The other momma had already had her kittens by then, so she was staying. This momma is all black. The daddy is all black. And so the kittens? Take a look.
Yes, all black (except for two which had some white marks). I at first counted 4. Then on Sunday when I came home from church, I saw one of the "white" ones had died and removed it. Upon closer inspection, I saw a black one was dead. It came out. When I looked back it, there were still 3! So we had 4, then 3, then 4, then 3 again.
We were out of town yesterday. When we got back in the morning, the other "white" one was missing. It was the smallest of the remaining kittens and I'm guessing, when it died, the momma finally figured out to get the little body out of there. So now we have 2. (We're right back to our original 6!)
Now, this momma is young. She's only 12 months old. She doesn't seem to get the whole parenting idea. I think she may have suffocated one or two because she just sits right on them. And she'll go off for the longest time and leave those little ones alone. It's still getting cool here in Eastern Idaho.
So last night, we tried to let her bring them in. I found out where she wanted to go with them, and cut a box to fit. She stayed in it for half the night; I had to search for two little tiny black kittens this morning. I fed the poor creatures an emergency kitten formula, returned them to the box and set them outside for the momma. She'll need to find a new place for them. I know I'm sentencing these two guys to death, but I have enough to do inside. I can't be concerned about which corner two kittens are loose in.
Momma cat has tried to come in with her babies several times this morning. If I thought she'd leave them in the box, I'd let her stay. If I had a teenage daughter that wanted to care for them, it might be OK. So all the kids got to say hello-goodbye to the kittens this morning. I told them they probably wouldn't get to grow up. Those poor kitties sure have had a rough start!
And the daddy? He's at the vet this morning. No more kittens from him!
We were out of town yesterday. When we got back in the morning, the other "white" one was missing. It was the smallest of the remaining kittens and I'm guessing, when it died, the momma finally figured out to get the little body out of there. So now we have 2. (We're right back to our original 6!)
Now, this momma is young. She's only 12 months old. She doesn't seem to get the whole parenting idea. I think she may have suffocated one or two because she just sits right on them. And she'll go off for the longest time and leave those little ones alone. It's still getting cool here in Eastern Idaho.
So last night, we tried to let her bring them in. I found out where she wanted to go with them, and cut a box to fit. She stayed in it for half the night; I had to search for two little tiny black kittens this morning. I fed the poor creatures an emergency kitten formula, returned them to the box and set them outside for the momma. She'll need to find a new place for them. I know I'm sentencing these two guys to death, but I have enough to do inside. I can't be concerned about which corner two kittens are loose in.
Momma cat has tried to come in with her babies several times this morning. If I thought she'd leave them in the box, I'd let her stay. If I had a teenage daughter that wanted to care for them, it might be OK. So all the kids got to say hello-goodbye to the kittens this morning. I told them they probably wouldn't get to grow up. Those poor kitties sure have had a rough start!
And the daddy? He's at the vet this morning. No more kittens from him!
Could the momma be one of our kittens??? That does not sound like fun.
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