Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
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Sunday, May 02, 2010

ADOPTION STORY WITH A TWIST

Two of our barn cats were showing up quite fat at the breakfast table each morning. Cutie and Boomer appeared to be pregnant. Suddenly Boomer did not show up for a couple of days and when she returned she was skinny again. Next Cutie missed breakfast a couple of days and when she showed up, she was skinny. Somewhere on our property we had two new litters of kittens.


We were leaving to go get the tractor on Friday and noticed a dead animal on the road. It appeared to be a cat and I did not want to face the fact that it could be one of our barn cats. I did not inspect the body until we returned. Horror of all horrors, it was new mama Boomer! I began my hunt for an abandoned litter of kittens. I did not have any success until much later in the afternoon in the rain, I heard those unmistakable cries of a hungry kitten. There it was, under a mower barely hidden by grass, eyes not yet open, wanting mama. A careful search was made under the mower but this was the only stray kitten.

A dry warm bed and some nourishment seemed the importance of the moment. The kitten nestled into a box of rags and took a few drops of warmed milk then exhausted fell asleep.

The Internet is a best friend when animal medical research is needed: 1) don't give a new kitten cow's milk; 2) the best way to save the kitten is to find another nursing animal. If this kitten made it through the night, I could try to put it with Cutie when she showed up to eat breakfast. Meanwhile walking around calling her name, I had hopes of finding her early.

Who would have guessed that any of my barn cats knew their names. suddenly there sat Cutie looking at me as if to say, "Here I am, this better be important".


Cutie followed me to the food bowl and was relishing this surprise evening treat. While she enjoyed the prize I went inside and got the kitten. Gently placing the infant under Cutie, it began to sniff, search and cry. Cutie began to sniff, ignore, sniff, ignore and get back to eating. When she finished her snack she payed closer attention to this intruder and soon Cutie began to position herself to nurse the kitten. The pictures are blurry but you can tell how she manages to finally wrap Cutie in her embrace.



New mother and kitten were there a long time. I returned to the house and checking later found Cutie was gone and the kitten hopefully had been taken with her. I did not see their departure but I did see how closely they bonded and knew Cutie would not abandon her new kitten.

So, what is the twist? Yep, this could have been a nice Easter story. At breakfast the next morning Cutie was there to eat but guess who else was there -- BOOMER!

Did I give away one of Boomer's kittens or did I give Cutie back a kitten of her own or did the cat that was killed on the road drop off a kitten before it was hit? Regardless, it does bring to mind the fact that we are not supposed to interfere with nature. One day soon Cutie and Boomer will debut their new kittens. Will I be able to recognize this vagabond?

24 comments:

  1. Oh my! I'm glad the cat on the road was not boomer! I'm interested in how this mystery plays out..

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  2. How lovely that Cutie was so accommodating to this wee visitor. I love this post and look forward to updates. And I am glad Boomer is OK.

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  3. This could be a new soap opera "As the cats turn"?

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  4. Anonymous9:13 AM

    Amazing! I can't wait to hear how this story unfolds or, who lets the cat out of the bag, lol.

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  5. We always try to hard to fix things. A few days ago while visiting a friend who had goats being born from several different mom's we almost made the same mistake. We encountered a mother goat who has given birth to twins and when we returned she was gently butting a third goat away from her who was trying to nurse. The owner thought she could "fix" this by placing the kid next to the full udder when in about 30 seconds we realized that the goat in the next stall was missing her kid!! OOooops.

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  6. OGO – I felt a bit sad that I was so happy Boomer was alive and not sad about the cat that was smashed on the road.

    Lynn – Yes Cutie was accommodating to the visitor but it might not have been a visitor. I guess it could have been her own kitten to begin with.

    Changes – You are too funny. “As The Cats Turn” will be the follow up post title.

    Always Nesting – Yep another amazing story from NOL-NOC Estates. “Who lets the cat out of the bag” is indeed a mystery. My blog friends are so clever.

    Tabor – That is too funny. Now I don’t feel so bad. Poor kid, Great story to exchange. LOL

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  7. I'm not messing with moms & their babies. I still don't know if there's a nest under the chair in my garage, but that robin has quit dive-bombing the window. I left the door open overnight & keeping the overhead door cracked.

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  8. What a twisted cat tale! I'm happy that Boomer is okay, but I know what you mean about being sad about not being more sad about the poor cat on the road. I'm glad your cats and the kitten are all doing well, Annie!

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  9. I love your animal stories. Glad for the ending to this one.

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  10. I am glad Boomer is home safe. Whoever the new kitten did belong to, it has a proper home now, which at the time was most important. I hope you are able to recognize it when it emerges this summer.

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  11. Annie, One of our "hobo kitties" was pregeant too... About two weeks ago she had her kittens, but we don't know where they are... She doesn't act like a mama cat and she hangs around the house a lot... She does look like she may be nursing but who knows.... I wonder if the little kittens are still alive....

    I also remember when my sister and I were pregeant at the same time... My daughter Bonnie came first and my sisters son came three weeks later... Barbara has to have a C-section and the doctor cut her uretha... She had to have surgery and could not nurse her son... I ended up nursing two babies at the same time... I took care of Barbara's son, and nursed him, for six weeks while she was recovering from surgery... When he went back home, Barbara's milk came back and she nursed him for another 9 months.... That was a very stressful time but it was the only thing I could do to help my sister.... I had almost forgotten about that till you mentioned this. Thanks for posting, keep us informed....

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  12. Awww! Cuuuuuuute! Sorry about the dead cat but glad yours are OK.

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  13. The pictures and the story warmed my heart. How sweet!!

