Kittens
On 21 May 2010 we discovered that a feral cat had given birth to three kittens under the house addition overhang. We learned on the morning of 22 May that two of the kittens were joined by their tangled umbilical cords and had not been separated by the mother cat. We cut the umbilical cords with a pair of sterilized scissors after tying them with dental floss (so they wouldn't bleed), and left the two kittens for the mother to feed.
It became obvious as the day went on that the mother wanted nothing to do with the two kittens. She'd removed the third and never came back. Molly went into town to get cat milk and a bottle and that evening we brought them inside and began feeding.
Taking care of such young kittens is something neither of us had done before. We had a book with a short bit about bottle feeding and keeping the kittens warm and we hoped our intervention would be successful.
Sunday morning (the 23rd) the kittens weighed about 4 ounces each (we got better at weighing the little squirmers on our postal scale as time went on). We fed the kittens about every two hours -- more frequently in the very beginning. This went on for two weeks and then we slowly began spacing the feedings further apart.
On Wednesday after we brought the kittens in, the new Catac feeder we purchased online arrived. This bottle is so much easier to use than the plastic baby bottle type feeder we'd used at first. The kittens took to it and began to really drink their milk in larger quantities. We were able to worry less about accidentally drowning them when we fed them.
We'll post more photos here as the kittens grow older.
The three kittens, when we first saw them under the addition, were piled on top of each other for warmth. The top kitten is the one the momma cat took with her.
The momma cat is terrified of people and even though we're feeding her, won't let us come close. This not very sharp photo is of her in the yard.
5/22 -- This is a photo of Blondie taken just after we'd brought the kittens inside. The kittens were tiny.
5/23 -- This is Grey being bottle fed by Molly using a baby bottle type feeder. The nipple on this one is enormous.
5/25 -- This is another photo of Grey feeding. It was really hard to control the amount of milk the kittens got using this bottle. The nipple tended to plug and the kittens either got too little or too much, all at once.
5/27 -- This is Grey being fed with the Catac bottle feeder. This bottle has an L shape and is much easier to hold. It is glass with a rubber valve nipple on top and a feeding nipple (much smaller and better sized than the one on the plastic feeding bottle we'd been using) at the other end. It's extremely easy to control the amount the kittens eat and the nipple doesn't plug.
5/28 -- We kept the kittens in a cat carrier for the first two weeks. They had a towel and foam pad with a hot water bottle under the towel to keep them warm. For the first two weeks the kittens need to be kept at about 85 degrees. If they got too warm, they could crawl off the portion of the towel over the hot water bottle, as they've done here.
5/29 -- When kittens are born their ears are folded closed. Blondie's ears have become erect now.
5/29 -- After feeding the kittens are cleaned with a damp paper towel (the milk dries like glue on their fur if we don't remove it) and their bellies are rubbed to help them digest and pass wastes. After a good feed, the kittens just want to sleep.
More kittens -- their eyes open.
This section of the website is devoted to Cats (with a big "C")!
A page with photos of all the cat buddies we've had here over the years.
Living Off the Grid
A description of what we do in order to live without electricity and running water.
Making a Living
Cats
is a quick look at some of our cat buddies over the years.
Buildings
Photographs of the Shack, Shop and House as they were built.
The Christmas Truck
Molly wrote this story in 2000.
The Mystery Jar
We take a look at the Mystery Jar, is the label or the contents more important?