It's offical

Oh, Bec, that's great news for all of you! I know when I didn't think Blake would accept Eliot that you said you'd take him if need be... those orange tabbies always seem to be special!

I can't wait to meet her. :-)

Help

Over the holidays a cat family has moved in to my back yard storage area, a mom and three kittens about 12 weeks old. I saw the mom once or twice this summer scurrying through my yard and then in early Nov saw several balls of fur following her.

When I came back from my paper route early Sat am, I scared them off as I walked to my back door. Knowing cold weather approaching I decided to feed them a can of cat food to try to get a better look at them. I placed it out about 2 feet from where I saw them 'disappear'. By the time I returned inside and found my binoculars all four were eating away! Charcoal grey stocky mom and babies. They sat in the sun for awhile and played and groomed each other,

Yesterday morn I took out more food and than since it was warm sat down about 15 feet away partially hidden by a pile of wood and leaving them pretty many escape routes. One by one the kittens came out and then finally mom. The kittens eyed my but went on eating. When mom spied me, she froze and stared at me with huge fearfilled eyes. I softened my eyes as much as possible and smiled and projected thoughts of kindness and help. Our gaze held for a few seconds and then she slowly slunk away followed by one kitten. The other kittens took some more food and they left, too. Today I put out a bowl of dry food and when I just checked it has been eaten.

Please tell me what I should do from here on.

I have arranged to borrow a trap or two to see if I can catch the kittens and hopefully mom. I know that if the kittens can be tamed and habituated to humans enough that they have a chance for forever homes and who knows, maybe mom will overcome her fears, too. At least all of them can be TNRed.

This is the right thing to do and I can commit myself to doing the trapping, but I quickly need to hand off the rest of it to some other capable hands. The local feral cat rescue group says they can't help with this...any suggestions? Words of encouragement and support are appreciated, too!

Judy

Good on you, Judy! Hopefully Bec can put you in touch with the right hand-off folks. Not sure why the local rescue can't help, but maybe they are tapped out, resource-wise. I would think they would still have a list of vets who do no or low-cost neutering for ferals & rescues. (My vet can't do neutering for me at low cost, for instance, but if a rescue organization brought him an animal, he could probably afford to do it because their official nonprofit status would let him write off the cost of the procedure against his taxes... so it can be helpful to operate under the umbrella of a rescue organization.)

Second that Good for you Judy, I don't know what is the best thing for you to do. Feeding them is wonderful. Stray cats are a real problem for bird populations as well as their own health issues and without being neutered they will create more stray cats. I will say that after visiting our local shelters they have more cats in them than they will ever find homes for.

Too I have become a local cat lady and have now a colony of 12 cats, one was adopted yesterday. my neighbor has a crawl space under her house and in 2010 a cat had two kitten under there , female tortoise shells. I wanted to trap them but the woman next door wanted the cat left alone even that she was not feeding them . To make along story short the both had kitten last year in April or May one of the mother moved her babies under my porch I could have trapped the kittens and mother take them to the shelter and they would have been put to sleep this is how PG county deal with feral cats.. In the mean time one of the mothers had disappeared for over a month, I figured that she had moved somewhere else until she appeared a my back door wanting to be fed and as big as a balloon.This time I brought her in I did not want to have to deal with a bunch of strays, she had 8 kittens, all of them were adopted,one of the kitten adopted my husband and sits on his shoulder in the morning while he shave's, Mama is getting spayed this week , She does not want to go outside so I am safe. The rest of the outside cats were spayed and neutered at the D.C. humane society all 13 of them 2 males and the rest females they all had their rabbie shots at the same time. We already have one cat adopted a gorgeous orange tabby with long hair. I am getting them socialised it is not easy, I can pick them most of them up and some will come in the kitchen if the door is opened . it is along proccess. I want to try to find good home for as many as possible. In the mean time they eat on the deck and have a bed inside of the" crawl space" under one of the addition where they are and warm , it is also where we keep the wood for the fireplace and all the garden tools.So far we had only couple squirrel casualties and couple birds, they are well fed and do not show too much interest other things than wanting to be fed. I am very popular with the felines LOL.
Picture of Peach who was adopted by my son Yesterday and who is doing very well with his new family

Cat lady to neighbors, cat Angel to the kitties!
Peach is very handsome, but he needs a playmate to live with him LOL. Tell DS its a two fer deal.
''Somehow'' with two resident males and a big dog, we do not attract any new cats here. And since one cat is freaked out by the dog, I feel it would be totally unfair to bring in a new cat.

