Missing month, part three

Sally Cat had her kits at the end of August.  We knew because one day she was very pregnant, and the next day she was very thin.  We didn't find her den until mid-September, when the boys went to help hubby clear burdock out of the chicken pasture.  Five mewing kittens were nestled into a pile of cut logs, but came out when they heard our voices.

We kept tabs on the kittens each day.  One day, about a week after we found the den, I noticed that only three kittens remained.  Hubby and I were shearing the sheep, so it was easy for us to keep an eye on Sally's comings and goings.  All that day, she never went near her kittens.  The day was cold and windy, in the 50's.  It was forecast to head into the low 40's that night, with drizzly rain.  All that evening I went outside to check on the kitties, hoping to find Sally Cat snuggled up with them in the grass.

Finally at 11 pm, my softie heart got the better of me.  We brought the remaining three kittens inside.  Next morning I went to the vet for milk replacer.  We fed them with glass eye droppers, four times a day.

Three days later we headed to the Cities for Graham's birthday celebration.  We took the kittens to the Animal Humane Society in Woodbury, where they will be cared for in a foster home until they are old enough to be adopted.

We still don't know what happened to the two other kittens.  Either Sally moved them to an unknown location and abandoned the remaining three, or a wild animal got them.  In either case, I'm glad I grabbed the kitties when I did, even with the headache and cost.  I don't think they would have survived that night on their own.