Yep, we're nuts.

So way back before all the vacation posts, I told the story of the six kittens born under the bushes that we saved from the rainstorm....well, their mother did in fact disappear. We assume a coyote got her - they seem to be lurking around the farm these days looking for chickens and cats - sneaky, sneaky.

So, we were faced with a decision - get rid of the kittens or feed them. We have another mama cat, Chuckles (yes, the promiscuous one) but she wasn't acting interested in feeding these SIX hungry kittens. Chuckles has two of her own, they're about at the pre-school age now, so they don't require much from their mom. Regardless, she wasn't interested. Great, thanks Chuckles, thanks a lot!

We couldn't simply toss these tiny kittens into the pasture to die, we couldn't. So yes, Ben is bottle feeding them. 

We've learned a lot in the process. I had never considered milk replacer for cats, of course it exists. The little bottle is cute and the kittens are doing really well. These pictures are nearly a week old and they've grown quite a bit since.

For a few days, we even had the unfortunate opportunity to help them go to the bathroom. Apparently, a mother cat will lick the rear ends of each kitten signaling to them to go. Without a mama cat how were they going to work this out?  So, good old Google gave us instructions. Ben did it - using a cotton swab. He's such a trooper.

Ben's been in charge of these little ones. He was feeding them 5-6 times a day, now they've dropped a feeding. Thankfully, little miss Chuckles has come around and takes care of the rear end licking job for us. She also gives them a good amount of mothering comfort too. Another week or two like this and they can stop with the bottle feedings.

We're nuts. Just call us crazy cat people. We're ready to claim it.