I know this blog is suppose to be about alpacas, but lately
our lives have been revolving around kittens (okay, my life. Brian is far less
concerned about the fuzzy little buggers.)
The count for kittens under the house is now at thirteen.
Actually it has always been that high, I just finally managed to get them all
out in the open for an accurate count.
Plus one in the house.
Yes, there is a kitten in the house, on purpose. In the
open, not hiding under the floor boards. For a two to three week period, the
momma cats developed a nasty habit of scattering kittens everywhere; under hay
bales, under car parts, in between irrigation pipes. Which is fine except that
the kittens, now having to wait until their mothers came around to feed them,
would start yelling at the top of their little kitten lungs for a meal. It was
very distracting.
I finally started gathering kittens up and stuffing them
back under the house where their mothers were hanging out. (Here cat, you lost
this!) This plan was working rather well until we came across the last lost
kitten. When I went to fetch him from under the hay, I discovered that he was
not in great health. His eyes were swollen shut and he was just bones and
fluff. Stuffing him back under the house
would probably just mean a slow death. I
challenge anyone to condemn a kitten to
a slow death. Even the most hard-hearted villain would have a hard time doing so.
So he came into the house so I could clean him up, feed him
and make him well. While I was washing out his swollen eyes, Brian made a
comment: "He looks just like Yoda. Hi Yoda!"
Crap.
Well now he has a name, we have to keep him. So Yoda,
weighing in at a whooping 12 ounces, became a member of the family.
Now two weeks later he has more than doubled his weight. His
eyes are looking good and he has gained enough confidence to lie on his back
and play with Molly's nose. Molly for her part, has agreed not to eat him. Even Daisy will play with him on occasion,
but only when the mode hits her and on her terms. (which usually involve her
flipping Yoda onto his back with her nose, then stomping on his belly.)
Even Dot has gotten in on the Yoda bandwagon. When she comes
to get the dogs for doggy daycare, Yoda goes with her. Can't have him spending
all day by himself, after all.
One of these days, I'm going to get back to writing about
the alpacas, I promise.
