New Friends

I've mentioned before that I live on a farm; not that we actually raise anything- but still it's a farm with an enormous barn. Next door is another farm with another enormous barn and lots of horses. Horses come with flies (lots of them!); and barns come with stray cats (unfortunately lots of them too).

Last fall I was able to rescue a little bitty kitty I named Boo from our barn. We don't have animals in the barn therefore there is no feed to attract mice so no cats (except in the winter when they are desparate for shelter). Most of the cats around here are extremely skittish and impossible to get a hold of. I would like to be able to get them so we can have them spayed and nuetered but unfortunately we can't. It doesn't help that there are plenty living in the barn next door. Anyway, Boo's mom was an exception. She wouldn't come to us- but she wouldn't run and hide either. She hid under our deck and got into our garbage and after she had Boo she let me take the kitten without any fight. Unfortunately I was not able to catch her to get her spayed she disappeared for the winter and this spring she was back in our garbage and pregnant again.

This week, these two little guys showed up outside my bedroom door to the porch. Mom is long gone and they were very hungry. I'm guessing they are about 12-14 weeks old. They have made their home under our deck and although they run every time we approach, they do come close when I bring them food and they are getting more comfortable with me and my daughter. They hang around and play after they've eaten. They still will not let us pet them or hold them. I haven't been able to figure out whether they are male or female or a combination. One is quite a bit bigger than the other and judging from the way he/she pushes the little one out of the way when I bring food I'm guessing that's the dominate one. My hope is that I can get them to trust me enough to pet and hold them so I can get them to the vet. We'll see. It will take some time I'm sure.