Rescued Kittens

Jen called to let us know she and the boys had rescued three young kittens which had been abandoned by their mother. Knowing that we would like to have a couple of "barn cats" someday to keep our gopher population down, she thought maybe these would be perfect candidates. Ken wanted to talk to me about it before giving her a decision. I wasn't sure about the whole idea since we kinda have our hands full with the baby chicks, the garden, and needing to build the chicken coop. But Ken said he would take full responsibility for the care of these four-legged critters. So he called Jen back to tell her we'd take them on a trial basis and if it didn't work out she promised she'd find them a home. 

In the meantime I googled the "care of abandoned kittens" and learned a bit on how to determine their age in order to know about feeding them. I did learn that if their eyes were open and their ears stood up that they were about three weeks old. When she brought them over we were quite surprised shocked to see how tiny they were. Oh my gosh, what were we getting ourselves into?

Yes, their eyes were open, and yes — with a little coaxing from Jen — their ears did stand up. She had just fed them goat's milk before bringing them to us and they seemed to be quite content. So we followed through with our agreement and set them up in a box with a heating pad. They were not saucer-trained so we were supplied with a syringe-type-gismo and a supply of fresh goat's milk. The pictures tell the rest of the story.

After feeding them before we went to bed they slept through the night. (We were told they slept through the night at Jen's and did just fine. "Never wake a sleeping baby.") In the wee hour of the morning I woke up to watch Ken patiently feeding each kitten. It took some time for the kittens to catch on to retrieving the milk from the syringe but slowly they "got it." I was amazed at how loudly they purred which I interpreted as contentment. (Ken was raised with cats . . . I was raised with dogs, so the actions of the feline species are pretty much foreign to me.) They are adorable kittens, however by the time he was finished feeding all three kittens, we agreed that these little critters are just too young and fragile and take way too much time to care for them properly.

Jen came over and rescued them from us. She stopped at the feed store in town and picked up three tiny baby bottles to make it easier to feed these little guys. She had made arrangements with a lady at the SPCA to bring them over on Monday. The lady had found a home for the kittens where they will get loving care and will eventually be adopted out to a good home.

Precious little dark gray kittens with blue eyes.

When they go home with Jen until Monday she'll have help with the kittens. Here is CD helping with the feeding. He's so sweet, loving, and very gentle with them. Soon the kittens will bring joy to a more permanent home.

In the meantime we'll take our time and find just the right cats to live on our little piece of heaven. Ones that can eat on their own, ones that love the outdoors, and ones that are willing to "work the land!"

 Life is good!