4 Little Kittens Have Lost Their Mittens

We woke up today to the helpless little whine of kittens in our roof. The landlord came over promptly and stuffed them into a bag of shrubs, ready to dispose of them in a way I can only imagine...

But how could we let him? 4 little squirming fur-balls, with their eyes still closed, lost and orphaned. We are midwives, after all. Called to care. Called to save. Called to protect. A voice for the voiceless, right? We each picked one out of the bag, snuggled, cooed - and there was no turning back. In that moment, we became surrogate mothers to Manila, Amythest, Himlayan, and Mango.

What ensued afterwards is a tale that I must tell. We found a washing pan and lined it with a towel. We found an eye-dropper and filled it with warm milk. And we cuddled, snuggled, and cooed.

We've estimated the kittens to be almost 3 weeks old. After some thorough research, we learned that long-haired kittens keep their eyes closed longer than short-haired. That their eyes stay a deep blue until 3 weeks old, when they also start to walk. What a precious little welcoming gift in our new little house.

We fed and cuddled them all day. Distracted by their innocent little faces and soft fuzzy coats, we thought of them when we were at the market, when we were visiting neighbors, when we were in the shower. But we weren't sure they would survive.

Last night, the mama cat came by. Small and scrawny for having had a full litter, she meowed and cried in search of her little ones. There was no room for selfishness. We had to do what was best for everyone. We put the washbin on the roof.

We took shifts last night, feeding the kittens every 4 hours. By this morning, Amythest was the only one left. Had she rejected him? Would we get to keep this little one? We half hoped so. But at the 8:00 o'clock feeding, I heard a familiar whimper. I followed it to a flower bed on the other side of our fence. There she was, in all her beauty. Mama cat laying on her side with 3 little kittens nuzzling and nursing peacefully. We put Amythest back where he belonged with a feeling of utter joy and accomplishment!

... Now, we're just hoping the landlord doesn't find them in his flowerbed. But if he does, we know what to do!

Click here to see Manila learning to crawl.