Minnie and Her Babies

 Minnie appeared in the backyard one day by the shed and at first, I thought she was just a fat teenager cat, then realized she was a young (and possible the runt of her litter) pregnant cat (probably for her first time, so she was either 1 - 2 years old would be my guess). 

This is her below, the first day I noticed her

She was timid at first but took only about two days to trust me enough to come inside - and am I glad she did. It didn't take long for her to give birth! I think it was a few weeks but with some cats, it takes that long or longer to trust enough to enter the house - if ever, for others! 

She came in and I prepared a box (which she didn't use of course) but she did find a comfy spot in my nightstand on the lower opened level. So, I placed the blanket which I had put in the box inside the bottom of my nightstand for her which I'd like to think she enjoyed.

I was so happy to have been present when she finally gave birth! I even got some photos of one kitten "being" delivered! I won't post the photo (unless there is demand for it) but you can actually see the little guy still in his sack!

Here is a photo of Minnie after the delivery had ended (tired but content mama!)

I placed a second blanket (the yellow one at the top right of the page) over my nightstand to give them some privacy and help ensure none of the kittens strayed too far away from the litter. When I would check on them, Minnie could often be found cuddling her young as in the photo below - so adorable!

Whenever I would show up and the babies would be feeding, I would ask her "Are the monsters hungry?" because of how aggressive the litter was at getting fed! haha I'm (and I'm sure she was) happy she only had 4 kittens and there were enough nipples for each of them!

In the photo above, the family moved into my spare bedroom and got their own kittyland quarters complete with many soft blankies for the babies to roll around on and two cart board box homes!

Now to introduce the babies!! We will go in order of birth, starting with the oldest and first born Hemi! He is named so because he and his brother Ernie are both polydactyl kitties and as Ernest Hemingway had a polydactyl cat (and about half of the cats at the Hemingway Museum are known to be polydactyl and very possible decedents of Ernest's own polydactyl cat) I had decided to name these two little guys after him - Hemi and Ernie.

Here is the first born, Hemi! Below he is 1 week old,

Below Hemi is 2 weeks old,

Below Hemi is 3 weeks old,

Below Hemi is 4 weeks old,

The second born was Bob, below he is 1 week old, 

(the name a cat gets when the husband is asked to name one! lol)

Below Bob is 2 weeks old,

Below Bob is 3 weeks old,

Below Bob is 4 weeks old and being playful with his basket,

And below you can see Bob was my lap kitten, he would spend so many minutes running around my legs by hooking his claws into my pants and running while lying on his side, round and round me until he got pooped and decided to climb up and take a short break in my lap!

The third born is Luna! Below she is 1 week old,

(She and Bob are very similar and I confused them at first but Bob has a darker coat and Miss Luna has an orange patch of fur above her left eye)

Luna's 2 week old photo is missing because she was too shy to come and see me and I didn't want to force her - good things come to those who wait!

Below Luna is 3 weeks old,

Below Luna is 4 weeks old,

And last, but not least, here is Ernie, the fourth and final sibling! He was always the first one out of their kitty home to great me every morning. He was by far the most curious but also cautious, checking everything out before play could commence!

Below Ernie is 1 week old,

Below Ernie is 2 weeks old, 

(look at his cute extra toes!!)

Below Ernie is 3 weeks old,

Below Ernie is 4 weeks old,

In the above photo you can clearly see his extra toes 😊

Below Ernie is still feeding from Mama at 4 weeks (he loves milk and she loves being a mom, clearly!)

Below are a series of photos taken when the kittens were 4 weeks old, enjoy!

It all began with Luna going inside the box (Bob and Ernie watching, as Hemi watches Bob)

Then Ernie went in for the kill, to which Bob returned on him.

Luna and Hemi catch each other's attention as their brothers duke it out!

So, Ernie turned his attention onto Bob (big mistake!)

Ernie the Victor!

Below Luna peaking

Below Hemi on the left and Luna on the right

Below Hemi on the right again and Luna chewing the box getting frisky!

Below Ernie says "Excuse me, I'm grooming!"

But Hemi wants to play, Ernie!! 😊

Below From Left to Right: Ernie, Hemi, Luna

After that, we had found homes for the bunch. It was extremely sad to see them go (I was absolutely heart-broken) but was also unable to keep them as the house was already at its max cat capacity (not to mention, financially it would have been impossible). I still think about these guys and hope they are all loving their forever homes and that their owners know how truly special they all are! They were amazing kitties, kitties I wish I could have kept!! ❤

xo

Mr. Kitty

What to say! There's so much!

