Kittens, Kittens, and More Kittens - Oh My!

Who knew how quickly kittens grew up?


Before we knew it, they turned from
<<<<= this size








          To this size!!!                    =>>>>>











First Mittens had a litter of five kittens.

We didn't notice that Heidi was also pregnant. One morning, Megan came to tell me that Heidi had a kitten in her bed. "Quick Mom, come see. I thought that Megan was just playing, and that there would be a toy kitten. But there was a real kitten (and some messy sheets). It was a black female. Megan named her Princess.

A couple of months later, Heidi had another litter, with four kittens. In the picture above is Princess and the four new kittens.

 Then a couple of more months later, Mittens had another litter of six kittens. Sixteen kittens in one year. Heidi was a very good Mommy Cat. She was always playing with the kittens, and would nurse Mitten's kittens along with her own. In the picture above, there are kittens from all four litters nursing on Heidi - including Rusty, the big orange cat on the left. He was one of Mittens' first kittens, and was almost as big as Heidi here.

Mittens was a more lazy Mommy Cat, and would get annoyed with kittens, especially when they would play with her tail. She had a weird habit that I have never seen with any other cat: she would steal the damp dish cloth, set it beside her kittens, and then leave. I wondered if she was overwhelmed with all that mothering. 

But then after we gave away all of those kittens, Mittens could be seen running around with the dish cloth in her mouth, trying to find her kittens. It was was rather pitiful.

After the "Year of the Kittens, we took Mittens and Heidi to the vet to get fixed.