Saint Russ-O-fur

Many of you know my weakness for cats. Just a quick review of my blog archive will reveal that.

A few years ago,, we had a feral cat that showed up and was living in our goat pen,, with the goat. They would sleep together and hang out,, sun themselves, and actually seem to really enjoy each other. This cat was a torti,, so I was sure it was female and sure enough,, I was hearing little meows from inside the goat pen, marking that fact that kittens were there.

I would hear them meowing and calling for their momma on occasion, but she was there so I paid no attention till one day when the meows got really loud and continued for hours. Derek had gone down to the shop that afternoon and came right back to tell me about the little kitten he had found wandering across the yard. He put her back into the box, but she had followed him out again. I went down and sure enough,, there were 4 kittens in there. All meowing like crazy,, appearing to be about 3 or 4 wks old. Barely old enough to walk. We put a board up on the box to keep them from crawling out but so that momma could get back in. We have a lot of feral cats come and go around here,, mostly from the dairy next door. If I can catch them,, they got get altered but a lot of times they disappear before I can act. I keep food out for them and heating beds during the winter, so I figured this momma had gone to find food.

The night went on,, I looked for momma cat but saw nothing. The next day, I got up and went out to check,, the kittens were ice cold and all pretty non responsive. They laid limp in my hands. I rushed them up to the house,, feeling like a fool for not bringing them up sooner. I was so sad and mad at myself. I put each kitten under warm water to bring their body temperature up and then started to syringe some water to them. They were badly dehydrated. They all started to come to after a while though.

After I got them settled,, I went out to the road to search for momma cat. I found her lifeless body about a quarter mile down the road. She had been hit. OH NO!!

Long story shorter... I bottle fed this litter. Within the first few days,, I lost one of the kitties but the other 3 thrived. As time went on,, I became very attached to them but did end up letting my sister get one. We kept an orange and white male,, called "Russ" for Mr. Curi-Russ, since he was such a curious kitten. Very brave and outgoing. There was a grey kitten that just bitched all the time so she was "Bitch and Mona".. aka Mona. We call her Monicity now. She doesn't complain much anymore.

They have turned into great little cats. Both are full time house cats with our other 4. Russ is a total character. Loves water and takes great pride in helping me raise the puppies. He likes to lay with his back legs stretched out behind him,, froggy style. He goes to the shower to play at the water coming down and he loves the bath tub, which he puts his footy in the water continually till your done. We call him Saint Russ-O-Fur,, since he is such a little hellion. He and Mona are little blessings and I am glad I was able to save them. I just hate having so many ferals show up all the time. I wish I could take them all in, but there does have to be a point where you have to say no. So I keep them fed and watered.

The 6 we have in the house is plenty. They never go outside so cat box duty is frequent, but they are all very much a part of our lives.