack too. She is perched on the large bird feeder I spoke of in
It is about 6 feet from my kitchen window. When she comes up she sits there and looks in the window till she sees me at the sink. I know it is supposed to be bad to feed the raccoons but we did it for self preservation. The monsters were going down to the barn getting into everything. Dumping out boxes, looking through everything. When we started feeding them that stopped and they stopped raiding our garden. We keep a live trap in the barn (it can be baited with stuff raccoons eat and the cats don't.) If a raccoon gets in the trap, he is carted far out in the country. So far we haven't had one find their way home.
They do serve another purpose, they will eat just about anything and will eat the things that are not compostable. The garbage disposal lost it's job.
Ours do not like lettuce (they lick the dressing off the leaves). Potato peelings and onions are not on their diet. We feed them dog food as a basic and make sure they have plenty of water. In the heat we put out several old roasters we have accumulated for this purpose. They serve as Jacuzzis for them. They lounge in them. We have seen a mom who is overworked stay in a tub for over an hour, watching her kits play.
We feed them to preserve our sanity, but it has turned into pleasureable venture.
Thank you for sharing a moment with me.
For more blogs by me:
New blog "Blue birds for kids"
New blog, tutorials on challah baking and cinnamon roll baking.
Monday, May 16, 2011
NEW KITTENS, SPIRIT'S BACK
This is a story about our Cat spirit. She was featured in Blogs on my blog:
under the label "stories: Cats".
This is a would you believe picture taken 30 minutes after the happening. The kittens are about 4-5 weeks old. We rescued them from the barn when they were about 3 weeks old. The mom, it was her first time, must not have had enough milk for them. Every time I came into the barn and the kittens heard my voice they would start screaming. Then they learned how to get out of the nest and they ran to me. It got to the point they wouldn't stay in the nest. I gathered them up and brought them to the house.
I use shot syringes to feed them they sucked on them immediately, no hesitation, they were starved.
Last week we had 3 of our house cats spayed. One will be 2 in September and the other two will be 1 on June first. They seemed okay but it is harder on them when you wait till they are older. When we have done them under 6 months old they recuperate within 24 hours. They were still not back to feeling better Saturday, 4 days later.
Last night we were playing on the sofa with the little ones, when Spirit comes running up. Ut oh...She has always been a terror. We thought she was going to grab a kitten and shake the stuffing's out of it. Or strangle it. She was always doing that to the older kittens. What transpired was amazing. She laid down and curled around the kittens. We picked them up to put them back in their containment area (A huge pot from a tree. It's about three feet in diameter, and 30 inches high. It is plastic so the kittens can't climb out.) It was seconds before Spirit jumped into the Pot and laid down with them. Within minutes they were all sound asleep and you see the resulting picture above.
She never left them all night. When I removed them to take them to the kitchen to feed them, she panicked and began calling them just like we've heard the cats at the barn call their kittens. I had to show her the babies were in the kitchen sink. While I fed them, she went to eat, the minute I returned them to the pot she was there. She is still there now, giving me the look when I peek in. I reached in to pet the babes and she actually growled at me.
If you noticed, there is a kitten which looks exactly like her. Its a male, He has been named Digger. I have never seen a kitten so industriously using the litter box. This Siamese gene comes from our feral papa's side. He looks like a Russian Blue with 4 white feet. His name is "Mr. white gloves".
Grandma on the Mom's side is the Cat
"Priscilla", pictured here:
Spirit is a 3/4 sister to these kittens. Spirit was not stolen from her mom.
"Priscilla", pictured here:
She was in one of the litters whose moms were killed by a visiting Tom.
The kittens are trying to nurse on her. She lets them. It is unbelievable the care she takes of them. She is bathing them after I feed them. She is purring constantly, so loud you can hear it when you enter the room.
UPDATE 18 HOURS AFTER THE ABOVE:
Mom (who's not a MOM) snuggling the kits.
She's not going to let this one get away. See the gray one nursing. She lets them all nurse. she is very vigilant and doesn't let them out of her sight.
I will be posting a Challah baking tutorial this week
St. Louis is finally having sunshine, albeit cold. Hope you're having a sun filled day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)