YEs there are an awful lot of strays in places. We had a big animal hoarding case several months ago- there was a huge cage in the lobby of Animal Control, with two dozen little kittens.

It use to be like that here at our house. I think we may have had close to 30 at one time. It was back in the days when we had horses and people would drop off cats and kittens at our house. Once even a whole litter of puppies. Try to explain to young children that no they can't keep 7 cute little fur balls. Back then we could order our own rabies shots and when they would come in to eat I would give them all their shots. I use to mark the white ones tails with a black marker as there were several that just looked too much alike to be sure. The local Paws chapter would neuter them for us free of charge. Over the years people stopped dropping them off. I guess with the horses gone we didn't look as attractive as before. Since they were all neutered there weren't more litters and over time the group slowly diminished. They all became pretty tame over time even a very wild one that looked like it had been caught in a leg trap. Between the barn and the crawl space under our house they had plenty of warm comfortable spots to spend their days. Back then I didn't feed the birds at all. LOL
Bubbles who died last year was the last of that group of cats. She came from under the neighbors house her Mother got hit by a car and left 3 very young kittens. Jen & Josh found, caught, and hand fed them.

While I have no desire to have any pets any more--I have taken care of several cats my daughter would
drag home.
When my girls were young, the younger one, Benita, was an animal lover from the get go.

Over the years we had all kinds of assorted cats--all the way until she went off to college.
After college--she went off to live in Colorado and worked for the Humane Soc. there.
Her last cat here was a huge black one. Named "Mina".
I ended up flying her along with me when I went to visit to return it to her.

Here was this HUGE cat (17lbs) tranquilized and squished in the small carry-on cage/box.
"She" turned out to be a "He"--hence the size....

Anyway--here are the first 2 kittens we ever had. They were brother and sister--adopted from
some kids that had them in a box in front of our grocery store. The girls names them Tina and taffy.

Tina l;lived to a ripe old age of 13. Years later--Taffy got clipped by a car and had to be put down.

Sally, my son has already 4 cats, mostly orange main coon , so he wont be very lonely. We had the Peach by himself in one room so he could relax and by the end of the day my son went to see him and Peach started to purr , the rest is history , he seems to be happy in his new home and he will be a indoor cat , as I said 12 more to go hoping to find homes for.

When I went in the spay and neuter mode I think that couple cats that were not part of the group got spayed too....oh well That's that many less kittens in the hood , I have not heard any complaints. Few of my neighbors are animal lovers too and gave me some cat food for Christmas and some kitty litter for the stray children that was nice.

If only I could have cats adopted that easy at the College park animal shelter this would be nice.

Picture of Triangle my husband cat

Orchidfancy, I'll keep you in mind when we're ready for a new cat. I'm afraid we have to wait for our 15-year-old cat to go to kitty heaven before we get another one. She can't stand other beings, whether they be people, dog, cat, mouse, or cricket! When the time is right, I'll be looking for hard-to-adopt cases, like 3-legged cats, black cats, siblings/pairs that can't be separated, etc.

It's wonderful to see how well you take care of these strays. There's a "cat lady" in my neighborhood who's actually a cat hoarder. Her outdoor cats have pooped all over my sheet mulched beds. I have to be careful to only step on the stepping stones when I'm out there weeding in the cold!

So much as Love cats , trust me I do not want that many and the thought of putting all of them to sleep did not appeal to me at all . I take care of them ,this morning they were all purring at 5 AM when I was feeding them at lest they are appreciative more than can be said about people sometimes. They have been going at the end of the yard where I never do any digging since we have the raspberries in that area. and under some of the azaleas . They have to go somewhere.....

Thank you all for responding to my request for help and support. Your responses have buoyed my spirit.

My dilemma is not the physical/practicle doing of what can be done with the family of resident cats in my back yard . It is the existential questions raised for me about the value of life (any life) and how all life shares this planet. Is one life more important or worth saving than any other? I am definitely hard-wired to respond to cries for help. What happens when I do or do not respond? I'm having a spiritual crisis here.

If I was one of the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys, I would be "speak no evil" so I wouldn't pass it on. Don't want to pass on the domestic pet over population so, here is the plan.