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  14. Annie,

    What a nice person you are to care so much about your kitties.

    I loved the happy ending of Boomer coming back from the dead (Call her new baby Lazarus), and tell Cutie I am proud of her for being such a good Mama...

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  15. Boomer must be confused, but other than that, no harm was done. Good for you for being so caring about the new kitten.

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  16. Bonnie (BIZ) – Oh yes, a mother bird can be a force to be reckoned with,. You better watch out,.

    Talon – It will probably be another couple of weeks or so before Boomer and Cutie start bringing their babies to breakfast. If Cutie has one that is slightly oversized we will know the rest of the story. LOL

    JeanMac – I too am pleased with the outcome so far.

    Quilly -- I hope the kitten has a good home now. You never know if I gave it to an abusive parent. But Boomer and Cutie both seem quite loving.

    Lucy -- What a great story about you and your sister. That had to be quite a sacrifice on your part to nurse her child for six weeks.

    Riot Kitty – Yes, I am sorry about the dead cat too.

    Ily – It was a lovely scene to watch unfold. It took a while but the two bonded very nicely.

    Nancy – Lazarus it is. Now if I can just identify which kitten it turns out to be, it will have a name ready.

    Masaru Masaru 勝傑懿綺 – Thank you for you comment in English. あなたが英語でコメントしていただきありがとうございます
    I am translating from igoogle so let me know if this is correct.
    ので、これは正しいかどうか私に教えてiGoogleから私は翻訳の午前

    Kenju – Boomer and Cutie show up for breakfast and neither of them seem to be confused so hopefully all is well.

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  17. What a precious story. I love cats but sadly at this time do not have any.

    Don't feel bad, Annie. Probably everyone who read this story was glad the dead cat on the road was not Boomer.

    Again.....a GREAT story!

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  18. When we had our horse farm, we had a calico barn cat with very loose morals. She produced lovely litters and soon all our friends had calicos or varieties thereof. But, she had one crazy ferrel cat that lived in the loft and only talked to us when the feeder was empty. Soon, both mom and daughter were pregnant and when the kittens were born, they piled them all up in a barrel and nursed whatever kitten happened to latch onto them. When we had given all the kittens away except one...they both nursed that one and it was a veritable butterball. Ain't nature grand?.

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  19. Aww bless that's a cute story and I'm also pleased to hear that Boomer is ok. :)

    Whether the kitten was Cutie's or not, she sounds like a great mother. :)

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  20. After a particularily hideous divorce I rented a rundown old New England house on a working farm. The call of the mown peach grove, and huge vegable field with the offer of all I could pick was enough to make a now penny pinching divorce hop in with both feet. Even the unused for years, collapsing barn had its own charm.

    What I missed when originally scouting out the place were five female cats in residence, a huge Tom cat's harem. One female was murdered just outside my bedroom window by a female coyote and her three pups, tow of the others were pregnant.

    By the time I was able to coax them in (slowly, first food on the steps, then on the door jamb, the inch by inch into the entryway before I could slam the door on them!) We had a litter of four new kittens, two of which I found a wonderful home for, two I had to intergrate into my collection of four rescues of vaious ages. The LAST (swear to gaud I'll find a vet to take pitty on me and my humane-ness.....somewhere) litter was born two weeks ago and I fear the problem wiil be the same I had with the other babies. A beautiful tiger and a pure blue silver went to the lovely home. The two all black ones no one was interested in, so they are now loved by me. This new litter has two black, one dark grey tiger, and two beautiful silver tigers. You KNOW who will get good homes. Apparently no one wants a plain cat capable of unconditional love and gobs of personality!

    And since the barn (hand hewn post and beam construction from the 1800's sob) has one beam and two guidewores left before it collapses into the ground, my son is building an insulated shelter for the 'strangers who have their own room until they are all fixed.

    The point to all this is, do they enjoy sleeping on hay, and is it warm for them in the winter? I havn't quite figured out what to do about heating the mini-cat-farm-barn.

    And I swear if I see one more car passing by this farm, slowing down, and chucking a female cat out the window I'll get in my car and chase the mothers down!

    We will never be able to catch the old Tom, but instead of the skinny bodied, large headed mean looking thing he was when I moved in, thanks to good food he has filled out and is a gorgeous, HUGE tiger!

    Yuh, all this started with your pic of the cat in the hay,,,that'll teach ya!

    Signed:
    Most cats are nicer than most humans!

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  21. you know i have not ever had/own a kitty, can you believe it???? and i love animals!!!!
    i have had like five dogs and fifty or sixty birds ;-)

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  22. Pat – I love cats outside. We do not allow any of the cats inside and we do not pamper them because they are wild. They have a job of keeping the mice away and as long as they earn their keep, they will have a nice breakfast here every morning. Our cats deal with the same perils that the chickens deal with and we keep an average of around ten cats as they drift on and off our property or into the coyote’s mouth. We could never afford to adopt them all.

    Kacey -- I love the story of the butterball kitten. Yes mother’s take their roles seriously in every walk of life.

    Joe – Your are so right Cutie is a good mama I am sure and so is Boomer.

    Entre Nous – We have not met, I guess, but thanks for stopping by to share such a tale of your cat experiences. Very much like us, we bought the farm then discovered the cats in residence. We too have dogs and cats dropped off on a regular basis by sneaky people in the night.

    Carmen – Well now you know if you ever get a strong desire for a cat we can bring you one the next time we head for San Diego. LOL

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  23. What a touching story...for a moment I thought Boomer was killed....Sob Sob!!! As you rightfully mentioned, I'm sure mother instinct will take over for them. Good luck to the kitties :D

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  24. What a tale. I was riveted.

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