oops, I did it again.

if you've been here for a while, you may remember me talking about the stray cats we have running around here at my place of employment. the office building I work in is surrounded by construction debris and equipment, so there are an endless number of hiding spots for sneaky felines.

so, being that it is kitten season, it was no surprise to me to find out that our residential Mama Cat was knocked up again. she has frequent litters of kittens and usually abandons them or they run off to another yard on our street. I've always been kind of scared to try to catch her WHILE she's pregnant, because I can't have that kind of chaos in my house, and I wouldn't even know where to start with taking care of a stray (read: scared of humans like woah) kitty with freshly born babies. by the time we see her babies, they're already so scared of humans that they're impossible to catch. 

I knew that she had given birth to her kittens, because one of our employees stumbled across them in our construction yard a few weeks back. I looked out my office window yesterday to see four little babies outside hangin' out with their mama. I decided that if I didn't get a hold of them now, she might move them and I wouldn't have another opportunity to do so. also, the younger they are when they are adopted or fostered, the better chance they have at a domesticated life. I could see that at least two of them were of a calico breed, which meant they were females, which also meant that if left out there, they'd become just more Resident Mamas to our area, so I knew I had to catch them while I could.

so that's exactly what I did yesterday - I had Sean bring me one of our cat carriers to work and I grabbed three of the four babes and took them to the vet. of course, I was worried that the fourth one (who scattered when I came near her) would be left behind, but thankfully, I looked out my window this morning to see Mama nursing her. the other three are doing well at home - they are being quarantined from my cats for everyone's safety - according to my vet, they are about 4 weeks old, giving them a birthday of April 25th. she says they're healthy as far as weight and overall eyes/ears and heart exams go. we gave them a dose of deworming meds and they will go back in two weeks for a check up. 

right now the plan is to try to get a hold of the fourth kitten (she is a calico like her two sisters) and get her home with her siblings. I also borrowed a live trap from my vet, who will spay the Mama for me so I can release her back here at work. I think she's too feral to become a house cat. some people might not agree with my decision to take them from their mama so early, but they are eating solid food (moistened down with water) and are capable of getting around just fine. 

um, so yeah. long story short? ha! I get to spend a couple weeks with these cute faces until I can find some wonderful healthy homes for them to go to.

Happy Tuesday!