What a crazy, mixed up day.

A warning, for those who don’t want to read about just how nasty nature can be.

Earlier, I posted about our morning surprise; a new litter of kittens in the larger cat carrier in the sun room.

We kept watch on the sun room, staying out as much as possible. No other kittens were around; I don’t know where their mothers moved them. Other cats stayed out as well. Every now and then, in the critter cam, I’d see a cat go in, sniff at the carrier, then run off. There was one short haired black and white that kept coming back, but it did not go in with the babies, and would run off again. We found the black kitten outside the cage a couple of times, and I put it back. It, and its siblings, were cold and damp and crying, but non mama came.

At one point, I ended up in the basement, clearing the pipe to the septic tank again, and was away from the critter cam for quite a while. When I checked on it next, I could see a black and white kitten on the floor in front of the carrier, and it wasn’t moving. My older daughter and I went to see what was going on.

My first surprise was noticing some blood under the kittens nose. When I picked it up to look at it, and its lower jaw was gone. Something had started to drag it out or eat it or something.

The other three were still in the carrier. While I went outside with the tiny body, my daughter closed up the front door of the carrier and opened the top, so the kittens couldn’t get out, but the mama could get in. We had also shut off the ceiling fan and tied off the door, so the room would warm up for the babies, but they were still way too cold.

We decided to bury the kitten under one of the crab apple trees in the old kitchen garden. I quickly dug a hole and laid the kitten down.

It moved.

Much to my shock, the poor thing was still alive.

Yes, I swiftly euthanized it. I was not going to let it continue to suffer, and there was no way it was going to survive.

All we could do is keep monitoring the sun room.

Before my younger daughter and I had to leave in the afternoon, I could see the kittens moving around in the cat carrier. They even seemed to be stronger and drier. Could we have missed the mama come in and tend to them? We weren’t going to risk going into the sun room and scare her away.

The forecast of no rain today turned out to be quite wrong. Before my daughter and I headed out, we were hit by two quick and dirty thunderstorms, and our area was under a severe storm watch. Our first stop was at my mother’s town to pick up a Purolator parcel. We drove through downpours a couple of times along the way. I thought the parcel was our bucket of lysine, but it turned out to be something else – something Amazon still says has been shipped, but won’t arrive until the 25th! The lysine still says an expected arrival of the 20th – today – but only that the carrier has picked it up.

After getting the package, we drove to the nearer city, with a stop at a grocery store first. While my daughter ran in with her shopping list, I stayed in the truck. I could still check the critter cam from there, so I did that a few times – and spotted a couple of racoons! I was able to use the microphone to chase them out. When I messaged my husband and other daughter about it, my daughter told me she’d already chased a racoon out, earlier.

I could, however, still see the kittens moving around in the carrier. Even zoomed in, though, I couldn’t see if there was a cat in with them.

Once my younger daughter was done her shopping, we went to pick up the birthday pizzas. We were early, so I checked the critter cam a few more times. I could no longer see any movement, so maybe they were asleep?

Once we got our order, we drove home, which took about 45 minutes. We pulled into the yard to unload. As my daughter took in the last back, I went through the sun room to get some kibble and distract the cats away from the truck while she went to park it. As I quickly went through, I looked into the carrier.

There were no kittens.

No cats or kittens in the sun room at all.

After putting kibble out, I stopped to look around more closely.

That’s when I found … evidence, shall we say.

The racoons got the kittens.

All I can tell myself is, at least it would have been quick.

Since then, we’ve seen the black and white cat – it turned out to be the one with a black nose I sometimes saw around – go in and out of the sun room. We are thinking she is most likely to have been the mother. The makeshift table we had for the transplants has been put away, and the cat cage is now in the corner. I’ve put a cat bed and blankets on it. The last I checked, I saw this cat, and a couple others, lying on top of the cat cage. The other cats seem to be returning to the sun room.

I’d been chatting with the Cat Lady throughout the day, so she knew about the kittens, and the end result. The reality is, as much as we hate that this happened, it may have been for the best. The more kittens there are, the more likely there will be illnesses and other problems. Last spring was a devastating example of that.

When we are able to connect again, she will be lending us a trap for a few months. We won’t have a problem getting most of the males to the vet, but the females will need to be trapped.

It’s getting to the point where we seriously need to look into a cull. Especially with not being able to socialize or catch the females. With the way prices have been going up, we are now spending more on cat food, than food for ourselves. Of course, the more cats there are, the more fights there are.

Messaging with the Cat Lady, she tells me all the shelters are full, and the Humane Society is overwhelmed. People just can’t afford to feed their pets anymore, never mind actually adopting any.

They will try and help us as much as they can, but of course, donations for everything are going down, whether it’s for animal rescues, or food banks.

For folks like us, out in the boonies, we get to see a whole different side of the population issue, and sometimes that side gets rather bloody.

Nature is a b*** sometimes.

Meanwhile, I can see another thunderstorm coming through on the garage cam, with lots of lighting.

Maybe I should take that as a hint to shut down the computer and go to bed. It’s almost 11pm, anyhow.

What a crazy, messed up day.

Meanwhile, we’re trying to celebrate Father’s Day and my daughter’s birthday, combined, this week.

*sigh*

The Re-Farmer