Not Exactly Needlework and Crazyquilting!

It's a miracle.

Seems that we have newborn kittens in our house. They are fun to watch.

The mother showed up at our door "barefoot and pregnant", so instead of chasing her away we began to feed her. We had chased her away all fall and winter, but this time she just came up to us and started purring and would let us pick her up. She won our hearts. We didn't know whether she was a he or a she until she started bulging a lot.

Boots is not a very big cat, but was big enough to deliver 2 kittens at 6am and 2 more at 2pm. The first kitty out sort got dragged around a bit, but since the mama was doing this on our bed and had awakened me crying and screeching, I got a hold of the little one and got it into the box. Then, she went into the box cried out and had another. She just didn't know what was going on and nothing like that had ever happened to her before, apparently. It had certainly never happened to me before. Everything seemed pretty calm, but then she began walking around again and lay down screamed again and had 2 tinier ones. She was just done in and couldn't do anymore so I had to move the last kitty to where her mouth was so that she could take care of it without having to move. I felt like a midwife. That's really hard work in the corner of a box on a hot day and in a hot room and the mama was worn out and panting.

The good part is we have homes for the kitties.

Now, the mama gets out of her box whenever we are near, which today has been a lot because the nest is beside me at the computer. She wants to be petted and praised and she gets lots of that. The first two kitties are larger and they are scrappers, always flaying away at each other. The last two kitties, first thing from the womb, put their noses together and became friends. They are about half the size of the others, but still very active and compete for the food source.

It is strange to me how blind they are. Of course, their eyes are shut, but the mother purred her way through labor and she still purrs. I think they hear it and start rooting around, often in the wrong direction. Sooner or later they bounce and roll around enough to get headed the right direction and then they start climbing over all the others or up the mother's tummy, sometimes the climb almost over her back. Then, I think some milk leaks out and they know it is time to pay attention and begin to seek more and finally I can hear them sucking. That is my opinion, I've no idea how they find the right place to be. The mama just lies there, hour after hour. Must be really boring, because she is a very active cat outside of the house. Sometimes, she gets up and lies on the tile where it is cool. Or the kitchen wherever we are, but sooner or later she goes back, lays down and the kitties begin to root around again.