KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by, Emily

(Lady and her kittens)

(Kitten nursing)

Here on the farm one of my jobs is to milk the goats..... 7:00 in the morning and 7:00 at night. Last Tuesday, on the 10th, when I finished up milking, I paused to pet Lady before I left. She was getting BIG and pregnant. I like to feel her stomach, 'cause sometimes I can feel the kittens in there! Well tonight I noticed that her milk bags seemed really full...... hmmm! So when I left, I half-jokingly said, "See you in the morning, Lady, and I expect to find at least 5 kittens with you... good luck!" I didn't really expect anything. :)

Now every morning since Lady has been pregnant, I always hold my breath when I open the door, just hoping she isn't there..... which would mean she's off having her kittens somewhere. And every morning I open the door, and there she is, sitting there waiting for me, with what looks like a big grin on her face. :) So this morning I again was hoping she wasn't there. Slowly I opened the door.... just waiting for her daily "meow!" as if she'd been waiting for me all night! :) (Or maybe it's the milk she's waiting for..... not me.) :) She wasn't there. I stepped out of the milk room into the barn and looked around. No Lady. So I walked excitedly towards the pen where her cat house is, but first glanced into the goat pens.......... there, in the corner, through the fence I saw a little, tiny gray head......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I rushed into the pen ....... there was Lady all cuddled up, with five, yes, FIVE, ADORABLE, KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was SOOOOOOOO thrilled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After admiring them for a couple minutes, I raced neck-break speed to the house and screamed to everyone that Lady had her kittens!!! Well, me and Jonny then went back out to the barn and while we were sitting there petting the little fur-balls, suddenly I glanced over, and here Lady had ANOTHER KITTEN while we were sitting there.... right in front of our eyes.... and we didn't even see it! I've always thought it was interesting how when goats and sheep kid/lamb they always act like they're dying - pushing and groaning and maaing at the top of their lungs, while you can't even tell that cats are in labor.... no noise.... you can't even tell they're pushing! I couldn't believe it! We watched breathlessly! It wasn't moving and certainly didn't look very....... alive..... :/ Lady reached back and started licking it. I was scared, excited, and worried all at once.... then it moved......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "IT'S ALIVE!" I was ...... well, beyond happy!!! They are now a week and a day old and doing absolutely WONDERFUL! They are the healthiest, fattest, happiest little kittens I ever saw! And speaking of healthy, as a side note, these kittens are 100% organic. :) I never feed Lady any cat food. She gets goat milk, eggs, oatmeal, raw meat, as well as gophers, mice, and sparrows. And she is very healthy! Lady has never gotten sick or had any diseases! So anyways, there is two dark orange boys, one all-gray boy, one all-gray girl, one gray and brown striped girl, and one light orange girl!!!! :) SO CUTE!!!
If anyone wants to reserve one, better do it quick, 'cause they go really fast!!! My last batch of kittens.... actually all my batches of kittens, sell really fast! In fact, my friend Shiphrah already reserved the gray and brown striped girl .... and her brother might get one too. :)
Cute, cute, cute!!! :)

YAHOOO!!!!!!!! We've got KITTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By, Emily ;)

Lately I have been keeping a close eye on Lady, my cat, as she is pregnant and has been getting really big. This morning when I went out to milk, she didn't eat her breakfast of kefir, raw eggs, and oatmeal I brought her, as well as her fresh, warm goats milk. Instead she ignored me (normally she follows me around, wanting to be petted) and went under the feeder in one of the birthing pens. My mind must have been pretty groggy (I had just gotten up, and was really sleepy!) because I didn't think much of it. Later today, around noon, I went out to check on her not expecting anything, but I've been checking on her on a regular basis lately. I made my rounds through the barn... looked under all the feeders, on top of the haystack, etc., and couldn't find anything. At the last feeder, the one she had gone under earlier, I got down on my hands and knees and peeked under. This feeder is completely surrounded by hard packed bedding, except for a little cat sized hole going under it. I called Lady's name and meowed for her a couple times. No answer, and no movement. But for some strange reason, I thought I'd go get a flashlight and double check. So I did. Shining the flashlight underneath, I saw her, and SHE WAS LICKING SOMETHING ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I quickly started to paw away the bedding, but then decided I'd better change first, and zoomed up to the house on the four wheeler, getting on my overalls. Then I used the pitchfork and cleared away all the bedding from around it..... 1...2....3...4....5...6.... SIX KITTENS!!! I was overjoyed! Let's see here.... one gray kitten with a tiny orange spot on it's head, three light orange ones, one of them with a white ring around it's neck, two calicos!!!!! (Lady is tortie) I was THRILLED to pieces! Sadly though, the littlest one, which was orange, was really weak and was not nursing. He just didn't seem to have any energy and was really cold. I wrapped him up in a towl, fed him through a dropper, and had him next to the heater, but he did not make it. :( But I am still sooo grateful for the other five, who are doing GREAT! Lady is doing great too and sure loves all those little kitten! It's so cute to see her take her paws and tuck them all into her carefully, to lick them, and to lay there, all relaxed and purring. She just loves it! Kittens nursing really relaxes her! Sooooooo, I'll be looking for cute kitten names.... boy or girl, as I'm sure there is some of both (I haven't "checked" them yet) and of course, I'll also be looking for good homes for them all.... if any one would like to reserve one now, leave a comment. I'm sure they'll go fast! ......meow, meow, meow!
P.S. Mom told me to make this post short and not to do too much detail.... hmmm.... I'm not sure how well I did on that one! :/

