April was kitten season around my house when I had a feral colony living in my old neighborhood. Today is Muddy and Koko's actual birthday. Pinky and Lucky were born sometime in April.
Pinky turns 11 this year. We first saw him on the 4th of July 11 years ago. We were sitting on our patio with some friends when a feral cat came walking up with 2 kittens in tow (the mom dumped them off and left). We guessed the kittens to be about 3 months old at the time. When his (OTB) brother Ruby got entangled in a vine a few days later, we used it as an opportunity to trap them and bring them inside to socialize them. Pinky is my huge fluff bag who worships the ground that Stumpy walks upon. He tries real hard to be tough but he is a sucker for scritches and love from his momma.
The next of my April babies is Lucky Pierre, who turns 8 this year. I suspect he's about 10 days older than Muddy and Koko, and shares a mom with Pinky. Just like Pinky, his mom showed up one day with 4 kittens, but this time they were so young that she carried them up to our house 1 by one from the woods behind our house. A few hours later a tornado ripped through those woods. When I started to trap this litter when they were older, the other 3 siblings had FeLV. Lucky Pierre survived a tornado and FeLV by the time he was 2 months old. Long story why I didn't bring him inside to socialize him, he just decided to do it on his own when he was about 18 months old. He has finally decided that snuggling against me at night to sleep is a really good thing.
Here he is moments after his mom brought up the first 3 kittens (she left to get the last one):
And as an adult:
The last of our April birthdays are Muddy and Koko (and their littermates Jake and Elwood). We had a very pregnant feral show up at our house one day and rather than aborting the litter, we decided to let her have it and fix her when finished weaning. She had the litter off our front porch on April 22, 8 years ago today, and died defending them from a predator 10 days later. Oh the joys of hand raising 4 squirmy orphans! Muddy is momma's boy and Koko is daddy's girl. Jake and Elwood live with my best friends in Denver. None of them are entirely normal cats, as there was too much of a human influence when they were so young. None know much about discipline, but all 4 are highly sensitive to their human's emotions. What a joy they all are!
Here they are at 11 days old. Their eyes had just started to open on that day:
And as adults (Muddy then Koko):
Pinky turns 11 this year. We first saw him on the 4th of July 11 years ago. We were sitting on our patio with some friends when a feral cat came walking up with 2 kittens in tow (the mom dumped them off and left). We guessed the kittens to be about 3 months old at the time. When his (OTB) brother Ruby got entangled in a vine a few days later, we used it as an opportunity to trap them and bring them inside to socialize them. Pinky is my huge fluff bag who worships the ground that Stumpy walks upon. He tries real hard to be tough but he is a sucker for scritches and love from his momma.
The next of my April babies is Lucky Pierre, who turns 8 this year. I suspect he's about 10 days older than Muddy and Koko, and shares a mom with Pinky. Just like Pinky, his mom showed up one day with 4 kittens, but this time they were so young that she carried them up to our house 1 by one from the woods behind our house. A few hours later a tornado ripped through those woods. When I started to trap this litter when they were older, the other 3 siblings had FeLV. Lucky Pierre survived a tornado and FeLV by the time he was 2 months old. Long story why I didn't bring him inside to socialize him, he just decided to do it on his own when he was about 18 months old. He has finally decided that snuggling against me at night to sleep is a really good thing.
Here he is moments after his mom brought up the first 3 kittens (she left to get the last one):
And as an adult:
The last of our April birthdays are Muddy and Koko (and their littermates Jake and Elwood). We had a very pregnant feral show up at our house one day and rather than aborting the litter, we decided to let her have it and fix her when finished weaning. She had the litter off our front porch on April 22, 8 years ago today, and died defending them from a predator 10 days later. Oh the joys of hand raising 4 squirmy orphans! Muddy is momma's boy and Koko is daddy's girl. Jake and Elwood live with my best friends in Denver. None of them are entirely normal cats, as there was too much of a human influence when they were so young. None know much about discipline, but all 4 are highly sensitive to their human's emotions. What a joy they all are!
Here they are at 11 days old. Their eyes had just started to open on that day:
And as adults (Muddy then Koko):
