Well! What a mess this cat business has been. Bloody cats.
Back story - semi feral/wild cat decided to have 7 kittens under my shed; I have an older cat and have never dealt with younger cats. Previous thread about kitten rehoming.
Last weekend - the mother cat disappeared. We didn’t see her from the Friday and No sign of her at all by Sunday and her food went untouched. Worried by her disappearance We switched on our wildlife cameras and she didn’t appear. I had a horrible feeling Farmer over the back of us had something to do with her disappearance as he’d been threatening DP about our old boy and him killing one of his chickens. Not Old boys style at all. He’s a poor mouser on his best days. Never ever bothered with birds in the whole time I’ve had him.
By Sunday, the kittens were fair yowling and DP was sent to buy Kitten food. I coaxed and carried them in to the old rabbit hutch and run my old boy uses in the summer (it has no door etc, left by the previous owners, but the run can be closed up - great for when old boy had to be kept from roaming for a few days when we moved in and was going mad in the house) and fed them in there. They all grasped the whole food and water bowl thing quickly.
Still no sign of Mother cat and nothing on the wildlife cameras.
The farm vet was out at DP’s family farm so I took them down there on Tuesday where they were given a clean bill of health and all weighed in around the 800 gram mark on MILs kitchen scales and the lovely vet recommended we get them homed as the mother still hadn’t shown up. Vet thought they were about 10 weeks old and from then the Kittens remained in the now extended run, quite happy and being fed; still no sign of Mother cat and her food is being replenished but going untouched by her.
I decided she must be gone for good and told the children as much, prepped them for the kittens going.
The kittens went over the weekend, thankfully all the prospective owners could come and get them and none are first time kitten keepers so no-one was terrified by them only being about 10 weeks old.
I have decided to keep the runt; she’s off to the vets this coming Friday (first appointment available in a rural practice!) for a health check and microchipping.
Guess who turned up this afternoon?
Yes, that’s right, Mother cat.
She’s not as tame as she was when she left but didn’t refuse a food bowl.
DP thinks she’s looking with-kitten-bellied. If we can get her tamed again in the next few days she will also go to the vets on Friday.
The children are very taken with having a kitten in the conservatory; old boy seems to have taken it upon himself to train said kitten in talking, they are forever chatting to each other.
Bloody cats.