Monday afternoon I was headed out to check on water buckets and give the alpacas their afternoon shower (hosing down their legs and bellies), as I set off from the house I heard a noise, a small squeaky little meow. For a moment I thought perhaps it was a bird making a sound similar to a meow but then I heard it again. Somewhere nearby was a kitten.
I knew that one of our barn cats had given birth last Friday. Our barn cat “herd” is now down to three with a visiting tomcat. When we first moved to this house we inherited 20 or so cats with the property. The previous owner had asked us we if wanted a “few” barn cats, it turned out his idea of a few and our idea of a few were completely different.
I spoke to our small animal vet about our barn cat situation, I am a big supporter of spaying and neutering pets and it went against the grain for me to now own 20 or so wild cats, none of which were spayed or neutered. We couldn’t afford to spay or neuter all of those cats and there wasn’t (and still isn’t) a low cost spay and neuter program in the area. Our vet told me that over time the cat population would probably hold stable, some cats would be lost to coyotes, others would die from illness, some would just disappear. I was a little skeptical, I know cats can reproduce at a phenomenal rate, but as it turned out our vet was right. Over the years some of the cats have died, sadly our neighbor’s dogs killed several of them and then an outbreak of illness saw more of the cats die. Coyotes and owls (yes, owls will take a cat) have removed some more of the cats and these days we are down to three.
One of the barn cats is amazingly one of the original mother cats; she must have a tremendous immune system, as nothing seems to touch her, and the nothing touching her rule includes us, as she is completely wild. Another of the surviving cats is the daughter of the mother cat, hopefully she has inherited her mother’s immune system, but she is a little strange in behavior and we come across her in the oddest of places around the farm. She likes to catch rabbits and we hope that she does her share of mousing duties around the farm.
The third cat we call Kit Cat. He is part Siamese and thankfully neutered. Someone dropped Kit Cat off at our farm when we were not here along with another cat who had a broken pelvis. The cat with the broken pelvis, we called her Blackie, survived for several years but eventually developed cancer and we had to have her put down. Kit Cat though is a survivor, and most likely was at one time a house cat. He tries to get in the house, but unfortunately he still sprays like a tomcat and so he has to stay outside. He is the sweetest of cats, tolerant of small children, affectionate and an absolute devil when it comes to stealing food, or what he thinks could be food, from people’s cars, trucks, purses and bags.
So it seems that the visiting tomcat had a liaison with our mother cat, the end result being one little smoky grey kitten (the tom cat is a beautiful solid smoky grey). With past litters the mother cat has hidden her brood under one of the old boxcars we have on the property, but unfortunately tomcats like to kill kittens and so there have not been any survivors. The last kitten the mother cat had she hid in a livestock trailer that one of our clients had parked here, but some visiting children disturbed her and so she moved the kitten back to the box car. We saw the kitten once or twice after that and have not seen any sign of it since.
In recent weeks the mother cat and Kit Cat have become quite attached to each other. They spend their days lounging in the sunshine, grooming each other and enjoying watching the activity at the farm. Whereas in the past the mother cat was wary of coming up to the house she has started to come to the house with Kit Cat and it has not been usual to find her sitting on the front porch with Kit Cat by her side.
The mother cats confidence in us has increased, so much so that she apparently has decided that we are a safer option for her kitten than the box car location, for she has brought her kitten and placed it inside our chiminea!
When I heard the kitten meowing it took me a while to figure out where it was, but eventually I found it. The mother cat was not nearby and so I took a chance and placed some straw inside the chiminea for the kitten to bed down on. I wore gloves to keep my scent off the straw and made sure I didn’t touch the kitten. Mother barn cats can be very wary of any strange scents on their offspring and the last thing I wanted was to have her abandon or move her kitten. I had time to snap a couple of pictures of the kitten before making a hasty retreat before the mother cat came back.
As of today the mother cat has still got her kitten in the chiminea. We can stand inside the front door and watch her as she goes in and out of the chiminea, sometimes to feed her kitten, other times to groom herself and her kitten and sometimes just to curl up contentedly with her little furry offspring.
I hope this kitten makes it, the mother cat is trying her best to keep it safe and hopefully she will be rewarded for her efforts.