kittens

The Call of the wild… mama

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Our mama cat has been very vocal for the past while.

That, in itself, is not unusual.  Her boy is a very quiet cat, but she has always been more talkative.

What was unusual is that as I moved around the house, she would run ahead to whatever window she could reach in the area.  I go to the entry, she’s at the outer door, meowing out the window.  I go to the kitchen, she’s up by the aquarium, yowling out the screen (where we still have that frog; it’s been leaving every night, then comes back by morning!).  I go to the living room, she follows me there…

Which was when I noticed Butterscotch’s kittens were out and running around.  They were brave enough to come up to the steps of the house.  I even got a few pictures, though I only saw three of the four kittens.

2018-07-15.three.kittens

Then I moved to the front door to see them better.

When we open the inner door, we put our little step ladder in front of it, so the cats can sit at it and look out the window.  Because we’re sucks that way.

As soon as I got to the door, our mama cat was on her ladder, front paws on the screen, yeowling away.

Which is when I realized, she wanted the kittens!  In the past, when I’ve been looking at YouTube videos of kittens that were meowing, she would come running into the room, looking for the kittens.  She seemed so upset not to find any that I stopped watching these videos unless they were muted!

Our mama wants to be a mama to the kittens outside!

The kittens have a very good mama already taking care of them, though.

This is from yesterday.

2018-07-14.butterscotch.kittens

As for today, when the kittens heard us at the door, they stopped to watch us for a while, then ran off to their nest in the wood pile.

Our mama is still calling for them every now and then!

Oh, how I wish we could get close to the kittens to socialize them! :-)

The Re-Farmer

 

More Kittens, and hot stuff!

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Butterscotch’s kittens came out to play again this morning.   Which, unfortunately, happened to also be at prime reflections-on-the-window time, so getting any decent photos as all was a challenge!

But, I did get a few. :-D

No sign of any cats at all right now, in the early evening.  I suspect they have all found ways to hide away to beat the heat!

2018-07-13.heat.warning

37C = 98.6F
39C = 102.2F

Much to my surprise, we are no longer getting thunderstorm warnings.  Though, from what I hear, the city we moved away from got hit with a massive one this morning.  The weather system was moving in from that direction, so perhaps that’s why we are no longer predicted to get any.

After picking my younger daughter up from work, the girls and I swung by the grocery store and they picked up birthday cake and ice cream for me.  The ice cream is going to help beat the heat, too!

I will now go finish my bowl of ice cream before it turns into a bowl of creamy soup. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Three Little Kittens…

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

… have come out to play.

DSC.three.kittens.png

Three of Butterscotch’s 4 kittens came out to play this evening.

I haven’t seen Beep Beep’s kittens in a couple of days.  I hope she didn’t move them.  They’re a bit big for that, and she’s a tiny cat!

The Re-Farmer

More Kittens!

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

This morning, we finally saw Butterscotch’s kittens!

All four of them.

Looks like she found a nest for them in the pallet pile.  Which means we can see the area from our living room window.

2018-07-10.Butterscotch.guarding

Mama was being very watchful!

Click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Two orange tabbies and two are…

Is that called calico or tortoise shell?

It does make me wonder about Beep Beep’s kittens.  She has a tuxedo.  We have not seen any tuxedo cats outside.  Not even at my brother’s.

Anyhow…

My apologies for the poor quality pictures.  I was taking them through reflections on the glass.  I tried to take out the glare as much as I could when I cropped and resized the photos.

They are SO adorable!  I can’t wait until the two sets of kittens connect.

Our outdoor cat population has gone up by at least 6.  Maybe 7.

What are we going to do with them?

The Re-Farmer

More Kitten

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

I had a chance to sit outside on the steps the kittens are hidden inside.  I was able to give Beep Beep some cat treats, and her little ones came out to see what was going on.

20180709.kitten2

The tuxedo came out first.  It seems to be the more adventurous one!

20180709.kitten3

It even went for my fingers! :-D

You can see a ball of ice at the bottom of the picture.  This is from my water balloon experiment.  I still don’t know if it’s working!  I’m not around to see if Beep Beep does anything with is (if nothing else, it’s watering the bush a bit), and I haven’t been around to see if the cats are checking out the larger one I left in one of their water bowls.

20180709.kitten1

The tuxedo even went farther afield while I was there.

The grey tabby did eventually come out and stay out, but by then it was too dark for photos.

The Re-Farmer

Kittens!

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

I did a walk around the yard, picking up the larger twigs and branches that have come down in the wind.  I was about to head into the house when Beep Beep came over.  Normally, she comes right over for pets, but this time, she wouldn’t let me touch her, and went along the front of the house, which has the door we don’t use.  Thinking she might be more comfortable and come over if I didn’t move too much, I sat on the concrete steps while she lounged behind a bush next to them.

Then she disappeared.

I couldn’t figure out where she went, until I heard a little mmmrrr?  behind me.  Getting up I looked around, then saw her peeking at me from between the concrete steps and the basement wall under the door.

I had no idea there was space back there!  Certainly not enough for her to come through on the side I was looking in.  I walked around and sure enough, there’s a larger gap on the other side.

She came out again, but wouldn’t come near me.  Instead, she lay down on the ground behind the bush again, so I sat down.

Then, suddenly, there were kittens with her!

20180706.kittens

I dangled my fingers over the edge of the concrete for a bit, and the tabby went for them, then disappeared behind the stairs.  The tuxedo wouldn’t come close, but was curious.

I think there is a fairly large opening under the stairs.  Not hollow, but not completely solid, either.

I saw two kittens, but when Beep Beep was rolling around, giving herself a dust bath, later on, I could see that she had three lactating teats.  So there is probably a third kitten under there!

Now we just need to figure out where Butterscotch took her babies.  I am still thinking they might be in the threshing machine.

We will then have the “onerous” task of socializing them. :-D

The Re-Farmer