Kitten Update

I was right about Mama Cat. This morning when I came out to feed the felines she came to eat and no longer had her huge belly. I don’t know where she had the babies this time. She started leading me across the parking lot, and every few feet would flop onto the ground so I could pet her. I think she was enjoying getting pampered a bit after all the hard work of giving birth to several kittens, cleaning them and feeding them. I had to get ready for work so I wasn’t able to spend enough time outside to see if she would actually take me to her nest. I had hoped to be able to find the nest this evening, but once again she led me across the parking lot and then stopped. I’m not the only one who thinks that her nest is in that direction. I talked to my neighbor Debbie, in whose storage closet Mama Cat had her babies in March, and she said she’d also seen Mama Cat walking across the parking lot in that direction. Maybe in a few days she’ll actually take me to the nest. I would love to see the kittens. I hope she had a relatively small litter because that will mean fewer kittens that need homes.

It surprises me that mother cats have taken me to their nests in the past. I would have thought that they would be much more protective of their newborns. Mama Cat clearly knows that I’m not going to hurt her since I’ve been feeding her for many months and petting her and, most recently, feeding and playing with her previous litter of kittens. That said, I’m still surprised that she would lead me to her babies. She did it when she had her kittens in March. She took me to the back of Debbie’s apartment, and I found out a few days later from Debbie that indeed the kittens were in her storage closet. Mama Cat isn’t the only cat that has led me to her newborns. There was a stray cat in Boston (also a small all-black female) whom I had befriended. She didn’t trust me nearly as much as Mama Cat does and we didn’t have much physical contact. I just fed her every day and spent some time around her while she ate. Despite the fact that I didn’t have as much contact with her as I do with Mama Cat, when she gave birth to her kittens she led to me to her nest. I’m not sure why she and Mama Cat led me to their newborns, but I will take it as a compliment. It’s flattering that these cats trust me enough to show me their young.