Eleven kittens in a barrel

Phone calls came in one after another of cats in need today. One came in that we knew we had to act on right away. Kittens in peril always get us. These are 4 weeks old, living outside, owner can’t keep, they are now crossing the street, one fell in a rain barrel and nearly drowned. Fox and coyote are in the fields…okay. stop it…don’t say anymore…we will come up to Limington and rescue them… all ELEVEN kittens, as well as the moms.

I put out a plea for foster help. A miracle happens. Her name is Marcia, one of our foster volunteers.  She says yes, she will foster them. What a godsend. Thank you Marcia! We load up and take off and get busy. We want to be out before dark. The woman puts them in a blue plastic barrel lined with newspaper every night so they don’t wander off into the fields or get eaten. We look down into the barrel. We can’t believe our eyes. We have never seen anything so darned cute in our lives!

Now our problem is we don’t know who the moms are. There is a male and female orange and a torti and a calico..but who are actually the moms? They won’t get close enough for us to see their bellies. They act aloof..but we know they are on to us. Cats are so smart!

It is clear to us who the daddy is. He is the friendly cutie pie who is following us and wanting to go home with us, but the owner won’t let him go. She wants him to stay. We tell her we will come get him to have him neutered in the next week or so. We’d love to take him. He’s wonderful. We study the females. We think we see a full nursing belly on the orange tabby and with patience and very careful handling, we catch her and get her into our carrier. She is very unhappy with us. But it’s for her own good. Her kittens still need her and we want her to have a long and safe happy life.

For the next half hour we work carefully, trying to catch the one we suspect is another mom. Our have-a-heart trap was broken so we had to be clever and use food and cat carriers. We catch the torti eventually. She is fearful but she seems to be hanging nearby the kittens who are now in the carrier, so we bait a carrier with food and patience wins out and as she eats, we close the carrier door on her and we catch her to bring her back with us!

Back at 1616 our Adoption Center in Wells, we get busy. Marcia and I collar each kitten and give them a number. Then we check for fleas, injuries and health. They are remarkably healthy and we found only 3 fleas. The moms need special handling to apply Revolution. They are fearful and we have to take care not to get bitten. Towels are great shields, but actually these two adults are more afraid than defensive. They are treated and comforted.

Next we gather up all the beds, toys, litter boxes, blankets, toys, food and litter for Marcia so she can finally get everyone home and settled in. It’s been a long day but so worthwhile. And so here they are. Our 11 little kittens from a barrel are now safe and so are their moms. Welcome to Safe Haven, little ones!

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The kitties thank you!