Where Did You Come From?

Sorry it's been so long since I've had a post. Life has been kind of busy the past few days, but before that, I couldn't think of anything interesting to write.

So - the title of the post... On Saturday I looked out our window and saw (what I thought was) one of our kitties sitting on my parents' driveway with a tiny baby kitty. I looked closer and saw another baby kitty and a third baby kitty and realized it was not our bigger kitty but what looked like the mama cat to these babies. The babies can't be more than 6 or 8 weeks old and the mom is obviously nursing them. Jon was able to approach her and the babies and lead them to the spot where we have our current feeding and bed spot set up for the cats we already have (in what we call the Garden Shop). The babies chowed down right away.

Our three cats were in the garden shop, too and didn't seem phased at all by these new guests. As the whole story unfolds, we realize that my niece, Kaia, tried to tell Nate on Wednesday that she saw Chip in the outhouse. Well, he quickly told Kaia that she couldn't have seen Chip because Chip just got run over last week. Kaia tried to tell Karli, but Karli was still recovering from her tonsilectomy and didn't go to check it out. Sorry Kaia! Nobody listened.

On Saturday morning Jon and Nate were shoveling and noticed the outhouse door was unlatched. Jon went to close it and saw a fleece blanket that does not belong to us. He didn't think much of it being full of cat hair, just figured it was our cats hanging out in there. The outhouse is right next to the garden shop so not too much of a stretch of the imagination. After seeing this mama and her babies, we figured out that they must have been the ones in the outhouse and we are wondering how long have they been around and how did they get here? It would explain why our cats are not completely ticked off at having guests. Also, when I went to look at the blanket to see if I might recognize it, I saw a small dish. Someone must have left this little family on a blanket with a little food or water.

We are waiting on naming them in case someone comes forward to claim them, but it doesn't look promising. It's a little scary to know that someone we don't know has been in our yard. The outhouse is pretty tucked away, so either someone knew it was there or kind of searched around for a somewhat secluded spot to drop these guys. And if it was someone we know, why not just say something to us? We would help find a good home for them.

My only concern with keeping them is that we have a strict spay/neuter policy in our yard. There are way too many "extra" animals in this world that just get dropped off in someone's yard. (i.e. this family) If we are to keep them, we want them fixed. I am planning to check with the Humane Society to see if they have any grants or assistance programs for something like this. I'm not opposed to the costs of shots and feeding them, it's just the $200 per cat to have them fixed that I have a problem with. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, if you know of anyone who wants/needs a kitty, just let me know. Or if you know of a program to help with the cost of spay/neutering.

So, finally, here are a few pictures of the little cuties on the heated bed. Enjoy!

PS - Karli is recovering very well. She now has a bit of a stuffy nose, but is back to eating normally for the most part and back to dance and PE today.