The saga of raising a motherless kitten continues in the farmhouse. At 2-3 days old we noticed this particular kitten could purr. The ever-so-slight purr is barely audible. It is so gentle that her whole body does not vibrate like it does with adult cats. But I am sure that will come.

We searched for the kitten’s mother and brought her indoors to sniff at the kitten.  We hoped that her maternal instincts might bring her to nurse the kitten.  But the mother sniffed, let us give her some milk and was ready to move on.  We found another experienced mother cat, who was very pregnant.  We let her check out the kitten and she just hissed at the little orphan and would have nothing to do with it.

We became more determined to care for the little one ourselves.

The baby cat’s coat was not terribly soft due to the spillage of formula when she sucked the dropper.  I tried to clean her with a wet cotton ball.  I rubbed her under her neck and on her legs and attempted to clean the whole length of her body.  It was important to gently clean between her hind legs with a cotton ball.  (That motion prompts a kitten to eliminate her waste.  We want to keep all of her systems working, you know.)

About one week after the kitten made entrance into the farmhouse, my cat-raising daughter returned for a longer visit.  She stepped up to the task of nurturing the little one.  Gladly, I stepped aside as she took night-duty for me.  By the time she had returned for her visit, she could easily see that the kitten was visibly larger than when we first met her.  Evidently, we were doing something right.

Besides having kittens born in spring, we have floral happenings that awaken this time of year.   Check them out in our catalog.

Photo credits: Wenda Grabau