kittens

More Feral Kittens

The bird

Back in October, I posted about my feral family of kittens. I’m pleased to let you know that they’re still around, happy and quite healthy. This winter in Dublin has been quite mild, and on the colder days (when the frost is on the ground) I’ve found that the kittens have made it through the night snuggled up inside their box, quite warm, dry and happy.
This last week, I was amazed to come home from work and open the bedroom curtains to see this:
Miss Piggy is after the bird

Yep, that’s Miss Piggy up in the tree and after the bird pictured at the top. At the same time she was in one tree, Two socks was sitting on the ground under the other – prepared to go up as well – should a bird come near enough. It made me giggle at how confident and determined they are in their adolescence, and at how fast they were in going from branch to branch in order to even think about getting a bird.

They quickly realized that I was about, and Two Socks slunk back to the bushes – and then observed me observing him.

Two Socks

When his brother, Runt kitty came out from under the bushes, they looked a bit like bookends as they both watched me.

Runt Kitty

Finally, I decided to pop out and feed them, and Miss Piggy came down from the tree – (u fed me lady,I come down now) to eat. And surprise surprise – guess who appeared but a pudgy Bibs kitty – who I’d not seen since October – well fed, well groomed and wearing a collar. I guess someone decided he deserved to be adopted into a forever home.

Miss Piggy

Share

My “feral” family

Sitting on the neighbor's balcony, Mom kitty

Back in June, for about 2-3 weeks, I kept seeing a little mottled black and gold female kitten wandering around the area and up to the local grocery store. Not too long after, I saw the same scrawny cat in my back garden, and realized that she had had kittens. Because I’m such a softie, I decided that I couldn’t watch the cat starve to death (she was all skin and bones) and had to start putting out a bit of food for her.

Mom kitty getting fed

By the first week of July, I started seeing random fluff balls peeking out of the bushes in my back garden. They would scatter at any bit of noise. Eventually, as I continued feeding the momma kitty (now nicknamed June), I got to see the kittens playing in my back garden romping about on a sunny day. It was then that I realized that momma kitty had 4 tabby kittens…one of whom would always be in hiding when 3 others were out.

Most of the kitten family

After several weeks of daily feeding of her and the kittens, I’ve now reached the point where they know what time they get fed. They sit outside my back door and meow, curl up in the window sill, and even know their names – even if I can’t pet them, per say. They’ve become my “feral” family, and I do worry about them – especially now that I’m not sure what happened to Bibs. Last weekend, when it turned colder and the fall rains started, I decided it was time to buy a “cat house” for them. Unfortunately, I didn’t find one that I thought would work. So, I improvised and bought a storage box with a lid – and cut a hole in it. Then, I filled it half full with straw. The kittens shunned the box for 2 days, despite my putting their food on top.

The "winter box" of kittens

Today, when I got home from work, it was pouring down rain. It’s been raining all day and the weather service is predicting floods. I figured that by the time I got in, I would have some seriously soaked, miserable, bedraggled kittens to put food out for. I opened the bedroom curtain and peeked out, and could just see what looked like two “logs” pressed up to the side of the box. I started to think “great, they maybe think it’s a litter box” and put on some shoes to check if that was the case. As I opened the back door, I was quite relieved. Why? Because this is what greeted me:

Runt and Two Socks We're here, k?
(we’s found a warms, we stay in here, okayz?)

Yep, Runt, 2 socks, Ms. Piggy and momma kitty were all curled up inside the box, warm, dry, and purring happily away. It makes my heart sing.

Share