My White Angora Rescue
by Elisa Black-Taylor
(USA)
Catherine
Today I'd like to tell the readers about my white Angora rescue.
Good morning readers. I'm now the proud mama to two six month old female Angora cats and their two kittens. Is this possible? When I do the math, that would have made the cats only four months old when they became pregnant. They are smaller than my Mandy, who is 8 months old now.
People, this is why I urge early spay/neuter on kittens.
I hadn't planned on this rescue at all. I was looking through the list of available cats on the euthanasia list at GCAC and saw the rescue had fallen through on the YaYa sisters and the urge to get them out just overwhelmed me.
I emailed Andrea at the shelter and heard back within 15 minutes with the go ahead to rescue. So off we went. (Laura HAD to go on this run with me)
These are the most beautiful cats imaginable. They're listed as an Angora mix, but the one I've named Catherine looks to be a purebred. I have no paperwork to back this up. Her sister Diana has slightly shorter hair and is playing nursemaid to both of the kittens, who remain unnamed.
I'd LOVE to know what is with so many of the cat owners out there. Catherine and Diana were turned in because they had kittens and the family didn't want to be "bothered" with a litter. Well, news flash-I'll bet the cats didn't want a litter at their age either!
I'm having a tough time following my own advice with these four. They're currently living in my master bath. Or should I say "cat nursery/playroom" because that's what I'm slowly turning it into. Furby is fascinated by them. He calls them "angels" because they're white. But I refuse to allow the two intact males to be in there alone. Jasper and Sammy will be neutered in a few weeks. I don't want to risk them harming the kittens because a male cat is the biggest danger to young kittens.
I do allow them to sniff the babies under close supervision.
Furby has been around so many kittens by now that he just shakes his head at me when I bring in another one. As long as he is allowed first choice on sleeping spots he's a happy cat.
My new arrivals are confused and content. They were in a cage for several weeks. I HATE cages! Almost as much as I hate people who throw away such beautiful animals. These cats are very sweet and not at all afraid. I ran the other cats out of the master bath so they can get a good night's sleep after their shelter experience.
Laura went "missing" last night before I left for work. I found her sitting in the middle of the round tub petting all four felines at once. She's definitely a chip off the old block. There's nothing better than being surrounded by grateful cats.
We have a bad case of feline conjunctivitis to treat on one of the kittens. Other than that they're all healthy. We're keeping watch to be sure the mama cat's don't try to harm this kitten. In my experience it's usually a younger kitten who will be killed by the mother if it's ill. Our babies are about 3 weeks old now. I'm fairly confident just from what I've seen that the sick one is in no danger from the mother.
Whichever cat IS the mother. We have no idea which kitten belongs to which cat!
By the way, the names came to me after my friend Debra emailed me and told me they look like "princesses." With the royal wedding only a few weeks behind us I decided Catherine and Diana would be the perfect names for such regal cats. The kittens are keeping quiet on what they'd like to be called.
So what do the readers at pictures-of-cats.org think of my new family? Could you have resisted rescuing them if you were me?
Elisa