Local rescue group has loaned me two traps and two transfer cages which means I can catch (hopefully) all four kitties. I have placed the traps and cages adjacent to where they hunker down so they can become familiar with them in their territory and play inside and on them. I will continue to feed them each morning placing food inside each trap and cage to lure them in. On Sat I will not feed them so that when I set the traps with yummy food on Sun am, they will be (hopefully) more hungry than cautious. I will monitor the traps and transfer any caught asap and reset the traps until Mon am or all are caught.

On Monday morning I will take all four (again, hopefully) to the low cost spay/neuter clinic. I can repeat this process for any not caught just prior to Jan 18 clinic.

Rescue group will not take kittens (over capacity) but may release mom in an existing colony that is suitable if she is indeed feral. The Vet and a rescue member will be at the clinic on Mon to help evaluate the ones I bring in.

Orchidfancy, I hear you on so many levels. Six years ago I was cited by Animal Control for having more cats than allowed (10) . Rehomed most but traumatic for all. I have two cats currently who are strictly indoor cats and that is enough. Triangle is cool and I love Maine Coons.

All creatures great and small, God bless us all.

Coleup, I hope all goes well this weekend.

Thanks Holly.

I was worried all day today because the kitties did not appear all morning to eat. The last four days they have been eating by the time I get back in the house. When I finished my paper route an hour ago I went to check and all dishes were very empty! (I don't want to leave food out for very long as it will attract other critters) The food was probably half frozen by the time they ate it as it has been quite cold here. Will try for a sighting of all tomorrow morning and then temps should warm some.

Wonder if the traps I have on loan are treated in any way to remove the "scent of fear" from previous trappees?

Please keep encouraging me, it truly helps!

I think the "scent of yummy kitty food" often overcomes any other scent on the trap... Sure hope you have success getting your little feline crew squared away! They're lucky kitties to have found a friend in you.

I haven't seen "my" little grey tabby recently... she shows up every couple of weeks, I feed her & pet her, she power-purrs, and just as I'm thinking we may have a nookitty she disappears again. I think she's most likely a barn kitty (there's a farm behind us), but I wish she'd decide to adopt us... Jim is weakening, LOL, almost petted her last time, and once that happens -- he is hers! LOL

Nookittty cooties! No cure once nfected!

Aw coleup, you're doing what's right for those kitties. Good luck.

I go to the rabies clinic for the pets shots. I think of the three times (in three years) I've been, the same cat lady was there twice.

I met a local homeless woman at the store who told me that during Isabel, she was taken in overnight by a church- along with the 10-12 feral cats she supports. That's a trusting church!

When we trapped all 10 cats (13 ) we used tuna in oil and it worked very well we trapped all 13 cats within two hours , they were spayed and neutered the next day and returned the following evening, So for them it was a 3 day trip. By tuesday morning they were ready to have some nice food and were back to normal or about . When I picked up the mama cat and ended up with 8 kittens plus mama and my house cats three of them . this was quite a feat. I have a friend who loaned me a large dog cage and I put mama and kittens , mama was not cat box trained , that took a while , now she is very good. This was quite of a menagerie . I contacted all the cat rescues in MD D.C. VA and they all were saturated with cats also most of them do not take cats from individuals they take them from shelters. That was an eye opener. I contacted some friends of mine and asked to put a note about the cats in their church bulletins and most of the cats were adopted that way. I was really lucky.

Keep on doing what you are doing the kitties will appreciate you. Last night I was feeding them and they all were purring and rubbing against me at the same time that I was feeding them....That's appreciation and this morning at 4AM they were waiting for me as always.

Whew! Saw all four this morning. Seems they, like the birds, prefer an early feed rather than a more fashionable brunch. All three kittens entered and ate in either the trap or the cage, but not mom. Two of the kittens seem fearless while the third hangs back with mom. May take tuna to get mom and shy one, just hope they don't freak when one or the other of them is caught. Spent some time tonight "practicing" with the traps. Not the easiest to set or to spring! Will see if I can catch my own indoor kitties!

Orchidfancy, what kind of trap did you use> How often did you check it ? I need some one to talk me through it. And I need people to tell me that if at first I don't succeed that I will have more than one opportunity with these kitties.....And, I need to be reminded of the incredible privledge to have a new or old kitty in my life and yard, however briefly or life long. Thanks all.

