Friday, March 29, 2013

Mama Lois and the younguns

My feral cat Lois got pregnant one chilly night in January.  I was outside about 1 am with our dog and heard some cat screeching going on in the garden.  I had a flashlight with me and aimed in the direction of the garden and sure enough, there was Lois with a tom.  Boo - the dog and I got to watch "kitty porn" for a few minutes and I had a sinking feeling that we were about to see more kittens in a couple of months.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE kittens, but my fear was that it was too cold and I was also dreading a repeat of the last litter's demise.  I just didn't want to deal with unhealthy kittens again and have to bury them one after the other.
The weather had been relatively warm all winter with only a few days getting near freezing so I was hoping that by the time Lois was ready to give birth, that Spring would definitely be here and I wouldn't have to worry.  Of course, that was wishful thinking.
March came in like a lamb and you know the saying - it goes out like a lion.  True to form, it started getting cold around the middle of the month and by this time poor Lois was a tank.  I was figuring on a big litter this time.  I talked to her daily, telling her to hang on just awhile longer till it warmed up, but as any mother knows, when it's time, it's time.  The little rebels decided to make their debut on March 20th, 2013.

I kind of knew the day before that they were on their way.  I had gone out to feed all the cats and Lois was acting a bit "off".  She would pick up some food and then walk away, lie down on her side and just stay there awhile.  I figured she was in labor so I hastily set up a bed that I had found on the side of the road that belonged to a defunct daycare.  It was one of those portable baby playpen/crib deals and in excellent condition.  So, I set it up, lined it on all 4 sides with thick wool blankets so that the babies would be in a warm place at birth and also protected from the wind and cold.  I put a tarp over it and then picked Lois up and showed her the inside.  She seemed to understand because she clung to the sides of the bed and looked back and forth inside and then when I put her down, she sat there contemplating it a bit longer.
Well, as my luck would have it, the next morning I went out to take our dogs for a potty break and usually when I call the cats, Lois would come waddling out with Owen and O-jay.  This time she didn't, so I figured she was probably with her babies.  I went to the bed and called to her softly so she would know I was there, and lifted the tarp.  Sure enough, there she was with 5 beautiful kittens.  In previous litters, she had more black kittens than other colors, but this time, she had 2 orange tabbies, one orange and white patchy kitten, a  silvery/cream colored kitten and the oddball, a black and brown tortoiseshell that looks just like her mama.  They are sooooooo cute.  I was elated that she chose to put them in the bed I had set up because I felt this was the warmest and safest place for them until they were older.  I got a piece of plywood and set it on top of the bed, and it fit perfectly.  I set it at a bit of an angle so Lois could get in and out easily but the majority of the bed was still covered.  I then placed the tarp back over it, securing it on 3 sides so the wind wouldn't rattle it too much and made somewhat of a "tent" leading to the opening.  That proved to be a bit of a challenge because the tarp is heavy and I had nothing but some bamboo sticks and a few rebar poles to hold it up.  I made it work - somehow and Lois seemed fine with it.  Then Friday night came.  There was a threat of severe thunderstorms.  I had a bad feeling about this because the tarp wasn't in the best shape and I worried that the babies might get wet if it rained.
I hurried out there and put a vinyl table cloth over it and secured it with office paper clips (call me weird but that's all I had) and hoped for the best.  For what it's worth, it worked and everybody stayed dry and warm during the rain.  However....come Saturday morning, it was a whole different ballgame.  About 6:30 am, I was startled awake by a severe storm.  The bad feeling came back.  I couldn't go out there with the rain coming down so hard so I just prayed that the tarp and tablecloth would hold up against the wind and no harm would come to the kittens.
When it finally let up, I went out to check.  The tablecloth had a fuzzy liner on the bottom side and that made it heavier so it forced the tarp further down into the opening for Lois but otherwise, everything was intact and the bed was dry.
I called to Lois to make sure she was alright and she was under the tarp on the ground meowing at me.  I lifted the tarp higher and greeted her, not realizing she was wanting to get into the bed.  I lifted the plywood off a bit to let her in and realized there was only one kitten in there.  I guess the storm scared her and she felt she had to move them.  Now I was really concerned because the forecast said that after this system had moved out, it was supposed to get down to freezing again.  That's typical Georgia weather in winter, when it rains, it gets cold immediately afterwards for a few days.  I saw her take the last kitten under the travel trailer in our yard and I shook my head in defeat.  There went my plans to keep those babies safe and warm.  The trailer offers little protection and I resigned myself to dealing with burying 5 more kittens.
I contacted a local cat sanctuary to see whether or not they thought the kittens would be okay, and they said that lower than 45 F would put them at risk and the kittens should really be caught and put in a warm place.  That was impossible because I couldn't find them.  I was constantly mooning the neighbors while bending over to look under the trailer. Since the ground was so wet I didn't want to get down on my hands and knees, so I searched repeatedly with no luck.  I knew approximately where they were but couldn't see them.  I was ticked off at Lois for foiling my plans but what could I do?  She didn't understand that it was cold and she felt she was protecting her babies, so I had to leave it to her to do what she thought was best.
It stayed cold all week and with each passing day and not seeing the kittens, I became more frustrated but also less hopeful that they would survive.
Kittens are unable to regulate their body heat before 3 months of age and they have no shivering reflex until they are at least 6 days old.  That didn't help much, but there was nothing I could do.  I moved the bed to another location, set it back up and showed it to Lois in hopes that she would get the message to put them back in there, but she never did.  I moved it back to its original location and she still refused.
I left it sitting there, hoping she might eventually figure out what I wanted but didn't hold out much hope.  At one point when I went to feed the older cats, I heard a kitten whining so I knew at least one was still alive.  That was somewhat comforting.  If one was alive then maybe the others were too.
Well, last night I saw Lois coming out from a different part of the trailer and figured she had moved them again.  I got her busy with her supper and went to the other side of the trailer, which is difficult to get to because it's up against a fence, but I managed to get back there to see if the kittens might be around there, since she had put previous litters in that area.
I didn't see them there so I went to our neighbor's shed, which is right up against the back of the trailer and checked the old tire rims where she put the last litter for a good while.  No kittens there either.  Then it dawned on me - the old grass catcher.  She had 2 previous litters in there but since she didn't give birth to them in it this time, I didn't think about them being there.  The grass catcher fits onto a lawnmower but not the one we have so it's stored behind the trailer.  There's a tiny opening just big enough to see through at the top but since there is so much junk back there, it's impossible to get to it any other way except via our neighbor's shed and stepping on some old tank he has back there.  I crawled up on the tank and looked into the grass catcher......and there they were.  All 5 kittens, breathing and sleeping in a pile.  I was so relieved.  I guess I didn't give Lois enough credit to take proper care of her babies.  She has no idea that I was back there, not that it has mattered in the past, but for the time being, it's a relatively safe place for them.  They are protected from predators but not the rain.  I suppose Lois manages to keep them warm enough because none of them appeared to be in distress as much as I could see from 4 feet away.  I guess I will have to be satisfied knowing that they are still alive and the weather is back on a warming trend so maybe in a week or so they'll be okay and ready to come out of there where I can get a better look.
As soon as I can get near them again, I will get some pictures and you can see how pretty they are.  To my knowledge, there are 3 females and 2 males this time - at least that's what I determined when I saw them the day they were born.  Lois doesn't mind me handling the babies, she will let me pick them right up from her and she won't ever scratch or hiss at me, so I know that we have a good bond of trust between us and I can't wait to see them again.  Stay tuned for pictures :-)
Happy Easter Everyone!

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