Cat drama

Our mama cat, Chuckles (the boys named her when she showed up at the farm last Winter) has had three litters of kittens in less than 12 months. Her first litter didn't survive more than 24 hours. But she did a great job raising litter's two and three. Although, she took litter three up to the hayloft of the barn and hid them down in a stack of bales where we couldn't reach them. Now that they're old enough to climb all over the hayloft we have spent more and more time with them trying to become friends. It's fascinating to watch how they interact with us, which ones instantly find us and which ones always stay further away. 

 On Friday, when Levi and I went to visit the kitties we were struck by how much they were meowing. Usually when that happens Chuckles appears pretty quick;y to check out what's going on. But she didn't show up. And then I realized I hadn't seen her all day and that's really, really unusual. I figured she might be shut in one of the sheds or a garage. So we went on a search and didn't find her.

 Just when we were about ready to write her off as our latest cat casualty, she came limping from the field to the south of us. Great, an injured mama cat. It didn't seem too bad at first. We left her in our mudroom with some food and water while we went out for a birthday dinner with my mom. When we came back home, her injury was pretty clear. One of her legs had been caught in something - we're guessing a live trap somewhere - but we could be wrong. The paw on her injured leg was very swollen and just looking at it made my stomach turn. (Have no fear, I didn't take any photos - gross!) 

She seems to have instantly weened her kittens from her. She's been leaking milk today, but it doesn't seem like she has the strength to get all the way up to the hayloft. So we took her up there and she hissed the kittens away - perhaps conserving her own strength and energy to heal her wounds. I keep telling myself that Chuckles is just a farm cat. But, we really like her....and thankfully she's continued to clean her wound and is eating, drinking and resting a lot.
So, sure, we'll take on the task of making sure five two-month old kittens have enough food and water....sure.  How did we become such cat people?!?!!?!