We were only going to take a male kitten. We took a male and female.
Our friend, Alex, had bought a farm out near Plantagenet that came with a few cats, all female and all pregnant, presumably by a black male who occasionally showed his face on the property. One of the cats, who he aptly named Mama, seemed to be the oldest of the farm cats and was perhaps the mother to the other two, who he named Shadows and Tabatha.
Throughout the summer of 2020, these cats had several litters. Alex was very good about finding a comfortable and safe area for the cats to deliver and look after their babies, but when they became old enough, he would take them to an animal shelter to receive proper care and find good homes. As the mother cats recovered from childbirth, he would take them to the vets, to be spayed.
Mama's final litter was delivered a year ago, today. Four babies who looked nothing like one another. Two boys; two girls. Mama took great care with them, and as Alex became more attached to the adult cats, he wanted to ensure that the last litter went to good homes.
We already had two cats, so adopting all four kittens was out of the question. Our youngest daughter immediately fell in love with the ginger cat and there was a tabby that made all of us swoon, but as the kittens grew and began developing their own personalities, the calico girl was beginning to grab our attention.
We first visited the kittens at Alex's farm when the kittens were a week old. A year later, Finn and Cece have bonded with our other cats and it's hard to imagine what it was like in our household before they arrived, at nine weeks old.
At a year old, they aren't as big as other cats we've had. Leo and Edwin were good-sized cats. Camille is the largest of our current cats, with Lily and Finn being about the same size. Cece hasn't seemed to have changed in size in at least four months, and resembles her Mama, who is also a fairly petite cat.
Happy Birthday, kitties! You've brought a lot of joy into our home.
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