Introducing Blaze, Fireball, Rainbow, and Sunshine

If you've been following this blog, you know we have a number of feral cats on our property. These cats come and go. Some stay and set up housekeeping while others pass across our land to other haunts.

Last August, I wrote about a teen-aged cat we called "Mini-Buster" (and eventually BusterToo) because he reminded us of our cat Buster. As it happens, other than the orange tabby coat, they weren't much alike and BusterToo was female. I figured this out when I noticed in mid-March she was quite pregnant. On March 29th, I saw BusterToo and she'd had her litter. They were well hidden and we had no idea where.

On April 21st, BusterToo didn't show up for breakfast which concerned us greatly because she was a regular and made sure never to miss a meal especially after her kittens were born. She hadn't shown up by mid-day, so Floyd went in search of her litter. He found four three-week old kittens safely tucked away in an old bus. There are two tortie females and two orange tabby males.

Toward box front: Blaze
Toward box back: Fireball, Rainbow, and Sunshine
Photo taken 21 Apr 2009

THE KITTENS

BLAZE: Tortie female with large "blaze" in the middle of her face
FIREBALL: Extremely energetic orange tabby male
RAINBOW: Tortie female with every color of the rainbow on her coat
SUNSHINE: Orange tabby male with white face, white tummy, and white tip on tail

Their mama had taken excellent care of them during the three weeks she had with them. Each was strong and healthy. Their coats were in beautiful condition. Thankfully, they had all the advantanges of their mama's milk for their first three weeks.

For the fourth time in the 18 years we've been here, we're sharing our front shower with kittens. We confine them in the glassed in full-size shower when it's their kitty-nap time and overnight. We bring them out several times each day to bottle feed them using KMR Milk Replacer for Kittens. Now five-and-a-half-weeks old, they are also feasting on canned cat food from time to time.

In the past week, they've begun washing and grooming themselves, plus started play-fighting with each other, as well as playing with strings, empty paper towel rolls, and pieces of cellophane. Their playfulness and antics are adorable.

Sunshine & Blaze tussling on the bed, 25 April 2009