Angel: The Saga Continues

Angel continues to feed at regular two hourly intervals. However her body mass seems to be dropping radically so the lack of solid food for the kittens is beginning to show. Middle daughter took a trip through the forest, bearing a food gift, and could not find any sign of them but considering that despite her slender size she does sound like a rhino charging through the undergrowth, I was not surprised.

We have enjoyed two days without the builders next door but today they are back with some form of sawing machine and thoroughly enjoying themselves once more. It is therefore very unlikely that Angel will attempt to shift her offspring today. They are now at seven weeks and I suppose, considering how tiny she is, they must be fairly small kittens. The Magpies out back are raising a commotion, which usually indicates a cat is moving in their vicinity, so the potential is there. However, another draw back could be the state of my grassland, which is now rivaling a wheat field. I can just imagine small kittens trying to plough their way through the endless sea of green. Perhaps I should keep goats or sheep instead of cats.

I started this section over three days ago and then was distracted by other matters. A surprising turn around occurred yesterday. It was youngest daughter’s birthday and she being in Preston we were not expected to attend her birthday barbeque. It was around four in the afternoon when I saw Angel on her way to the back door with a large furry bundle in her mouth. I shouted to Middle daughter and she came rushing down the stairs. The bundle being unceremoniously dropped outside the door decided that I represented a major threat and slunk off to hide in an old Tea chest that is outside in the garden. (Don’t ask me to explain the significance of this ornament). Angel ate. We looked at the kitten. The kitten cowered. Middle daughter got some food into a bowl and offered this to the kitten. Angel finished eating and went off up the garden. We waited.

I decided to telephone youngest daughter and report on the arrival. As I was describing the kitten, some twenty odd minutes later, back she came and collided with Pukwadji who had taken herself off into the shrubbery. There was hissing and a bundle was dropped. I came off the telephone. Middle daughter rushed to pick the baby up. The second kitten was one third of the size of the first. It was an amazing bundle of fur with bat ears and not at all perturbed by its adventure. We placed it into the Tea chest and it threw itself at the food plate biting the plastic at first until it discovered the content was slightly more amenable. If prizes were given for food consumption that tiny creature would rival its ravenous mother.

Angel marched back into the kitchen and ate some more. We moved the tiny one into the rabbit hutch with the plate of food. I then turned the Tea chest up and dragged the larger rebel out and placed it with its sibling. Angel seemed to appreciate this act and off she went again. Twenty odd minutes passed during which time I telephoned youngest yet again. Finally Angel reappeared but this time there was no kitten. She gave a brief look at the others and went off again. Again time passed and she returned empty handed. From her belly it is obvious that she has been feeding at least four kittens. I do not like to weigh the alternatives but many a first litter fails through lack of sufficient milk and number two arrival was painfully thin.