In our quest to get all the feral cats fixed, we still have at least six left, possibly seven. The year-old Cassie is one of them, a pastel gray tortoise, and, though she lived in the back yard and even frequently slept in my office (accessed by the doggie door) during the winter, she has never presented herself such that we could catch her. Unfortunately, one of the unfixed males did and she had her kittens April 16 in the wee hours.
Interesting story because my husband had gotten up early and went into the kitchen to make coffee, the dogs following. The dogs headed almost immediately out to my office (also where they eat) and my husband heard an odd noise so went out to investigate. Upon turning on the light, there in one of the dog’s food dishes was a very newly born kitten, still wet, still a little bloody and with umbilical still in place. He came in and woke me up – 6:00 am on Saturday, thank you very much – and told me what he’d found. I flew into the kitchen and there was this tiny little thing, still in the very cold stainless steel dish, for heaven’s sake! I immediately took it out and loved it to my chest to get it warm and we proceeded to look for Cassie and her others. We found no signs of a birth site anywhere in my office and then looked outside in her other haunt, which is on top of the dog kennel (chain link with a roof) that is covered in honey suckle and grape vines. Alas, we did not see her.
What do to with this newborn….it was getting warm but needed food! We had a powder that we use for foals (that is also good for calves, puppies and kittens!) that is really a milk supplement, rich in colostrum. We mixed some up and I fed tiny amounts to the tiny kitten using a small syringe over the course of the morning. At noon, I heard the dogs barking in the back yard and checked it out. They were inside the kennel barking at the ceiling. When I went in I heard tiny mews overhead! So, Cassie was up there, after all. I was able to get the kitten over to her and all was well. [I think how the kitten – who we named Rambo because of the colostrum! – got into the dog dish. I think Cassie was in the process of bringing them into the house when Bob turned on the lights to the kitchen. I think she freaked, dropped the kitten and split!]
The roof of the kennel was ok overall but to make things interesting, we had a few days of rain! Had to create a roof for the new family out of a large cardboard box. Worked great! However, I was worried about the day when the kittens could see and would wander. If one fell to the ground one of the dogs would get it – not because they are killers but it would be a toy, you know? I was also concerned about the kittens being too exposed at times and grabbed by a hawk. Well, for whatever reason, Cassie moved her kittens to her other favorite spot, in front of the house under decorative bushes. That was great until we finally had to water the lawn and bushes…which we delayed as long as we could. I did get the drip irrigation lines in their immediate area out of the way and it has kept them from getting hit with direct water but the ground does get damp so today I created a “floor” using a large plastic lid and a towel. Cassie had left for whatever reason so I was able to place the lid in where they are, picking up the kittens and putting them on it. Cassie did not like it at first and moved them down a bit but has now moved them back onto the lid so they will be out of the wetness.
And if that wasn’t enough….tiny Lizzy Puff, barely 8 mos. old herself, had six kittens…SIX!…a few days ago. HELP! Could not catch her, either – tried many times! And there is at least one more expecting…maybe two. Help!!