This years crop of kittens......

This years crop of kittens is like none other that we have had.  I've had cats for almost all my life, at least since I was 4 or 5, (yeah, like a half a century....)but this batch...well, they get into more trouble than all the other ones combined.

We thought we had pawned given the ringleader off onto a friend of mine, along with one of the litter mates.  But, they got a new ringleader to lead them into trouble.  So far, I have had to help boost Elizabeth up into a tree on a rescue mission, pull them out from several car motors, rescue them off a large hay bale they could climb, but couldn't maneuver back down....and then tonight, we had to rescue them again.

Both our big cats had kittens within 2 weeks of each other.  The calico had normal sized kittens and she is a good mother and took good care of hers, feeding them often.  Those have all found new homes, except for one that has a bad foot.

Then, the black cat had 5 tiny tiny (much smaller than normal) black kittens.  And, being young, and a first time momma, she didn't take as good of care of them (she is starting to do better now). They are now 4 months old, but about the same size as a 6 week kitten.  For the first few weeks, we had to hold her down to feed her kittens, as she had it in her cat mind that she had better things to do than to feed those babies.  Finally, the kittens learned that if momma wouldn't feed them, then their grandma would, and they started to do much better.  Now they are eating canned and dry food and starting to get a little bigger.

Anyway, back to tonight.  Elizabeth and I had to make a quick run into town.  As we left the house, we heard a loud racket (no other way to describe it), and the lab was acting a little odd.  When we got off the porch, both momma cats were at the guttering off of the garage, digging in the gravel frantically at the base of the gutter.  A terrible scratching noise was coming out of the guttering.  My first thought was that the cats and dog had cornered a skunk or raccoon in the guttering.  However, further investigation revealed that the 5 tiny kittens had climbed up the guttering, followed by the bigger kitten with the bum leg.  Problem was, the big kitten was a little too big, and he plugged up the downspout, thus all 6 kittens were stuck in the gutter, at the elbow where it makes a 90 degree turn.  I doubt the big one was thinking of his dignity, but rather relief, as I pulled him out by his tail, which was the only thing I could get a grip on.  Once he came out, the others came sliding out the gutter, fast and furious, with their ears down flat.  (If you know anything about cats, you know that their ears tell if they are mad, happy or sad, and when they are down flat, they are not happy).  All 6 kittens are now locked up in a rabbit hutch, AKA cat jail.

There is never a dull moment around here.