How Are The Kittens?

It is almost six months since Scrappy gave birth to five kittens under our outside staircase. This blog is the answer to one of the questions I most get asked ‘How are the kittens?’.

How Are The Kittens? The Back Story

For those who don’t know the whole story, Scrappy is a little grey cat who gave birth to five beautiful kittens. She chose to do so in one of the cat beds we have under our outside stairs. We have quite a number of outside cats so the beds are their sleeping quarters.

This turned into a roller coaster ride as Scrappy started to get sick within a few weeks of their birth. Our visits to check on them all became more frequent and every morning my first question to Barnet Boy was ‘How are the kittens?’.

A visit to the vet showed that Scrappy had three very large bladder stones that required urgent surgery. We had her spayed at the same time and I ended up looking after Scrappy and the kittens for many, many weeks while we prepared her for surgery and then supported her recovery before she and the kittens returned to living outside in and around our cat garden.

Where You Can Read The Whole Story

I wrote the detail about Scrappy and the kittens in earlier blogs such as the one where I introduced the story and a kitten update I gave a bit later.  There are also various videos on my YouTube Channel.

Inevitably, I am regularly asked ‘How are the kittens?’ So I thought a quick blog update might be appropriate.

How Are The Kittens?

The kittens will be six months old on 1 November and here is a quick review for each of them.

Ella

Ella is a monster. Beautiful and aloof she is like some unapproachable movie star.

In spite of the fact that I handled her all the time when she was indoors, Ella has reverted to a more feral attitude since living outside. She spends a lot of time on her own away from the others.

Whilst I can just about touch Ella, picking her up is a nightmare. It will be fun trying to catch her to have her spayed next month!

BB thinks she is a Gremlin as she has a ginger streak on her forehead. What do you think?

Sandy

Sandy is the complete opposite of Ella. She just loves to be picked up and cuddled and comes inside the house at every opportunity.

When Sandy was tiny she went missing for 12 days and we thought we had lost her. We couldn’t imagine how something so little could survive on her own up the mountain. But she came home safe thank goodness.

Whether not eating properly over that period affected her growth or she is just naturally a small cat, she hasn’t grown a great deal since. This photo is deceptive, she is actually tiny. She is about half the size of Ella.

Sandy has a habit of laying in the plant pot hanging on the porch and popping her head up to say hello every time someone comes outside the front door.

Rolly

Turning to the first of the boys, Rolly is enormous. He is going to be a big cat and already is hard to tell from the adults when you seem them in a group.

Rolly has always loved his food and has a big tummy to prove it. He is a gentle giant though and loves to be made a fuss of. He is not quite so cuddly as some of the others, but is happy to be picked up and kissed.

I had great fun at the vets trying to translate the nursery rhyme that includes ‘Rowly Powly Pudding and Pie‘ when I was explaining the origins of his name.

Rabby

Rabby keeps himself to himself but he likes the occasional cuddle. He is very playful and you can often find him and Rolly engaged in a mock battle. He also loves to cuddle up to his brothers and Sandy in a little kitten pile.

Rabby and Treacle were identical when they were smaller. When we had them vaccinated I had to take them on separate days. I put a pen mark on the forehead of the one that had been vaccinated just to be safe! The vet thought it was hilarious but it made perfect sense to me. We used a purple pen of course…

These days I can clearly tell the two boys apart as Rabby has less strong facial markings than Treacle. But I think for most people (including BB) they are still hard to tell apart.

Treacle

Treacle is a little behind his brothers, a bit smaller but still into anything and everything. If there is gardening to be done you can bet he and his sister Sandy get involved.

Spending a lot of time on the porch  (as shown here), Treacle is waiting to picked up for a cuddle! He also sits on the kitchen window ledge and comes in from time to time. He loves cuddles (did I already mention he likes cuddles?) and throws himself into your arms and snuggles in. A dear little chap.

What about Scrappy?

Scrappy is fat and healthy and currently dominating the rest of the female cats in our group. Since she was spayed she has got more aggressive with them. This has been a surprise as she has always been a mild mannered cat.

Healthy and Costing a Fortune

If I had to summarize my response to ‘how are the kittens?’ it would be ‘healthy and costing a fortune in vet bills’. Having all been vaccinated the next job is spaying and neutering which will take place in November. That should be fun. Wish me luck!

Cat Art Images

Check out my cat art images at my Art Heroes (Europe), Pictorem (USA and Canada) and RedBubble (worldwide) stores.

Before you go

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Thank you for reading!