This is not a garden blog, but you might see an article concerning gardening. It is a blog about me and the cultivation of my life. This is a place where I air my opinions and ideas. There will be stories about what is happening or has happened. I like to write poems, some will be good and some will be bad. I am never bored, I hope you won't find what I write about boring. Thank you for sharing time with me.

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. 
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.

3 comments:

  1. Oh Gloria,
    Those kittens and Spirit are just beautiful. Wish that I could adopt Digger. lol I just love cats/kittens. Wonderful how female cats have that mothering instinct.Once when our mother cat had 3 stillborn kittens, she wnet out into the woods and brought back baby rabbits. My mother set them up in a basket and she let them nurse and care for them until eventually they got big and they went back into the woods. This was years ago when I was very young so no photos.
    love
    maggie

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  2. Spirit is an amazing cat. I love your stories about her. She managed to survive and ensures that other kittens will too.

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  3. She is still caring for the kittens. She gets very nervous if we take one of them out of the room. A plus to having her mother the kittens is she is teaching them to eat solid food (I was having a devil of a time teaching them, they thought I only dispensed milk, LOL. I do have one Kitten that holds out for the milk in the syringe.

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