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Vagaries of Cats and the difficulties in Raising Kittens

Cats are strange creatures.  For some days after offering to share some of my voles, a few had been taken from the store each day.  Not many, just enough to keep a cat from starvation, and after all, now the warmer weather had arrived, i would not miss them.

But then, since a day or so ago, the store has been left untouched, and i am not sure i have seen any sign of Miss Fargazer.  It’s been busy though, so i don’t have the time to go looking, because about the same time i found a small litter of kittens.  Well, you only find em if something has gone wrong, and they are crying for their mother, otherwise the nests are well hidden, and the mother cat keeps the kittens very quiet.  So when i heard their cries, i searched them out, to see what i could do for em.

They were very small, eyes not yet open, an only three were still crying, the other two were quite cold and still.  There was something familiar about the scent of the nest, almost, but not quite like Miss Fargazer.  I quickly slipped the little ones inside my shirt, including the still ones, after all, you never know, and scampered back to my camp…..

Didn’t take long to warm some fresh milk (voles, of course…), and the three lively kittens drank from my finger, till their cries quietened and they dozed in a warm huddle under my blanket.  I held the other two in my hands, blowing gently on them, rubbing their sides, and warming them under my arms.  One grew colder, despite my efforts, and i had to put that little one aside.  The other, however, eventually gave a little chough, and then a little cry.  I dripped warm milk into it’s mouth, cupping it in my hands between drops.  Once it was warm, and had taken a decent amount of milk, i put it with it’s brothers and sisters, before digging a small hole under the Palisade Wall to lay it’s less fortunate sibling to rest.

Since then it’s been so busy.  I still have to check my traps, and keep an eye on what is happening in the City, but now i have a little family to look after.  Thankfully, i have a heat stone under my camp fire, so once that is warm, i can put it in a blanket, and the kittens crawl to it and treat it like a mother cat, and it stays warm for hours!  Every couple of hours i have to feed them more milk, which means i have had to do more milking, and when out and about have to listen up for the City clocks to strike, ready to nip back in time for the next feeding!  No wonder mother cats look so frazzled!

Think i will have to see if one of the cats is wanting to take on a few more kittens, i know cats do look after other kittens, so have some hope, but it would be much easier if Miss Fargazer was around to talk to them for me, i realy can’t understand much of what they say!

I hope she will be back soon, and nothing bad has happened to keep her away……

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