Mew Mew Mew Mew Mew

Mama Cat "Shelly Belly" had 5 kittens on Friday, March 28, 2008.  Here they are on April 1st. We weren't here for the birth and didn't see them until they were 2 days old and took no photos until April 1st.

We told the kids they may not name them because last time they got too attached and they are still upset that we gave 2 of the 4 away.  One of the 4 is the Mother here.  Here Mother "Kitka" was run over just before Christmas.  We'd hoped for an all black one, but there are 3 dark grey with stripes and 2 sandy colored ones.  We've had lots of neighborhood kids visiting us to see the kittens. Our kids are trying to find neighborhood friends who want a kitten.

The neighbor who took care of the dogs peeked in on Mama cat for us.  She had 2 kittens Friday night and by the time he was back from walking the dogs, she'd had the 3rd. We came home to 5 though, as it seems to be even an hour or two delay between some of the births. We'd hoped she'd give birth before we left, but no such luck this time.

Milky Boots Finds a Good Home

We've found a home for Milky Boots in the next neighborhood. At least he's closer now, but they are moving out of state later this summer, so again, the kids are very sad about this. They worry if he's being taken care of or not since he's now a garage cat vs. house cat. Here's one last photo before he goes to his new owner. She's a cat lover thankfully.

A nice home for Shadow

Before the new kitten owners arrived to pick up Midnight Shadow Bear, we took a quick family portrait of them.

We'd hoped to keep the kittens in the neighborhood, but guess what -- the neighborhood is full of cats already! So with MUCH disappointment, weeping, wailing and gnashing of our children's teeth, we did find a nice home for the all black kitten named Midnight Shadow Bear today -- further away than we'd hoped --but to some real animals lovers who had recently lost their kitten. He's being renamed to Dante.

Getting Ready to Give Away 3 of the 4 Kittens :(

As you can see below, the kittens are getting so big. Tonight we sat and played with the kittens, trying to decide which one gets to stay and which 3 must go. We know it's time. When we asked the kids, each named a different kitten.

So, how do we decide? Who knows!

The first boy is black with white paws (boots), stomach, chin, and whiskers named

Milky or Boots or Milky Boots.

The second boy is all black named Midnight or Shadow.

We've even called him Bear because he reminds us of a bear cub.

The third boy is named Joe or Tiger or Joe Tiger or JT, even Tiger Joe.

He is a typical dark grey striped cat.

We think we'll be keeping the fourth which is the only girl. She is a light grey cat.

Her name is Michelle or Curiosity or Curiosity Michelle.

She is fast as lightning, so maybe we should call her lightning.

Last night I called her Scamper because she scampers out to explore.

Our kittens are getting playful at 3 weeks

From left to right is Midnight or Shadow, then Milky, next Curiosity Michelle and finally Tiger Joe.
Milky comes to visit Curiosity Michelle and Tiger Joe.
Curiosity Michelle hugs Tiger Joe.
Midnight Shadow learns to clean himself.

Midnight Shadow is our youngest's favorite.

Announcing the arrival of our Twin, Triplet, no Quad kittens!

Last evening our son exclaimed, "Kitka peed on me!" For a cat who has never gone anywhere other than her litter box, we knew her time was close, so we made her a spot in the Master Bathroom. I checked her a few times in the night--only some staining on the towels my husband had put in a box for her, but now she wanted to walk around. About 6 a.m. she was wandering around our walk in closet looking for a nesting place of her own choice. I had a pile of Desert Industries clothes in the closet, so I selected out an old red coat with a warm blue inside and laid it in the corner she'd picked. Each of our kids has worn this coat as a back up sledding coat.

This morning I was encouraging another son to get dressed by saying, "As soon as you are dressed, you can go check on the cat to see if she's having her babies yet!" My husband said he found him watching her give birth when my husband came in to get dressed. Our son put his finger over his mouth to quiet his Dad, who instead came to get the rest of us. Everyone came running and found her licking her first kitten (see photo of her doing this with number 4 below) and then got to see the second one plop out in it's sack followed by the after birth -- which she ate, as cats do.

The kids are exited to hear the kittens' mew, roll over and expose their pink paws and under bellies and watch the milk drip down their mouths as they nurse. It's like an animal shelter around here with dogs, rabbits and cats!

After the older ones left for school, the youngest went to check and came back exclaiming, "She's had another kitten!" I went in and she had her 4th while I was there! This I got on still camera. She had 2 black kittens and then 2 grey ones about 2 hours later! I had to leave to help at school -- the kids were surprised to hear we had two more kittens. When I returned, I checked and no more kittens, so the total is 4.

A friend commented: "It's lucky and rare that the kids were able to experience this, both the timing that they were home and the reality that society is moving away from the farm to the city in general making the connection with nature more and more tenuous. Congrats--I think." My husband's parents sent their condolensces on the kittens. My parents wonder what else can we have.

The kids are so excited and we're glad they get this experience since their dogs cannot give birth as they are both male and since we've already had multiple sets of rabbits, thus the separate cages now. Also, with bunnies you cannot get that close to them at birth and until they are 2 weeks old or the mama will reject them, I'm told. Although when it was so cold and we had to bring our rabbits inside the mud room and one male jumped out of his box in with one female in her box and we hope we caught them in time! If not, we know someone who raises rabbits who will be glad to raise them.

It's easy to see these last 2 grey kittens in the photos, but harder to make out the black ones against our black cat and the navy blue inside of the coat.

Our cat is being a good Mommy, which we worried about since she and her brother were abandoned by their Mommy and fed by eye dropper. She is 1 1/2 years old we think. She and her brother were abandoned by their mother, but she's being a great mother, just purring as they nurse and continually cleaning them.

This a.m. our cat finally got up from the kittens for more than just to eat, drink and use the bathroom. I let her out of the bathroom and she ran down to her own room and really was surprised when it didn't look the same. We'd taken her food and water bowl, etc. up to the bedroom closet for her. She also poked her head around other rooms as if it check even though things had changed in her life suddenly, was everything and everyone else the same. She finally jumped back up on me for reassurance like she does several times a day.

Here's a photo of just the kittens sleeping on top of each other while she was away. Now she's back with them purring as they nurse.

Santa Visited our Ward Christmas Breakfast

This morning at 8:30 found us singing Christmas Carols, eating breakfast as a ward and sitting on Santa's lap again. He remembers us and is quite humorous. One of our kids told Santa he want 6 puppies to which Santa told him he's not in the animal business but he's in the toy business. He said, "You already have dogs!" He did say he could bring him an electronic puppy, but even when he does bring a puppy or kitten he's taking them away from their mommy and went on to explain how they then have to become the mommy. It's a good thing too because the black dog Santa brought us 2 years ago just threw up and so it was really easy to explain it wouldn't be me cleaning it up, but the one whose dog it is! I've also told them before I'll be staying up Christmas night to send back any pets they had requested Santa to bring this year as I already have enough humans to clean up after and still am not interested in the animals that have found their way to us -- even if these animals think I am the one they like most. I type this as the cat comes running to find me and jumps up right in my face. This cat is not content to just sit in ones lap, but must have its face in mine.