Yep... six! While Mike and I were away on our North Carolina trip, my mom called to tell me that we had kittens. We had no idea where they came from or how they got there, but they were taking up residence on our carport. She said my stepdad claimed he saw three or four, but they were too fast to get a good idea. I was a little dumbfounded to be honest. There are some (seemingly?) feral cats in our wooded neighborhood, but we've managed to keep our brood down to only two. Our first order of business when we got home was to figure out what my parents were talking about.
Well, as soon as we pulled into the driveway we saw two kittens scurry away. They looked to be a few weeks old, but we didn't know where the mama cat was. We finally found the mama cat lounging on our carport the next morning. To my surprise she was incredibly sweet and friendly. It's obvious that she's been domesticated. The heartbreaking part was how incredibly skinny she seemed. We gave her some food and she crawled right up into my lap for some petting. We started noticing more of the kittens, too. I was able to pick up two of them, but they didn't like it. (Not one bit!) I realized that I was only making them more scared so I've since kept my distance. One bit me 4 times and left my fingers swollen and bloody, but I still try to approach them with treats. The orange one is starting to warm up to me a little bit. We came to an agreement that there were only 3 kittens - a grey-ish version of the mom, a black-speckled kitten, and then a bright orange one just like Tater Tot. A few days later we noticed them all nursing on the carport... this time there were five kittens! There just so happened to be three versions of the little grey one. Oh boy...
Mike was not stoked on me feeding and petting the mama cat. I've resisted the urge to name her because I know once I do I'll never be able to let her go. I'm not trying to earn a spot on Animal Hoarders, okay?! I just don't have it in me to see a hungry cat with kittens go without. I've been trying to let the kittens warm up to me so we can round them all up and send them to new homes, and I don't want to use a trap. I want them to be able to trust me. Ideally I'd love for them to all go to the same home together, but I know that's just wishful thinking.
Our little town doesn't have a proper humane society or anything like that, so I refuse to just drop them off somewhere. We've been keeping Enid and Tater Tot inside most of the time just because the new cat hasn't been properly checked out by the vet or anything. The kittens are old enough that they're eating solid food, but they also still like to nurse. I really don't know anything about cats but I'm hoping some friends (or friends of friends) might want to take one or two of these little guys home. They're all really beautiful kittens, and the mama cat is the sweetest thing ever. We simply can't be "those" people in the neighborhood... you know, the one with seven cats and two dogs?! Yeah...
So with that being said, if you have any words of wisdom or anything about how to rehome these kittens, I'm all ears. I'm so out of my element here haha Also, if you're in/around Nashville or Middle Tennessee and you want a cat/kitten of your own, get in touch! Our Animal Control just kills them all and I can't stomach that thought. I'd love for them to go to homes that will actually care for them. The last thing our small neighborhood needs is more feral cats.
edited to add: The orange kitten just let me hold him for about 5 minutes. Progress! Slow, but steady progress! // Judging by this, they're around 3 or 4 weeks old. (In that case, we'll keep them until they're fully weaned, then assess our options. Or if someone is interested in all 6, then we'd rehome them together). They're eating solid food, but still also nursing. // We also called our vet and while there's nowhere we can take the cat or kittens, we've been given the number to a (sorta) local organization that will help spay the mama cat.