Mr. Kitty has been with us the longest and has been our baby from day one. He is a dapper chap in his beautiful orange (almost reddish) coat - something I have yet to see in another orange cat! He also has really beautiful deep yellow (not greenish like some cats) eyes! 

Here he is in all his glory!

He really is a beautiful boy! When he was born (born inside the house luckily) I could hear small meows and knew - the babies had been born! But their mother wasn't a great mother, she was a VERY scared cat, who thankfully had managed to allow us into her life enough to have her kittens inside the house but she would never let you anywhere near her and I guess her motherly instincts weren't great. When Mr. Kitty was born, his foot was wrapped up in another one of the kitten's umbilical cord and was swollen, large and red! I immediately called the vet and they said to bring him down. They cut him free and removed the umbilical cord from his brother and told me I would need to apply a warm compress to the foot 4 times and day for 15 minutes at a time to help reduce the swelling, but they warned me he might still either lose the foot or not heal correctly - either way, it's mute now because I diligently took care of him and a few weeks later he was right as rain! 

He was born a year or two after Miss Kitty and has been the boss around here ever since! All the others cats seem to look up to him, giving him mandatory head licks when he walks up to them and bows his head! (like a boss lol) He's a special boy, who is particularly my husband's baby (man does he love that guy, and vice versa! lol)

In 2010, when he was either 1 or 2 years old (can't quite remember) he broke his leg! 😭😿 We aren't sure how it happened, he just came home and it was dangling! So we brought him to the vet and they put on a cast! 

Here he is below with it on

The first day when we brought him home, we thought something was wrong. He wouldn't walk and would plop down onto his side or his butt sticking his cast leg in the air and meow so loudly! After doing this three or four times, however, he began walking just fine, his little peg leg thumping along with him, as he realized the cast wasn't coming off! haha Guess he was asking us to "free" him, but we didn't so he got the hint - it was staying on. Then we had the pleasure of hearing him cry every time he looked out the window for 5 weeks straight, as the vet said we should keep him indoors so his leg could heal properly. It was 5 weeks were we gave him a lot of undivided attention/care/love to keep him busy! In the end, the cast was removed and he was able to go back outside as per his usual. Thankfully, nothing like this has happened since! He does have a jaunty walk to this day but it's his right leg that he kicks out when walking and not his left? so...? Only he knows all the crazy stuff he gets into out there!

And now for your viewing pleasure, more Mr. Kitty shots!

We were in the garden and he followed along for a photo shoot!

Mr. Kitty has brought us many smiles and happy memories over the years! Whether it is replying to us with short sharp meh (meows) almost as if he is agreeing, or his drawn out long pleading meows when he smells something he likes (we're vegan now but back when he was younger we would buy sliced turkey and he would go nuts for it! My husband joked that we bought the expensive stuff just for him hah because he'd end up eating half of the bag! We must really love you cat lol)

A few years ago we got a new set of kittens that were born outside but we got to come inside (we then got them spayed and neutered) and now Mr. Kitty is showing them how life is done! Their own parents vanishing one day, but it's okay, they have their big surrogate brother, Mr. Kitty! I have many more photos of this dapper boy and when found, I will be making a new post with updated shots! We love you so, so, so much, Mr. Kitty! ❤

xo

Minoux (Helen), Timmy & Jimmy

Here's a trio who didn't stay long with us (we found them homes) but will always have a place in my heart! Minoux (also known as Helen) was a beautiful young mother who gave birth to two boys, Timmy & Jimmy!

Here's Minoux

To date we've had six tuxedo kitties here, five of them being male (one of them her son below), and Minoux being a girl, all of them looking dapper in their black and white fur!

Here's Timmy & Jimmy

I almost wanted to call them Ying & Yang for obvious reasons (when they slept together, they did this quite often!). They are beautiful boys, great buddies, and very well behaved!

Here's a photo of Jimmy atop a microwave, because, why not? lol

They were a very mild-mannered trio, and while we wish we could have kept them, we had our hands full at the time with the many other rescues and figured these three would be easy to place (and they were) due to their beautifully docile natures. ❤

xo