When It Rains, It Pours – Literally This Time

The monkey grass nest only lasted until the next rain. On Saturday I found Mama Cat under the truck near her previous nest. Her babies were there with her, on the parking lot ground. It looked far from a good nest but I couldn’t come up with a better place, so I left them there. The following day, Chris, the truck’s owner, was sitting next to his truck, working on his motorcycle. I went over to him and checked on the kittens, both of whom were still there. I sat down and talked with him while he worked on his bike, and noticed Mama Cat sitting under a car nearby, watching. She seemed nervous, and eventually came over and picked up one of the kittens, which she carried under a car. I expected she was going to carry it elsewhere from there, but instead she lay down and started nursing it. It seemed like a terrible place to have her babies. Later she went and picked up her other kitten and brought it there as well. That’s what made me think that this could only end badly. Every nest she’d had up till now had flooded due to rain so now she was resorting to the space under cars. It’s one thing when the vehicle is never driven, like the truck, but quite another when the vehicles she chooses are cars that I know my neighbors use on a regular basis. And with both kittens under the car if the owner got in the car and started it, she would probably only be able to save one of her babies. Mama Cat was clearly having very bad luck with her nests this time around.

I did the only thing I could think of: I asked Tim if there was any chance I could have the kittens and Mama Cat in here until they were weaned and ready to be adopted. That way they would be safe from drowning and from moving vehicles, and they could be socialized early on. I was sure Tim was going to say no, but actually he said yes. I wasted no time and set up a nest in our downstairs bathroom, and went outside to get Mama Cat and the babies. Getting the babies out from under the car was hard and I really had to reach for them. I was glad that the car belonged to a neighbor I talk to regularly, but I’m sure if he’d appeared at that moment, he would have wondered why I was almost crawling under his car. Mama Cat didn’t resist me moving the babies and once I had them safely in my bathroom I came back for Mama Cat. She’d never been inside my apartment so she was a bit nervous about coming in. I carried her in and brought her to her babies and she immediately sat down with them and started nursing them. That had to be a good sign.

With Mama Cat there, I set out to make a slightly better nest for them. I found a shallow box and cut the flaps off, and then moved the bedding materials from the ground into the box. Being in the box would prevent the kittens from wandering away from their nest and getting stranded somewhere on the tile floor. I also set up food and water bowls for Mama Cat as well as a litter box. For a while everything was calm and after feeding her babies, she explored a bit. She went up the stairs partially and met up with Lena, but the encounter was much mellower than I would have expected. They sniffed each other’s noses and hissed at each other, but it didn’t go beyond that.

After some time, Mama Cat started meowing and pawing at the door so I let her out for a while. I didn’t expect that she would automatically adjust to indoor life. Later I brought her back in and she nursed her babies some more. I thought she might spend the night inside so that she could nurse her babies when she needed to, but a while after we went to bed she started meowing loudly downstairs. We tried to ignore her and she stopped. But then she started up again and came upstairs and I realized I needed to let her outside. So yesterday I got up early and let her in to nurse her babies. I then let her in once more before I left for work. Then again when I came home for lunch, and several more times in the afternoon and evening.

This morning I once again got up early and let her in to feed her babies. I will let her in again before I take off for work, and then today during my lunch break I’m taking them all to the vet. I want to get them checked out and make sure the babies are gaining enough weight. I sometimes wonder if she feeds them long enough each time since she always seems a bit anxious to go outside again. But when I consider how it has rained since I brought them into the house two days ago, I feel justified in doing what I did. After all, it rained very hard on Sunday night, throughout part of Monday morning, and also this morning. I just hope that ultimately I’m doing the right thing. At least Mama Cat still seems comfortable around me and is getting to feed her babies regularly. I wish she could stay with them throughout most of the day, but she really doesn’t want to be inside all the time.

So between work, feeding the cats, spending time with Lena and Tim, and letting Mama Cat in and out of the house, I seem not to have too much time for sleep, and even less time for blogging.