A Sudden Influx of Kittens

I have been absent from the blog for months...and I have an excuse.

Back in August 2022 a stray mother cat and her four kittens started visiting our back garden. At the time, the kittens were approximately 6 to 8 weeks old, riddled with fleas, ticks, mites, worms and, understandably, utterly ravenous. 

Schnitzel (aka The Schnitzler) 

After a few days of getting to know and feeding the stray family in our garden, we decided to take action and trapped mum and her kittens. The trapping operation took several attempts until all were captured and was executed over several days with a 4am start time until we finally managed to catch all of them.

Fig (aka Figgy, Figgers, Figgles, The Figlet) 

Our intervention coincided with the peak of 'kitten season' and it was thus difficult to secure the support of animal charities. Shelters were particularly oversubscribed at the time due to most litters being born during the summer months. Add to this an increase in pet owners deciding to part with their 'quarantine Covid companions'...

As the kittens and their mum were considered stray and feral, rehoming via a shelter was initially not offered to us as an option for mum, so we decided to facilitate our own 'spay, neuter and release' by making a spay appointment via our vet. (Mum, now called Freya, has since been spayed and released. Yet, she remains in our garden / shed and visits the back door for breakfast, lunch, dinner and treats...)

Closer interaction with two of the initially trapped kittens revealed that the golden window of opportunity to socialise the little ones had thankfully not passed. Once this was an established fact, one of the local charities assisted in rehoming their siblings, whilst Figgy and Schnitzel stayed behind with us, keeping mum company in our kitchen until it was time for the spay.   

Fast forward to February 2023. Fig (aka Figgy, Figgles, The Figlet) and Schnitzel (aka The Schnitzler) have now become permanent members of the household. Pretzel (the youngest of our resident cats) loves the new additions and seems to have developed a very close friendship with both, especially Schnitzler. 

Finding new homes for Pretzel's best friends is therefore not an option. 

Pretzel

The resident senior ladies, Mietze and Pebble, have mixed feelings. Mietze, our oldest cat, is happy to watch the kitten antics and remains on friendly terms, as long as interactions do not directly affect her. Pebble on the other hand, feels the need to assert her position. Nevertheless, after six months and with intermittent policing especially at feeding times, they are rubbing along quite well. 

Needless to say, it has been a busy period with lots of vet visits. From initial assessments, check- ups and eliminating parasites to treating ear infections (caused by mites) and eventually getting the boys neutered back in December 2022. The humans are now exhausted and wish to go for a long nap.