You're feeding them... so even if they get scared off by the trap (and you don't catch them this time), they'll be back, and you can try again. Tuna in oil is one I've heard before... pretty hard to resist for any kitty! If it's a cold day, maybe warm it up a little for extra smelly-goodness.

Crossing my fingers that they will fall all over each other to get into the traps tomorrow!

Thanks Critter. I'm feeling much more hopeful as today mama cat actually entered a trap and a cage and sat in them and ate! Guess she liked the leftover roast turkey and gravy with the kibbles. Maybe she was a house cat not too long ago.

The traps are have a heart traps. We set up one trap at the time so the other cats would not be freaked out the cats were transfered into another cage at the end of my driveway and into the van so the others had no clue of what was going on. We just stood in the yard and waited to hear the click of the door and we knew that a cat had been trapped. and we did it 13 times.

Wishes for success coming your way Cole. It is a wonderful thing you are doing.

As a child I suffered with a terrible allergy to both cats and dogs. As a teen whenever entering a home where a cat lived, I would begin having itchy eye symptoms, not just itchy eye, but burning, tearing up and feeling awful kind. This was accompanied with lots of coughing and losing my breath. I somehow learned to over come my sensitivities to dogs when I owned my first dog ever, a blond Cocker Spaniel named Zebulon or Zeb usually. I knew that I needed to immediately wash my hands and face whenever I touched him. I never developed a love relationship with any cat but have in my later years been able to tolerate being in homes where they live.

After reading all of your stories here, I feel that maybe I have been cheated out of something quite lovely in life. At one time, not too many years ago, John and I played host to four dogs. We are now down to two. There is occasionally talk of what type of dog to get when these two are gone but so far not a lot of real thought put in to it. Again, after reading all of this today, I am wondering if maybe a cat, if I can test and see if I am able to tolerate petting one will work instead. Oh boy, I need to watch what threads I read if I can be swayed this easily. I am just envious of the love I hear each of you expressing towards the felines, I want in on it. Time will tell, yes indeed, time will tell.

Again, the best of luck to you Cole and the other rescues that are told here are quite heart warming too. Thank you to each of you and to Our Bec for the work she is doing on behalf of all animals. You people are so very dear and I love each and everyone one of you animal loving, plant loving folks. A great group, yes indeed, a great group of people.

Ruby

Ruby, cats do seem to vary in terms of how much allergin they produce. Also, the stuff that causes the allergic reaction (I've heard) is in their saliva, not in their hair... since cats groom more than dogs, they get more spit on themselves as it were, and the little flakes of dander (dead skin) produced are more allergenic. How is that helpful to know? Well, if you bathe a cat every week or two, you can cut the allergy factor down by something like 90% (doing it regularly also cuts down on the level of allergin around the home)... What cat tolerates a bath? LOL Well, some do... and most that are accustomed to being handled will put up with being rubbed down with a couple of baby wipes (unscented, please!).

Finished my paper route just before 8 this morning. Cleared out the van and placed a large sheet of heavy plastic in the rear covered with multiple layers of...newspaper! Went in the house and selected a can of Fancy Feast tuna to use as bait. Back outside to do final prep of traps and had the idea to cable tie a trap and a transfer cage together with a dish of food like I've been giving at the far end and a little of the Feast smushed on the trip piece of trap. Guess it was because as I was doing this I could see two of the kitties peeking to see if their breakfast was on its way. Thought I might get two kittens , the boldest ones at the same time and then just hope against hope that I could get mom.

I carried the trap with cage attached (heavy) and some beach towels to cover the traps if any one caught to reduce fear and quiet them. Placed the trap, made sure it didn't wobble, set it and walked back in to the house to watch through the window. By the time I looked, I could see a grey form inside the trap! It was mom! Why wasn't the trap springing? And then a kitten streaked past mom to the dish at far end and the trap door fell!!! I was so excited that it took me a minute to notice that the trap door had not closed all the way leaving enough space for occupants to escape. Just then the strippie kittie wanting to get in on the feast jumped on top of the trap and the door closed the rest of the way

Went up the hill with the second trap, covered mom an baby with a large cloth and set up the second trap next to them, making doubly sure this door would have nothing in the way to stop it from closing! Back to house. Two free kittens ponder what to do about disappeared mom but on is distracted by smell of food and enters second trap and springs it. Three down, one to go. Transferred #3 to cage and placed in back of van. Placed and set trap by mom again and bingo got the last one!