Cute, Adorable, Friendly, WONDERFUL Kittens For Sale! by, Emily

As you all know, my cat had seven kittens. They are seven weeks today, and it's time to start finding them good homes. Five of the seven are still available, as one has been reserved, and I have sold one. Also, a lady is coming tomorrow to look at them and she's either getting Mocha or Cinnamon...so for now they are also not available...but I'll post a comment when she decides which one to get, so you know which ones are available. Also, when I wrote my post about the kittens being born, I said they were all boys. Well, a couple days ago, I just happened to be "re-checking" my kittens, and I realized Butternut is a girl. ...the only one! :) haha! Mocha is the littlest one of them all, and he looks fairly similar to Momma Kitty. I suppose if I had to say what color he is in one word, I'd say dark gray....but he also has quite a bit of tan and black and a little creamy white mixed in there too. ...but he's not spotted with those colors...he's more all gray, with some of those other colored hairs mixed in. SO, SO ADORABLE!!!!!! He is so, so, so cute! He is absolutely not, not, NOT a scaredy-cat at all. He's SUPER friendly, and comes running right up to me! He loves being held .....and is also really good with children. He loves to just sit on my lap, and loves being around people. Mocha tends to be a favorite with everyone who gets to meet him! Well, now we have Cinnamon and Spice, two dark orange kittens. They both have just a little white on their tummy, paws, and maybe a little-little on their faces...but not much. Spice is a little bigger than Cinnamon. He's an awfully playful little bugger....and he's so cute to watch! Of course he is also really friendly, and doesn't mind being held. He looks a lot to me like a miniature lion or something, he is ADORABLE! Cinnamon is much like Mocha. He just loves attention, and loves being held. Him and Mocha are normally the first kittens to get to me when I go out to the barn to milk in the morning. He is really, really cute, I love his beautiful dark orange color. I'm sure him and Spice will grow up to be big, beautiful tom cats. If your looking for a super cute, tame, friendly, and gentle kitten, Cinnamon will work great! Licorice is the kitten that was sold, so of course he's not available any more. :) Butternut is, as I said before, the only girl. She is light orange, which is actually very uncommon, as it is very rare for there to be female orange cats. Butternut is so cute, and she has the most white of any of the kittens. Her face has quite a bit of white on it, (not tons, though) as do her paws and tummy. Butternut has a very nice personality. She is rather mild, very gentle, and very sweet, but despite all that, she is playful. Butternut is a very pretty, dainty little kitten, and if you want a calm kitten, that is good with children, and that doesn't scratch, bite, hiss, or get wild, that would would be Butternut....great personality! Peanut and Butterscotch are also light orange, with little or none white markings. They are extremely playful, and when I pet them, the just purr, and purr, and PURR! They're really cute....really, REALLY cute!!!! They both have great....well....personalities, for lack of a better word! I'm selling them for $10.00 each, to good homes. If you would like to come see them, you are VERY welcome. Just call me (Emily) (320-275-0121), or post a comment. If you would like to get one, or have us reserve one for you, call me or post a comment! ...you won't regret it! :) (Note: all of our kittens are very healthy....the lady who bought Licorice was very surprised how healthy they are. Secondly, they are, or they will be, great mousers. I gave one of my other kittens to my friend once, and she told me that the kitten I gave her was their only kitten that would catch mice!) Meow!

Above we have Mocha, advertising for himself. :) This is Lady nursing Mocha (middle), Peanut, (right) and Butterscotch(left).

This is Lady nursing her kittens when they were just born. Doesn't she look relaxed?!?

This is Lady, the proud mother.

And here is Charlie, the Daddy of the kittens.

Kittens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by, Emily :)

