Look who it is! Our favorite sisterly duo, Amber and Phoenix!
Phoenix and Amber with a teaser… And Phoenix growling quietly, letting everybody know it is hers!
I love how Amber is sitting at a respectful distance, all “Yes indeed, that IS yours!”
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A couple of people asked for details on Fred’s level of excitement when he called down to me to let me know that he’d heard kittens in the crate Sunday morning. His tone was… bored. On a scale of 0 to 10, I’d say he was around a -1. Fred finds newborn kittens to be just about the most boring thing on the face of the planet because he is utterly insane. I’ve said this before, and I get the feeling you guys think I’m kidding. I’m not kidding one little bit – I might even be understating it. He doesn’t find them the slightest bit interesting until they’re around 6 weeks old, and he doesn’t think they get truly interesting until they’re around 10 weeks. I, on the other hand, raced up there just as fast as I could. I’m not sure my feet even hit the ground!
Check out the kitten in her armpit.
I’d like to report that Katia is relaxing and starting to trust me, but alas she is not. This is her reaction when I dare to get within a foot of the crate.
As far as reaching into the crate, well, that’s not going to happen. Katia’s got a serious whappy paw, and she’s not ashamed to use it.
Fred has, of course, gone in and tried to reason with and charm her, and he’s had no luck. I’d never say never when it comes to cats – she’s been through a LOT in the last week – but I am not imagining that she’s going to come around. She’s lived outside her entire life (we think she’s about 3 years old), has probably had little contact with humans, and this whole being-inside thing is so far beyond the scope of her experience that if I were her, I’d be wielding the whappy paw with great purpose, too.
I can report that she’s a wonderful mother – those kittens are energetic, squirmy, and vocal. They’re spotlessly clean and well cared for. Katia spends the daytime in the crate with the occasional trip out to the litter box or food bowl, and then spends her nights hanging out with her mother, sitting on top of the scratcher looking out the window, and checking on her kittens.
Now I just would like to request that Kristi go right ahead and have her kittens so that all the kittens can grow up together.
“Hmmm… nope. I see no reason to do that, lady.”
Little wanderer (this was actually the first time I saw any of the kittens away from her. Please note that she’s keeping a close eye on me. I was three feet from the mouth of the crate. Geez, Katia!)
Pile o’ cuties.
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Frankie, hanging out near the catnip.
Frankie and Khal, looking up at the weird lady who’s calling from the window on the second floor.
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Previously
2017: Then Jake tried to mind-meld with Stefan, who rebuffed the move.
2016: No entry.
2015: Peter wishes HE could have a turn on the scratcher. SIGH.
2014: Ear cleanliness is important to Ferdinand.
2013: One thing I do know, though: I have zero control over the color that her kittens are, so I’ll take what she gives me and I’ll be grateful!
2012: “Ho hum, hanging out here in the air again.”
2011: No entry.
2010: Seriously, how ADORABLE were baby Sugarbutt and Tommy?
2009: Samba, running around like a wild thing.
2008: I realized yesterday that I never told y’all any of Joe Bob’s back story.
2007: I really think that seven cats is just too many for us to have on a permanent basis. Six really feels like the right number for us. (Oh, poor naive, silly, deluded 2007 Robyn.)
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Such adorable tiny panfurrs. And the Warrior!Mummy, so gorgeous.
The little tails poking out is pretty cute though… not to mention Little Wanderer’s ears and nose. Oh, and that little paw. They may not be interesting, but you’d be hard-pressed to find cuter little munchkins.
This is seriously frustrating, but I have to admire mom’s dedication to protecting her kittens. I hope she realizes soon that they’ve never been safer! She’s keeping them so clean that they shine!
They are very glossy and shiny!
So how long did it take Emmy to relax and let you handle the Noms? I guess she is the feral standard we’ll measure Katia progress by. But The Nominees ended up being friendly babies, didn’t they?
The Noms did end up being friendly! I think it was a few days before I tried touching the kittens, and Emmy was pretty growly when I did. Emmy was a lot less prone to smack the hands that reached for her than Katia is, though!
Hey. You’ve had them, what, a week? Less? Sometimes cats take months to come around. I’d say it’s too early to tell.
In the last pic, Katia has the whole “my precioussssss” thing down pat.
D’awwww. I love to see baby kittens and can look at photos of them all day; but I tend to side with Fred in that I truly LOOOOOOOVE kittens when their eyes open and their ears pop and the pass the ‘land swimming’ phase – where their little paws aren’t quite strong enough to get their bellies off the ground. Skittering, exploring, shaky toddlers are my kryptonite! Only having furrkids myself, I can say this extends to human babies too – give me a 12, 18, 24 month old baby and I am over the moon!!!! C’mon Kristie – give Robyn them babies! C’mon Katia – relax and enjoy your final journey into motherhood – Shady Cove Spa has everything you could ever need or want!
I don’t know you in rl Robyn, but I know that the idea of Katia and the babies living in soiled bedding from the birth would make you cray cray.
When did you get a chance to ease out the bedding? Know that you’re trying to be respectful but you haven’t even gotten a chance to touch the kittens.
I am also wondering how the soiled blankets will be replaced with clean without Katia freaking out!
It was driving me nuts – we finally did it earlier today (and took the opportunity to get kitten face pics, which will be up in tomorrow’s post.) Details will be in tomorrow’s post – but I will say that it’s amazing how UN-soiled that bedding was. She gave birth on that bedding, but except for a couple of blood stains, you really can’t tell.
Does Katia have somewhere safe to go if she never warms up to people? She certainly hasn’t had it easy but sometimes they just are do distrustful they aren’t going to get over it.
I think Robyn said that they have an option to place her as a barn cat.
Yes, she’ll go back to where they were before. There’s a colony of cats there that were TNR’d, and she can rejoin them if need be.
How many kittens did she have?
4.
I can’t wait until you can get your hands on those babies! Looking forward to the names 🙂
I too am wondering how you are managing to either change or be OK with not changing the bedding in the crate. That’s been a challenge for me when I’ve had a feral mama in bathtub with babies (though I never had a feral mama give birth in my house). For a mama that would not leave the bathtub I recall pulling the bedding out with the aid of a pole, likewise putting new bedding in in a similar fashion. One feral mama was nice enough to retire in the master bath to the toilet room, where I could close the door on her and mess with babies and such to my hearts content, without fear of her having enough and attacking me. But it was always a source of angst to me if I’d be able to keep things clean with a feral mama…
Details in tomorrow’s post – we changed out the bedding earlier today (and took the opportunity to snap some kitten pics) and it actually went pretty well. The bedding – which Katia gave birth on – was much less gross than I expected!
Btw, let’s keep up with these former foster updates. Love seeing plump, spoiled house cats.