I rang this morning to ask the 82 year old carer how things were going with the lady in waiting, as well as the one who has up until this morning, not been seen for her regular meals provided by the lady for a couple of days.
When I spoke with her this lunchtime, the lady thought she may be in labour as she was very quiet and wouldn't eat. So I said I would go over. But what would we do if she was as running scared as she was the last time I went over to assess the situation? So I 'phoned Nicky asking for her assistance, popped over to collect her and off we went. We were faced by a road closed sign, but we ignored that - we could be midwives or something!
Nicky went outside and thought she could see at least two kittens, but as the home made cat shelter had quite an overhang, she could not be sure. Nicky provided a dog crate to house the Mum and possible kittens in if we could get her in the house. We had a plan that we would block the small entrance, and Cynthia did a great job of keeping it blocked whilst Nicky and I carried the cat house into the kitchen. Luckily it all came to plan, and no real problems. Mum was scared and stood by the back door (closed), and once we had scooped her kittens up with some clean paper towel into a box lined with fleece and towels, I grabbed Mum and put her in with her babies. Then we put them all in the large bathroom, where she met her pal from no doubt the same property down the road.
The kittens felt warm and were calm and quiet, she must have fed them well. There were no signs of any of them looking premature. We hope that all 5 survive and do well. By the colours, Nicky thinks at least 3 are girls? So the once seemingly feral cat has calmed down from the very nervous Mum to be I saw nearly two weeks ago. I was convinced she would need trapping. Phew!
We are hoping that Cat Action Trust will step in to lend a hand, as we are stuffed and so are Cats Protection. It is not fair for the lady with some disabilities and without age on her side to have to cope with two Mums with litters in a few days time or less.