I am so relived and thankful for this success. Took under a half hour to round them all up. They are safely in the van awaiting transport to spay/neuter clinic tomorrow morning. I told them that if I couldn't figure anything else out that they could all live in my back yard as long as they want to and I would do all I could to see them safe.

Thank you all for your encouragement and well wishes Would be great to find someone to foster this feline family. Help still needed here on options post evaluation/operation.

Will check in again after clinic tomorrow Enjoy those purrs every one! Judy

Woohooo! Hope the remainder of your efforts on their behalf are as successful!

"My" little grey tabby girl showed up again today... had some kibble, got further acquainted with Eliot through the screen door, and spent quite some time cuddling on my lap when I went out to sit on the deck bench. I took a couple of photos that I'm hoping to use to see if I can find out whether or not she has a "real" home. If not... :-) We had company today, so not the best time to try to get her inside, but I think if she shows up during the week I'll take her to our vet to get scanned for a chip and maybe get a blood test so I know if it's safe to bring her inside (Eliot got the Feluke etc. vaccine, but still). Still thinking she's a barn cat -- she's thin but not starving, and she looks like she's getting a pretty serious winter coat. She doesn't seem palpably pregnant, and I'd like to get her fixed (if she's not) before she is. And yes, she let me palpate her belly while rubbing her ears... a total sweetheart. with green eyes.

No hand holding from the local group here. Still I have to do this.Whether the way my local group handles people or cats in need in a way that suits me is beside the point right now as they have traps to borrow and low cost clinics and adoption events at local pet food stores and a web site where pics can be posted. Resources, yes, collegiality, no. Burn out and overwhelm become cronic.

To be honest, any additional cats calling my place home pushes me closer to overwhelm than I care to go but I hate to admit that .

Time for bed, clinic at 7:30 am. Judy

Got kitties to clinic this morning. Will pick them up after my paper route around 6. In all probability all four will be released in the back yard after a day or two of recovery where I will watch out for them and feed them as best I can within my means. Will explore registering them as a small feral colony so as to not run afoul of Animal Control. Must also persuade neighbor that I will do everything I can to prevent any of the cats from pooping in his garden. Six years ago he had Animal Control on speed dial but never mentioned any problem with any cats in his yard to his neighbors or me, Once Animal Control was involved any solutions other than euthanize were severely limited and out of our hands even though any outdoor cats were all fixed with current rabies shots! (Sally, like the lady you saw several times at rabies clinics, it took me three to four trips to accomplish this .)


Ruby, maybe come spring this cat family or one like it could be barn buddies down there in Croset! Don't know how cats and goats get along though... That way you could enjoy the feline love train without the allergy burden of a house cat, shameless promotion here as I'd like a better outcome for them than my backyard!

There is a name for what I have been feeling and I posted about last night, It is called
"compassion fatigue". Now off to learn what to do about it for my own sake. Know that your comments and concern and support helps tremendously! Again, thanks. Judy

Judy, I know you want to protect these dear animals, but don't forget your needs, too. Having them back might be too much for you emotionally.

I too am a bit concerned about you Judy. I am only privy to what is written here and not another thread where you might have expanded on your compassion fatigue, but it is not sounding great. I know how easily something like this could happen, because I too would fight a person over an animal that I thought was being harmed in some way. I cannot watch shows or hear stories about the abuse that humans have been known to subject defenseless animals to. Makes me want to scream and pull my hair out, plus get a shot gun do some killin' myself.

I know that I do best when donating money to organizations that work with animals, versus me physically being involved, because I know that I would bring a new animal home every day I was there. As for bringing a kitty to Crozet, hmmmm....would really need to give more thought to it. I will say something to John and hear this thoughts on the subject.

Please do not let this tear or wear you down Judy. You can rest knowing that you have already gone above and beyond what the majority of others might do. Sometimes, we just have to give our best shot and be satisfied. We truly need to look out for our emotional health when faced with things such as you are speaking of here.

Jill, thanks for the info on bathing the kitties. I feel very fortunate that I no longer react as badly as I did when younger but being the owner of two indoor dogs, at the moment an indoor cat is out of the question and I hesitate bringing one here to live outdoors. So.......probably no kitties in my immediate future.

Judy....the capture went smoothly, let's hope and pray the rest of the story goes as smoothly. For now, you take care of Judy.

