(Sophia caught and brought inside the evening of August 30.)
And just as a bonus, last night I caught the elusive Sophia, the mother of Foxy Girl (aka Nugget), Teddy (aka Clyde), Sugar Baby (aka Bonnie) and Sassy. I’ve already got a vet appointment to determine whether or not she’s pregnant again and start her on her shots.
The new mamma and kittens seem to be doing fine.
The new mamma kitty started having her kittens at noon today.
Later I can see 2 gray tabby kittens possibly 3.
When I went in to check on her, the mamma let me know in no uncertain terms that this was none of my business and I should stay clear.
3:30pm
Still popping out kittens. I went down to change out the towel in the box and check on the kittens. There was one still wet and wandering around in the back of the box so I moved her forward and notice another fresh out of the shoot so I moved her up to where her mother could clean her. When I went back down there was another mostly out but the mamma wasn’t doing much so I got that one out and around to the mother to clean up. I had to throw a towel over the mamma to manage to do that.
Right now she’s still busy cleaning all the kittens so that’s a good sign. I hope they all make it. As of now I think there’s 7.
The mamma was still popping out kitties until about 3pm. When all was said and done there’s 6 or 7 new kittens. Most are some variation of gray tabbies and one is all black. The mamma really doesn’t want me getting close but I did manage to change out the original towel that she had the kitties on. Beyond that, it’s probably better if I just leave her alone.
New Mamma is having her kittens right now !
My first thought was “Well color me stupid”.
I was checking the security videos to see if Sophia had visited the barn earlier today and there was Tabitha eating in the barn. The only problem with that is that Tabitha is in my basement ready to have kittens at any minute. When I pulled up pictures of both cats, I could see that the pregnant kitty in the basement was a new one. They’re both long haired grey tabbies, but there are differences in the faces. Though I’m disappointed that I didn’t catch Tabitha, I’m happy that the new one will have her kittens in a safe place. Now I have to come up with a name for her. I’ll call the local animal shelter to see if someone has reported her missing.
So now we’re up to date. I did modify the cat house with sliding doors and also added a new security camera with zoom lens so I could keep an eye on where Sophia and Tabitha live at the northwest neighbor house. I was concentrating on catching Sophia before she could get pregnant again and then figure out how to determine whether or not Tabitha had kittens already. On closer examination of the security videos, it was clear that Tabitha was very pregnant. So catching her before she had her kittens became top priority.
With everything in place and watching multiple security camera feeds I was ready to catch her. Around midnight she very cautiously approached the barn, taking at least 20 minutes to finally go inside. Just as she was about to jump up to the cat house, Little Sweety sneaked into the barn and attacked her. They didn’t actually get into a full cat fight but after Little Sweety left, Tabitha was so frightened the she took off. I went out and grabbed Little Sweety, brought her inside, and shut her up in the spare bedroom where she’ll stay until I get this all done. Anyway, I stayed up until after 4am watching the security cameras but Tabitha didn’t come back.
Last night with everything set up again, and Little Sweety still inside, I was prepared to wait all night if need be to catch Tabitha. Luckily, just before 1am, I spotted her entering the barn. Shortly after that she went into the cat house to eat and after she got a good tummy full, I hit the button to close the doors. After that it was just a matter of transferring her to a carrier and bringing her into the house.
She doesn’t act totally freaked out and is eating well. So that’s a job well done. Now I just need to nab the original mamma, Sophia. Maybe tonight.