LadyEllen
Posts: 10931
Joined: 6/30/2006
From: Stourport-England
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On the 10th March this year 2009, Tessy ladycat had her third litter of little kitties. She was meant to have her op last winter alongside her sister Pepper, but her second litter of last autumn left early at about nine weeks, being so beautiful that none could resist them, and this had left her depressed. So, it was decided that she should have another lot to raise.
And this consideration was reciprocated; I could see on the evening of the 9th she was getting close to giving birth, but I had to be out on the 10th so I asked her nicely if she could wait till I got home. Within half an hour of me getting through the door that evening, she came and got me and walked me to one of the dens we’d prepared and settled down.
To her by now customary squealing, her first baby was born at 1830hrs; this turned out to be a fluffy little girl, black with brown flecks called Pearson (because she was fearsome, well not really). Then came Bubble at 1908, the spitting image of her mom and Squeak at 2015, both of them black and white but really fluffy. Squeak got her name because she squeaked the instant she was born – Bubble got her name because her sister was Squeak and also because of the black splodge on her face like her mom which looked a bit like a bubble.
And that was that, Tessy washed and fed her babies and by 2230 we settled down to watch some TV. At 2330 we looked in on them, to find another baby! Born in silence and very small was Ms Pixie (from piccola, small) all black except for two white toes on one foot, and not fluffy at all.
Meanwhile, Tessy’s daughter from her first litter (Lepddy, named after my daughter’s leopard toy) was also expecting and also about fit to burst. We had to let her have babies because she was such a miracle – a domestic cat but spotted like a leopard, with a black and white mom and black and white siblings; what babies would she have?
Well, days passed and Lepddy showed no sign of giving birth, in fact she came and went much as normal. Then on the Friday night as we were going to bed we heard this enormous purring sound in the bedroom and investigating we discovered young Lepddy in a cat spaced gap amongst the boxes under the bed, along with four tiny babies! She’d found this den herself, and given birth without making a sound or wanting any help from us – unlike her mom and aunt.
These four – the purriest kittens in the world (you only have to look at them and they start) – turned out to be Tipsy a little girl who looked just like her mom, Timmy a little boy who was even more of a leopard than his mom, with sharply defined spots all over, and two little ginger girls totally indistinguishable from one another – Ginger 1 and Ginger As Well.
Each group of babies was separate from the other for some weeks as they grew – Tessy’s in the living room in the den behind the sofa and Lepddy’s in the bedroom under the bed. Then one day, Lepddy’s babies weren’t there any more – we searched the house for them, worried that she might have taken them outside, being a bit of a wild child. They turned up in my open wardrobe on a shelf amongst my jumpers. They couldn’t stay there what with the danger of falling out, so to the consternation of their mom, who has no idea what the difference is between a play wrestle and the destruction of a human arm, we moved them to the other prepared den and much closer to their grandma and her babies.
It was only a matter of time before they then all met up. The babies of course were fine with one another, but we were worried about grandma Tessy meeting her grandchildren and about Lepddy meeting her little sisters. As it turned out though, the moms were fine with one another too, and soon were feeding one another’s babies and snuggling up together between feeds when the kids were running amok.
And they were running amok. Pearson, Bubble and Squeak were the biggest – with paws as big as their mom within a month and now much larger, chasing each other and the smaller ones about. But the smaller ones proved to be naughtiest!
We’d put a wooden barrier, 3 feet high across the doorway, a sheer surface with no purchase for kitty claws and much too high to jump over – or so we thought. Anyone would expect the larger kittens to be first over, and not seeing them succeed we thought we were safe; until that is, Ginger 1 (or could have been Ginger As Well) was observed walking nonchalantly about the backyard, having negotiated not only the barrier but also the cat flap. So much for that then, so we removed the barrier and shut the cat flap (normally propped open as its noisy); this gave the kitties the freedom of the house but they couldn’t get outside, or so we thought.
After some observation, we found that naughty kittens were sitting by the cat flap, apparently watching mom through the Perspex but in actuality awaiting her return, at which point with her coming in and the flap open, they could get out. Soon after that, they worked out that mom got in and out by pushing the flap. We locked the flap. They then proceeded to keep us awake all night pushing and scratching at it. We admitted defeat; but then with the new gates on the driveway they have been alright in the backyard for weeks now.
Pearson and Pixie were the first to be homed. The lady next door had been watching them all in the backyard for some time and fell in love with them. She collected them on Tuesday. On Friday evening there came the sound of scampering feet through the cat flap, up the hallway and into the pantry, (a favourite hiding place). She’d opened the door to go out, and they’d seized their chance to escape. Naughty kitties.
But Pearson being so irresistible the lady next door told her daughter about her; two weeks later the daughter collected Pearson, who now lives about 500 yards away. Next to go was Ginger 1 (or Ginger As Well) who went to another neighbour, and tonight my beautiful Tipsy was chosen (though we get to keep her two weeks more whilst her new family go on holiday) – and maybe also my other little Ginger girl. Its so sad when they go; I get so attached to them .
And we had some bad news; Mini (one of the boys from Tessy’s first litter – a right little monkey) was hit by a car and killed a week or so back. He had been homed with his sister who now misses him terribly too. So it may be that another of the current crop gets a home that way yet – Squeak would be ideal as she looks just like Mini and is also a right little monkey!
As for the grown cats, auntie Pepper was most disgruntled at not having babies herself and showed great displeasure at all the kittens running around, but then she’s a clever girl (she thinks she’s people) so she managed. Berty, the youngest young man was similarly affected – didn’t like the idea of no longer being the baby at all and hasn’t been in the house for some weeks now. But Blackberry….. yes, Blackberry – he believes himself to be the luckiest guy in the world with a ready made harem of young girls growing up around him, never mind that theyre his cousins and second cousins; poor chap is booked in for the vet quite shortly….
E
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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.
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the long awaited kittie update - 
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Such wonderful news! Hugs and scritches and snuggles to all the adorable kitties for us.
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