Mommy Cat

Last fall I fostered kittens, two at a time, until they weighed in at whatever weight they need to be to get spayed/neutered, and then put up for adoption, or they drove me crazy,

whichever came first.

This year we appear to have licked the stray cat problem here in Charleston County; there just haven't been baby kitties available to foster.

I called from time to time, and was told at one point that all they had available was a mom/litter combo.  This initially freaked me out -- how could I possibly know how to take care of a mom and her babes?  And then -- duh -- I realized that there would be far less for me to do than with a pair of kitties, because mom would be doing all the work.


So now I have a mom and three babes.  The babes told me to call them Yakko, Wacko and Dot, and mom has always just been Mom or Mommy.  She is amazing.  When the babes were a week and a half old, she was all over them, but in the calmest way you could imagine.


For example, after a day or two living in the bottom half of fairly spacious carrier, they began to wander.  As one of them got a little too close to the edge of the carrier and the beginning of the real world, Mom, without hardly moving a muscle, put her paw right over that little thing, stopping her with a little hug.


Mom enjoys her food, too; not the dry food, but the canned food. The only time she ever shows real animation is around mealtime. Confident the kitties could live without her for the couple of minutes it took to scarf down a meal, she would just gently push them out of the way and make for the dinner bowl.  But she didn't let it bother her if they were hungry, too.This was the only time the kitties didn't come first.  Even so, it didn't matter what she was up to, if they came up to her and started searching for a nipple, she'd plop right over on her side and let them have at her.
   

Multitasking

Now that they are a couple of weeks older, I have seen them walk right over her to get to their meal.  Including walking over her head.  She's as calm as ever; I'm sure whatever they do, she is just sighing and thinking, proudly, "kids".


Most amazing, is that they are now interested in her food bowl, and it's perfectly all right with her.  She'll let them nudge their way in at mealtimes, and even walk away for awhile, till they're done tasting.


Now that they are more independent, she jumps up on a shelf to sleep, not too far, just far enough that she can watch them learn to be independent and still keep an eye on them, in case they need her.

Just like any good mom would do.