(the Panic on the farm when the kittens disappear from both the dog house and the cat house!
Then amusement as they show up again the next morning.....in a compost bin?
So, Zoomie, the momma cat, is a working cat on a small research farm. She came to the farm three years ago with her brother Butter Bar. While Butter Bar quickly grew into a very friendly cat, Zoomie quietly went half feral. She will come for food, and won't bite if you try to pet her, but she was never people friendly. Nor did she care much for the other cats. Her only friend was the Chihuahua Killer.
According to farm records she was supposedly fixed three years ago according to farm policy. So now we have a mystery. Was she not fixed? In which case how did she not go into heat or have kittens for three whole years? An unaltered cat could theoretically have had eight to twelve litters by that age.
There is a slim chance that she was fixed but the procedure wasn't 100 percent effective, but that is very, very rare in this day and age.
That aside, it was amusing, but not entirely unexpected when she had her kittens in the doghouse she shares with Killer. It was amusing but not unexpected again when she moved her kittens into the cathouse because the straw was cleaner.
But as the kittens began to open their eyes and explore we at the farm grew concerned that they might fall out of the house that had been designed for the comfort and ease of adult cats. While we were discussing barriers and alternatives, Momma Cat Zoomie acted. She moved the kittens to a compost bucket filled with warm, old straw with high sides that even the most adventuresome kitten (the little black one on top) could not escape.
It took us around fifteen hours to figure out the 30 ft move and we did panic a bit, but the results were discovered the next morning and we all had a good laugh.
Then amusement as they show up again the next morning.....in a compost bin?
So, Zoomie, the momma cat, is a working cat on a small research farm. She came to the farm three years ago with her brother Butter Bar. While Butter Bar quickly grew into a very friendly cat, Zoomie quietly went half feral. She will come for food, and won't bite if you try to pet her, but she was never people friendly. Nor did she care much for the other cats. Her only friend was the Chihuahua Killer.
According to farm records she was supposedly fixed three years ago according to farm policy. So now we have a mystery. Was she not fixed? In which case how did she not go into heat or have kittens for three whole years? An unaltered cat could theoretically have had eight to twelve litters by that age.
There is a slim chance that she was fixed but the procedure wasn't 100 percent effective, but that is very, very rare in this day and age.
That aside, it was amusing, but not entirely unexpected when she had her kittens in the doghouse she shares with Killer. It was amusing but not unexpected again when she moved her kittens into the cathouse because the straw was cleaner.
But as the kittens began to open their eyes and explore we at the farm grew concerned that they might fall out of the house that had been designed for the comfort and ease of adult cats. While we were discussing barriers and alternatives, Momma Cat Zoomie acted. She moved the kittens to a compost bucket filled with warm, old straw with high sides that even the most adventuresome kitten (the little black one on top) could not escape.
It took us around fifteen hours to figure out the 30 ft move and we did panic a bit, but the results were discovered the next morning and we all had a good laugh.
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