Ruby

The "easy" part has been done and mom and 3 kitties are doing well (Gosh they can eat a lot of food!) and are ready to be Released as of today.

The problem is that , as of this morning. there is no alternative but to release them where I found them , in my back yard. I have increased their chances of a homeless cat life by having them fixed, as well as there not being more come Spring. Also, have decreased my "worry about them" factor as I will be able to monitor them by whether or not the food I provide is eaten each day. I can accept "nature taking its course" in a way that doesn't overwhelm me and I am comfortable with my level of intervention so far.

Thanks again for your listening ears and wise responses. I have peeled back so many layers of the onion that is me in the last several weeks! Yes, "compassion fatigue" has starred me straight in the face and these four kitties have begun to help me see that there are so many ways of expressing my
compassion other than "all in" or turning a blind eye or deaf ear to suffering in its many forms.

Love you all. More later. Judy

Sounds like a good and sensible plan, Judy.

I can't take every kitty from the pound either. Some have tried that and turend into hoarders. Adn then the cats are worse off due to crowding and disease.

We do what we can. Life is just like that. Any efforts of people to accomodate each other and the creatures of the earth, is more than what happens in nature. I'm glad you're feeling better about the kitties.

Sorry all! I haven't been on DG in forever and just came across this post - awesome, Judy, just awesome - you did exactly what we're doing, trap, spay/neuter, release (except the one mommy, and 4 kittens) - you have increased their chances of survival x 10, made sure there will be no kittens this spring, unless another kitty decides your home looks like where it wants to be - like "ours" have done - we're back to another attempt of trapping the remaining ferals this weekend - "ours" are cage savvy and we need to use some old tricks to get them in - sardines!!! Stinky, lovely sardines - we have shelters set up in my neighbors backyard and front, heated houses and water/food dishes - my girlfriend has taken it many steps further, I only help with 'ours' - she does several colonies in the area - I try to help her a little, but I have to work and normally don't have the time with more ...again, congrats :)

I too commend what you have done Judy. And to the others here who have shared stories of their care for all creatures great and small.

I can identify with some of what you may have been experiencing this last little while Judy and that is why I make a point to not get any more involved in animal charities than to send a check every so often. I would absoluetly be too sensitive to hear any horror stories of neglect and abuse and when I wasn't depressed to the point of being debilitated, I would be on the war path with the biggest stick I could find and knock it up the side of the head of the neglector or abuser.

So, a check when I am able has to be my extent of involvement.

Over the past fifteen or so years I have given a home and medical treatment to three rescue pups. All three have been treated like kings believe me. The love and entertainment they have given back has made penny I have ever spent a very worthwhile investment.

Thanks for the stories all.

Ruby

I think that my cat collection outside are spreading the word to their friends I had another visitor last night, a big fat grey tabby I wonder who he belong to ? He sure did not have any problems feeding himself. They must think that I am the local buffet all you can eat.
With the cold temperature I had to pour hot water in their water dish several time so they would have fresh water, thus they could use the pond...This is the picture of Peach father another visitor who will be disappointed all the girls have been fixed.

Isn't he the handsome devil.

His son is gorgeous and a purring machine , He was adopted two weeks ago.

Last Thurs I released mom and her 3 boy kittens right where I had trapped them. Mom took off like a streak of lightning followed closely by her sons.

And then nothing...food I left out uneaten day or nite. Guess they moved on. On the chance they might remember my back yard as a food source if no longer their home base, I continued to put out food at my regular time. No evidence of cats, but once or twice some food disappeared and about half a loaf of stale bread I was feeding to the birds was dragged out into the yard. A raccoon?

Again today I put a bowl of food up the hill pretty resigned to not seeing those kitties again or knowing of them being ok. Just now as I was making lunch I glanced out of the window to see two of the kittens munching away! Hurray! 2 of 4 ain't bad! No sign of mom and shy brother but as Orchidfancy knows, word of a good thing gets out! So I am hopeful. as we progress towards spring I'll glimpse the others on occasion.

Ah, I'm glad they are still visiting. I'd be disappointing to care for them that much and then have them leave for good. And two eat cheaper than 4.

I am very glad to announce that word has gotten out and All three kittens and mom were munching and drinking away this morning. They even sunned themselves and groomed and played! They're back!

Now I am wondering if I should name them....