The baby kittens came to us about 6 months ago. This is how it happened…

Brian was in the workshop doing some guy thing, and he heard mewing nearby.  He pinpointed the noise coming from some overgrown bushes right outside of the shop.  Down on his belly and crawling under the overgrowth towards the center of the mess, he found a baby kitten, a little black one.  It was so tiny.  And he couldn’t quite maneuver to reach it with his bad shoulder, so as he talked to it gently, it wobbled to him on its shaky legs.  He pulled it out, brought it to the house, fed it milk with his finger, and made a warm bed on the back deck.  A little while later, he heard a baby kitten crying again in those bushes. And, after investigation, found a second one.   He brought it out and after feeding it, put it in with the other on the back deck.

Their mother came, sniffed at them, and left. We put food out for the mother and she came back to eat it, but would not go to her kittens. It was obvious that this was her first litter and she had not learned yet how to care for babies.  These kittens hadn’t even been cleaned properly from their birth experience!  

And so, by nightfall, we had brought them into the house and began to feed them milk with eyedroppers, followed several days later by kitten bottles and kitten formula found at the feed and seed store. 

We are guessing that they were about 3 weeks old when they came into our lives. And, we didn’t know if they would live. But live, and thrive, they did!

Tess is the black female and Tink is the gold male.  This morning, they go to the vet to be spayed and neutered.  I am as worried as any mother might be if her children were going to the hospital for a surgical procedure.