Early Morning Visitors

Certain observations have has led us to believe that Pudge had two litters of kittens this spring and summer. But we never actually saw evidence.

Then one morning last week, Tony was looking out the back door and low and behold, this is what he saw.

They were accompanied by Pudge, thus leading us to believe they are hers. There was an adorable fluffy orange one too but it was more skittish and wouldn't stay put long enough for me to get a picture - even with my 12x zoom :) Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing positive proof of our suspicions.

This cracked me up...face off between David and Goliath (loosely translated, this kitten and our HUGE Benson. Notice the kitty's ears and stance (this is the first kitten pictured above) :)

The Cat-Owner's Twelve Days of Christmas

We have a budding lyricist on our hands. Britnee does not want me to post this but since when do I obey my children? While watching the post on the Christmas song I hate, she and Janae were singing their own versions. After hearing the first couple verses of this one, I told her she needed to "write it down". I know all to well the feeling of not being able to remember words (funny or serious) to a song that I made up on the fly.

I know some of it might be graphic and gruesome, but even those of you who aren't cat lovers would have to agree that this song might just pose 12 reasons why cats are actually good to have around :) I can personally testify to 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 12. Enjoy!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my kitty brought to me:

12 bird feathers,
11 slimy slugs,
10 chubby chipmunks,
9 sick squirrels,
8 silent cicadas,
7 baby opossums,
6 chirping crickets,
5 frogs that croaked!
4 fat rats,
3 baby moles,
2 dead birds,
And a mutilated mouse on the porch!

Look What the Cat Drug In!

Pudge finally decided it was time to bring her babies home. She'd had them at a barn in the grainery across the road. One by one over the course of the evening we have been introduced to four of them. I am pretty sure there is at least one more but time will tell. They have individual personalities just like each child. It was delightful to watch them discover a whole new world less than a block from where they were born.

Squiggles
(because it kept "squiggling" away when Kerrigan tried to pet it!)

Midnight

Clementine (and Mama Pudge)

and last but definitely NOT least, the most adventurous one of all,
Sniffles
(because she had to check out every one's shoes and toes!)

Babies, Babies and More Babies

Our cat, Pudge, was very large with kittens before we left for Michigan a few weeks ago. We returned for about 24 or 30 hours during Mom's illness then turned around and headed back up. During those few hours we were home, we noticed that Pudge looked quite a bit skinnier. So either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday that week she had her babies but we've yet to find them.

Today, we arrived home from school and Britnee went out back to see Pudge and Twiz (now a year old cat from Pudge's first litter). Suddenly, we hear yelling in the house, "I found them! I found them!" We all grabbed our jackets (and I grabbed the camera of course :) and headed outside. We could hear incessant meowing but it took awhile to finally figure out they were under the tarp which was covering the mower. When Tony pulled it back, four kittens were revealed. We oohed and aahed. Tony expressed his disapproval that some of them were white and looked like mice. I took another peek and said, "Uh, one problem...those are NOT four week old kittens!" It suddenly dawned on us that while we were trying to find them, Twiz-not Pudge-had come down off the deck and climbed under the mower. That's what sort of clued us in on where they were. Then we noticed that Twiz's fur definitely showed signs of what I interpreted to be a pretty hard labor.

She sure doesn't seem old enough to be a mama. But Pudge was the same age when she had Twiz. And life goes on...

There are two white, one gray and one calico with an orange blaze on her forehead exactly like Grandma Pudge (whose kittens we still haven't met).

Guess that makes me a great-grandmother! Hmmm...