Newfound Motherhood

Two weeks ago, a feral cat birthed a litter of four kittens in my backyard. Two days later I became their new mother. 

It was a warm, sunny spring day and I had just finished taking my four-year-old black lab mix,  Baloo, on his morning walk. Instead of then assuming his usual sunbathing position on the back porch, I noticed he continued to peer around the side of the house, tiptoeing cautiously toward something I couldn’t see.

Eventually, I decided to go take a look. Baloo was standing at one end of an old mattress we have leaning against the side of our house (we’ve been meaning to get rid of it but haven’t had the time—you know how life goes…). As I walked over, I prepared myself to see the neighborhood raccoon, who waddles from trash can to trash can every evening. But when I peeked my head behind the mattress, a beautiful long-haired tortoiseshell cat hastily glanced over her shoulder at me, then scampered out of the opening at the other end of the mattress. 

In her place, in a small groove within the dirt, lay four tiny kittens, mewing in distress as they realized their heat source had left them. They couldn’t have been more than 24 hours old. 

I quickly pulled Baloo away and returned inside the house, hoping the mother cat would come back to her babies. 

She returned that day, nursing them and keeping them warm throughout the following night. But that same night, it began to snow heavily (in typical Colorado fashion). I couldn’t sleep,  worrying that the mama cat and her litter didn’t have enough shelter and weren’t warm enough. I knew the mother cat would need food in order to keep producing milk for the kittens, but that meant leaving them alone in the cold. 

The next day, around noon, I put a small bowl of cat food and some water at the edge of the opening to their den. I was hoping the mother’s need for food and water would be stronger than her fear. 

Unfortunately, I scared her off again, and this time, she didn’t come back. 

I continued checking throughout that afternoon to see if the mother had returned, but by 5 p.m. that evening, I could tell the kittens had been abandoned. They were crying incessantly, their little meows echoing in the cold air, as snow continued to pile up around the mattress. 

That was when I decided it was time to take action. If I left them too much longer, they would not survive. 

So my boyfriend, Sam, and I drove quickly to the pet store, picked up some feeding and cleaning supplies, and got home as fast as we could. 

As we moved the kitten’s tiny bodies into the house and placed them gently in a cardboard box, I thought we were too late. They had stopped meowing at that point and were cold to the touch. The small black kitten was completely stiff and I thought for sure she was already gone. 

But in a moment of pure paternal kindness (albeit astonishing), Sam took off his shirt, lay the kittens on his belly, and used the heat from his own skin to warm their small bodies. 

Within minutes, they began to warm up, the black one finally lifting its head to acknowledge she was alive after all. 

I almost cried—just to know they were still surviving was comfort enough.

I’m starting this blog to tell people more about the kittens’ progress and growth, so others can hear about their journey (and mine). It could transform into something else entirely, but for now, the kittens are the main thing taking up my thoughts and my time.

I think many people assume raising kittens is cute, with a lot of playtime, cuddles, and catnaps. But there is so much more to it than that. It’s an around-the-clock job that requires true dedication and very little rest.

There have been many days over the past two weeks where I have felt extremely overwhelmed and not in the least bit cut out for the monumental task of motherhood. It’s terrifying! I know it’s not the same as raising a newborn child, but the health and wellbeing of these tiny beings depends almost entirely on me—with the hope that they will continue thriving and that each new day won’t be their last. 

As someone who has never raised a newborn animal (or human) before, I had no idea what I was doing when this began, and I am constantly learning new things every day. I’ve done an extensive amount of research and watched various tutorials on how to properly take care of these animals. The Kitten Lady is a badass (with the most helpful website!), and has been my main source of information throughout the past few weeks. 

I’m in no way an expert at this point and don’t pretend to know the right or best way to raise newborn kittens, but I will demonstrate what I’ve learned. Maybe it can help others who stumble into newfound kitten motherhood the way I did! Though it’s only been two weeks, I continue to see progress and changes in the lives of these small creatures, and I hope to make their first two months on this planet healthy and happy. 

Stay tuned for more kitten adventures (and photos)!