I recently gave away my kitten, Blessing,to a friend of mine. Lady was pregnant again, and I was waiting anxiously for the kittens arrival. :) Well, 6 days after I gave away Blessing, me and Brandon were going out to milk the goats at 6:00am in the morning. I walked into the barn and began calling Lady. (The evening before she had looked suspicious to me, so I was curious how she was doing that morning.) She didn't answer. That either meant she wasn't there, or ....she had kittens. For some reason, she never answers me when she has just had her kittens...I don't know why. I knew she HAD to be there, though, because she ALWAYS is there for her early-morning snack of goats milk. So I began, first, to look under all the hay feeders. While looking under the LAST one, I saw SOMETHING moving. ....I couldn't tell what it was, but then I figured it out....it was Lady, and she was licking SOMETHING. I yanked open the door into the small sheep lambing pen, and dropped onto me knees, looking under........sure enough, one, two, three, four, FIVE kittens! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!! :) I yelled to Brandon and he replied "You're kidding!" Yep....there was five of them, all squealing and nursing. Some of them were dry, and some of them were quite wet. Well, four of them were orange.....FOUR! And ONE was black! ....very black, at that.....not one single hair of white on its body! Well, I "checked" them all, and they were all BOYS! Needless to say, we got done milking in record time that morning.....half the time of what it normally takes! (I went VERY fast!) Well, I stayed with Lady through the morning, 'cause I was SURE I could feel another kitten in her. Probably about half an hour later, she started pushing. Out came another kitten....and yes, it was ORANGE, and it was a BOY!!! :) I couldn't help but laugh. Then I had to go in, but I was SURE I felt ANOTHER kitten in her! So, I went to check on her.....I was thinking that there was nothing new, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a brand-new kitten! For those of you that don't know, I ended up naming Blessings brother Rascal. :) Sadly, he died....we think he was maybe killed by a chicken. :( (when he was a week old.) :( Well, this new kitten was TINY ....especially compared to it's brothers! And it is the EXACT image of Rascal! All the same markings! Dark gray and Black striped....and it's SOOOOOOOOOO adorable!!!!!!!! And you won't believe it, but it was a BOY! :0 :) Well, all seven of them are doing just peachy, and they're SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!
If anyone is interested in an adorable kitten, let me know and I'll reserve one for you ....and I'm also looking for suggestions for BOY kitten names!!!!! :)
MEOW! :)

Tuesday & Wednesday by, Emily

On Tuesday, while we were eating lunch, Jonny mentioned that Barbra had been oozing, and they had put her in a pen. I was very distressed, as today was piano lesson day, and I would have to miss out on a birth. Dad finallly agreed to let me stay home with Mom. Yipee! I checked on Barbra once, nothing, then the second time, me and Mom checked on her together. Hmmm.... seemed close, and was still oozing. So, we walked around the back of the barn to look at the other ewes. When we came back, I ran and looked in at Barbra. Goodness sakes! She was licking off a lamb!!!! (About a 2 or 3 minute birth!) Immediatley we wiped off it's nose. It was a girl. Barbra's TENTH girl! (She's had girls her whole life!) Soon after, she had a still-born and then another girl. I named the first one Blossom, and Dad named the tiny (5 pound) second one Brunehilda. :) ....very cute! And mama and babies are doing well.



Wednesday.......

After supper on Wednesday night, Mom and Brandon went out to milk. They had only been gone about 5 minutes when Mom suddenly shouted in the door, in a very panicked voice, "Mike! will you help me?!?! One's dropped three already!" to which Dad went racing out, and I went racing to get the kitchen cleaned! (Record kitchen cleaning time, I'm sure!) :) Sue Charlene Tindall had three BIG baby boys! Supper, Samson, and STEWart. Obviously, the boys named them. :/ They are all doing well, and as Dad said it, "Sue gets an A+!" :) Not too long after, and to our great surprise, Nancy had our last three lambs (making 17 altogether)! Nathanial, Nettie, and Nana joined the flock! Because Nancy lost half of her udder to mastitis last year, Nana was not getting enough to eat. I found her, all skin and bones, almost dead and ice-cold with hypothermia in the barn. After drenching her with molasses and milk, and after laying on a heating pad, with blankets piled on her and me blow-drying her with the hair dryer, Nana is kicking her heals, and I'm thoroughly enjoying bottling her! :)


More Tuesday......

Now comes the best of the best!!!!!!!!!! On Tuesday, while watching Barbra lick and nurse her two babies, I heard a small "meow!" (FYI, my cat, Lady, was pregnant, and I hadn't seen her in a day or so.) Immediately, I thought, "that was a KITTEN meow, not a big cat, or Lady, meow!" Frantically, I began searching the whole barn, to no avail. Bummed, I thought "it must have been my imagination." That's when I heard that kitten "meow!" again!!! This time I knew where it came from. Rushing into one of the small goat pens (there wasn't any goats in it at the time) I looked around-to see nothing. Then, I heard it again. Dropping down on my knees, I looked under the goats feeder, and sure enough, there was Lady curled up in a little nest ...with a kitten. I was so absolutely....well, happy, excited, dumbfounded, shocked...and everything else...at once, too!!!!!!!!! She had one kitten-so far- and it was light orange/tan. The next day, Lady had a still born. I was very sad, but still thankful for the one she had. Then, after the stillborn, she had an ADORABLE kitten. He's black/dark gray STRIPED. My friend, Shiphra, said "he looks like a zebra!". :) The first one is a girl and the last one is a boy. I named the girl Blessing, and the boy.......well, I'm still thinking about that one....any suggestions?

Anyways, they're SO cute!!!!!!!!!!! I just LOVE 'em! They are doing great, and will be a week old tomorrow. (If you're interested in one, comment or call us.) .....MEOW!