This cat who has been staying with us—she’s had three different names and I’m not sure which one will stick—had her babies on Saturday afternoon. The kids were away, the cat will play. She must have finally felt as though she could relax in some peace and quiet in the house.
We were visiting with guests while the first three came out, and then the fourth; we caught on after the first two, I guess, and started spying more closely. River and I had already set the kitty up in our bedroom closet, nestled snugly into a laundry basket lined with a little bedding. She had been acting peculiar all morning, super affectionate and purry and really wanting to be right next to us. When we saw her contractions—entire belly tensing up—we knew it was gonna happen that day. And gave in to her obvious desire to be in our closet and not anywhere else in the house we kept coaxing her to consider.
It was fun to watch them be born. The fourth one that emerged, which I believed to be the runt of the litter, was a bit smaller than the others and all black and a little slow-moving. It looked tired. Not yet fully emerged it just sort of lay there unmoving. I realized it was still tethered to the mom with the umbilical cord. All the same the little newborn kitten was able to find its way to a nipple and nurse, probably with one leg still stuck inside the mama cat.
We thought that was it, and a while later, River checked on the lot of them and reported, “Five cats!” Wow, we all said. Then I went to check and to my surprise—six. All different markings. Nice looking kitties. One is almost all white with just a few irregular tan spots. I had never seen a cat like that before. Two are calico like the mom, another is black and grey tabby, and another is black with symmetrical white markings on its face, chest and paws.
And they’re all so teeny. Eyes still closed, looking more like mice than cats, they’re just over 24 hours old and oh so squealy and helpless. The mama cat remains happy and content and every so often has emerged from the closet to look for attention. She has taken good care of the kitties and leaves them sleeping in a peaceful little mound when she comes out. Inspiration for mothers everywhere.