firesplace

This was NOT how I intended to spend my evening...!

I worked late tonight and stopped by the store on the way home. It was just before dark when I walked in to see Kiefer climbing in the bushes behind the hot tub out back. He was waving to get my attention, and told me he'd heard a kitten back there while BBQing dinner.


I dropped everything, patted the three resident felines, and rushed outside. I managed to crawl further into the brush, and heard the mews, too. As I got closer, the kittens broke from their hiding place and rushed over to me. They actually covered quite a bit of distance. I scooped one up, and the second kept running towards me, so I grabbed it as well.

I handed them each to Kiefer, who was back down the hill, and stepped forward to check out a dark shadow there. When the shadow opened yellow eyes and hissed at me, I realized it was an adult cat. I assume it was probably the mother, although I couldn't tell you for sure. Kiefer and I agnoized over what to do - try to give the kittens back? Kiefer finally decided we'd take the little ones into the warmth, and call a vet to ask for advice.

So, we did. I sat downstairs with the little things on my lap while he called an emergency vet. The vet said that the mother (if that WAS the mom) might not take them back, so we were probably best off caring for them ourselves. After getting some into, Kiefer took off for the local Petco which was about to close (ever heard a Prius peel rubber?), and returned with formula, bottles, and a tiny litterbox.

We've gotten them to eat a little bit, snuggled them, and turned up the heat in my room (where Pozie's kept; there's lots of supplemental heat sources and it's the warmest place int he house). Both of the kittens are now curled up together on a spare blanket in a high-sided box.

I don't know whether we did the right thing - I hate to think we might have taken them from their mother. But I console myself with a few logical considerations. First, being raised in the wild, they'd likely end up feral - and probably breed more kittens of their own someday, if they lived long enough. Second, well, that's a BIG 'if'. While I was sitting downstairs with them in my lap, I was startled by a scraping on glass. I looked up to see a large raccoon standing on his hind legs and pawing at the sliding glass door. If that 'coon found these tiny things, well, I'm not sure it would be a pretty sight. And then there's the coyotes we hear calling out there many nights...

As best as we can tell right now, they're somewhere between 1-3 weeks of age. We'll take them to our vet first thing in the morning, and Kiefer thinks his work will be OK with him working from home tomorrow. After that, we'll likely have to stagger our day schedules to make sure we're here as much as possible for the little ones.

I don't know whether we'll keep them, but the possibility is there. At the least, we'll be prepared to care for them until a foster home is found.

I think the chances are that we'll do our best to raise them ourselves, tho. I mean...How can you resist KITTENS?? Look at them!! =D =D =D

	Kittens To Scale That's my hand. My hands aren't all that big - the kitten is just that small!
	Kittens in a Blanket Sleepy kitten faces!!