This is how we first met last Sunday.... my dogs were barking like fools at these little ones who were sitting just outside our shed. This was a very distressing sight as it was raining they looked so pitiful and were meowing like crazy...to add to the drama my husband I were supposed to be leaving in a couple hours for an overnight trip to Blue Sky Vineyard to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary.
After several calls to various and very closed animal clinics and humane societies (who had very annoying messages I might add). My vets answering machine message was warbly and sounded like this "in case of emergency dial 539 -6 blib17 "what the hell was the number blib? So after dialing several wrong numbers I finally hit on the correct blib= number and left a message for my vet to please call me. Here is the sure sign that you have a good vet he actually returned my call in 5 minutes ( sheesh my doctor won't even do that! ).
I explained the situation and he agreed with my suspicions that the momma was probably moving the kittens and was scared off by my dogs. He suggested we leave them overnight exactly where they were, do not touch them, keep the dogs away and the area quiet in hopes the momma would return for them. If she didn't we would need to start bottle feeding them in the morning. This vet is such a nice man ... he was so calm and matter of fact it eased my fears of these kittens dying any minute. His advice was also practical the kittens would have a better chance of surviving if their momma was feeding them.
So we decided to head for the vineyard... leaving my very tenderhearted son in charge of keeping the dogs away and keeping an eye on the situation...I stressed how important it was not to touch the kittens or disturb the area but knew in my heart their pitiful meowing would tug at his heart... he is my son after all. He says he did not touch them and stayed away during the day but when it started getting colder at sundown he warmed up water bottles and put them out there next to them to try to keep them warm.... not touching them but definitely disturbing the area. He also went and purchased formula in case he needed to start feeding them in the morning. So we texted several times throughout the day still no sign of momma cat.
When I texted for the morning report this was his return text " I started feeding them this morning and have someone coming over to show me how to do it correctly she will take one of the kittens and will bottle feed it with the help of her grandparents" I was not even one little bit surprised. He had a plan in place and things under control. The truth of how that night actually went down will come out eventually! I have my suspicions but have to say I am proud to have a son who does not like to watch animals suffering.
I came home to see this little face in my kitchen.
So my son and I have been sharing feeding duties... every 4 hours... he does the night shift thankfully. We burp, and help the little bugger go to the bathroom... this stinks to high heaven I might add! Then we give it a cat bath which is my favorite thing ( no I don't lick it)
it purrs and relaxes completely falling asleep.
This morning we go see the vet and get this one checked out and weighed so we know how much formula it should be eating. Hopefully we can learn what the sex is so I can quit calling it the little bugger, this one, and the kitten. I think it is a female.
So life in the woods has taken this unexpected and sweet road...sometimes scratchy and frequently purring!
Meow!
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