Who's yo mama?

Our Manx cats "Meister" and "Bulls Eye" were pregnant at the same time this spring. On Saturday morning, Robin went out to check Meister and her babies only to find that Bulls Eye had begun to deliver her new baby kits right on top of her sisters' litter! I guess Bulls Eye liked the look of Meister's little nest. Meister was beside herself with motherly care, licking off her sister, her sisters' new babies and purring to beat the band. We separated the batches when Meister looked like she was about to claim all of the kittens for herself. We made a cozy little nest for Bulls Eye in a box close by but when we came out later, Meister's kittens were alone and the two mama's were enjoying the fresh babies together in the new box. Still later the kids went out to find that Meister had switched spots with Bulls Eye and taken over the new brood as her own! We had to pen up the new mama and kits so that they would get their mama's first milk. I am not naturally an animal person but the whole display intrigued me. Funny how animals react to new babies. There is excitement even in the animal kingdom. :)

One of the new little kittens. Three like their mother in color and three white ones--all with tails this time.

Mewling on a Monday

Yesterday, Curt's cousin Jeff and his wife Jessica Jespersen (yes, that's right... and there are more of us by that name too in this family :)) Came over to see the baby goats. Our Manx cat came up for some loving, rolling onto her back as the kids pointed out the bare spots on her tummy where she had shed in preparation for kittens. She looked like a hairy, hard little watermelon rolling around at our feet, so today was no surprise. I sent the kids out to play this afternoon only to have Robin run into the house breathless about 15 minutes later. Carrie had been walking past the pole shed and had heard loud mewing. She ran into the storage corner and sure enough, there were kittens. There was a problem though. Mama Cat had delivered on the wire mesh and the babies had fallen through to other levels and also to the floor as she delivered. Carrie gathered them all up as Darren prepared a straw box and rescued the lot of them to the garage. They were all still soaking wet, tiny and beautiful.