At nine days old, the kittens eyes are open. None are named yet.

Living Biology is something we get to experience here on our farm.   Over the past few years, I've been sharing many of these experiences as they have come along.  My children have been raised with many pets so I'd like to share with you our newest bebies born just this morning.  First, here is the story of how  these new precious babies came about. 

Hobbs the daddy, was born born here on May 30, 2007.  You can read his birth story at Lamaze for cats?  He and his siblings baby pictures are posted at Introducing Five Little Kittens.  All of the kittens and momma were fixed except for Hobbs.  We kept him intact as he was such a beautiful cat, with a loving personality, which we thought would be excellent in future generations.

Then along came Suvy and Stickers who were rescued on June 11, 2008.  To this day, Stickers, still earns that name.  She's sweet and loving but she just can't grasp the concept that her claws need to be in. Stickers was also a bit of a surprise.  Early in her life, she needed an emergency trip to the twenty-four hour vet clinic.  Her life was saved but the vet insisted that she was a he.  Since that left Suvy as the only unfixed female, we didn't give it another thought.  We were going to breed Hobbs and Suvy and see what type of kittens they'd throw.  You can read Suvy's and Sticker's story at How Many Kittens?

Well, sometimes it's best to trust yourself when sexing kittens.  Both Suvy and Stickers are females.  Early this morning, Suvy gave birth to four beautiful kittens.  Stickers should be having her's soon.  Both mommas are being kept safe inside away from all the other pets.  Poor Suvy was very confused this morning about what those wet noisey creatures were.  My spouse soothed her and got her to lie down and I went and gathered her babies, dried them off a bit, then handed them to James.  He rubbed them on Suvy's face and placed them on her belly.  Poor Suvy was so very confused.  She wasn't taking to motherhood very well and it was beginning to look like it wasn't going to go well.  James encouraged her to lick her babies and I'm happy to report nature has taken over and even the smallest is now nursing!

National Geographic has an excellent series called In the Womb for any one who would like to learn more about cats and their development.  I'll post babies pictures once they get a little bit bigger.

Easter is always such a wonderful time for the Lord's blessings.  A time to remember that He has given his all for us.  This year, he gifted me with a beautiful reminder that he loves me and wants me to have joy in this world.  I say this, as I have been through much stress on so many levels which sometimes feels all encompassing.  So let me just touch the highlights that happened this past Easter weekend. 

First, He reminded me of the wonderful blessing He gave me near nineteen years ago, on another Easter weekend, when my first born came into the world bright and early with the sun.  This year, I went outside at sunrise, and found that Marble, my horsey baby, hand raised by me since her mother died giving birth to her, had just delivered her first born.

Upon seeing this little one, my first thought was 'Flash'.  I can't tell you why, but so far, no one has come up with a better more suited name.  Marble looked hungry, so I went and fed everyone.  I was surprised when Madeye lead the baby up.  Marble was too hungry to worry and Madeye left Flash in my care while he, too, went off to eat. 

That's Marble in the background with the white strip down her withers. She ate her fill then came over and collected her baby.  I moved them both into a secluded pasture so momma and baby could get to know each other in peace.  =)

It's been twelve days, and today, Flash had her first outing away from momma.  As a general rule, we allow the babies to meet people and get accustomed to being touched.  So this morning, Flash received her first non-momma bath, then we took her to visit a friend who has been asking to see a newborn for quite sometime.  Today, we made that happen.  We took Flash over to visit Mary, a blind friend that had been raised with horses.  Larger, much larger horses then Flash, but the smile on Mary's face made me so happy that we made this trip.

 

After Flash's first outing, she was tired and took a nap on the way home.

 

Babies are precious.  Easter babies are God's way of reminding us he loves us and wants us to be happy. =)  Blessings to all.

Ktas just turned eleven and all he wanted for his birthday was one video game and a female Golden Retriever puppy.  So I took him to see a litter of puppies and he picked out Candy.

Candy is a wonderful new addition to our home.  I'll try and get more pictures soon. 

Kitten, kitten, how many kittens? How many kittens can one house hold?

This last weekend, my oldest went to the end of our road to meet her friends and take a break from all her studies.  (Our road is four miles of bumpy dirt so we're nice to our friends and don't require them to drive it.)   

When she arrived, she heard the cutest little sound!  Two adorable babies had been DUMPED at the end of our road near the mailboxes and a major highway.  The kittens had taken refuge in a tree but when they saw my daughter, they climbed down to her begging to be held.  She, of course, called her sister, who doesn't drive, and asked her to come and beg a parent to bring her down to the end of the road and rescue the kitties as she couldn't leave them there nor take them with her.

That's when I heard about these cuties.  Off I went with two kids in tow and rag towels expecting feral kittens.  Turns out, not feral at all!  They had been well fed and well loved.  They sweetly cuddled with the kids.  They hadn't been out there long as they weren't even slightly dehydrated. The kids fell instantly in love.

So how many kitties can one house hold?  Around our house, that number seems to be up to twelve!  Yes.  Really.  Twelve!!  Whoever said only little old ladies who live by themselves have lots of cats, hasn't met my family.