PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS: THE STORY OF THE CAT COLONY

If you know us, you know that we don’t do barn/farm cats around here anymore.

The road we live on is a little too dangerous, and I’m always worried about outdoor cats getting hit by cars, which we’ve had happen to us in the past.

So, what’s the deal, and how did we end up with a small cat colony living with us?

Well, we’ve never had this happen in the 21 plus years we’ve lived here, but I found a stray female cat in the pony barn, and she had a BIG belly.

Yep, we got ourselves an unexpected litter of barn kittens.

This my friend is why it is SO important to spay and neuter your pets!

Even farm cats, ESPECIALLY THE FARM CATS!

Do you know that one cat can have up to three litters per year, averaging four kittens per litter, and that's a lot of kittens needing homes.

Sure, it's fun having kittens but honestly, they are not that easy to rehome, and if you're not spaying or neutering your pets it's not fair to the shelters/veterinarians that have to euthanize them for over population.

When we found the stray female in our barn the local animal shelter already had 120 kittens in their care and up for adoption, with more pregnant mamas in foster.

Now, I do have to admit, after watching all of the kittens be born out in a barn, we did get attached.

We had a couple good homes lined up, but they fell through, and we all had a favorite kitten, so, with those 120 kittens that were already looking for homes at the shelter, we decided to keep the entire litter that was born in our barn, and since we don't do outdoor cats, they all moved inside.

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HERE'S THE OUR FULL CAT COLONY STORY STARTING WITH MAY-MAY

May-May, AKA Mama May-May, is what we decided to name the stray female that showed up in our barn back in May of 2023.

FINDING A STRAY CAT IN THE BARN

So, what do you do when you catch a stray cat in the hay bin?

If you’re like me, your first instinct is to feed it, which I did.

Next, you try to see if you can pet it, which I did, and it turns out this cat doesn’t mind being petted.

Then you notice it, the BIG BELLY and this cat is female with babies on board.

After I had fed her for the first time, she climbed back up in the hay bin and climbed down a hole about eight hay bales deep.

She had created a little spot for herself, but it was deep down in the hay, and since we don’t do barn cats, I needed to reach these kittens, so I built her a new birthing spot.

At first, I wasn't sure she would accept the spot I made her, but I could tell she appreciated it as she crawled in and starred making biscuits with happiness.

A SPECIAL DELIVERY DAY, THIS WAS SO EXCITING!

We had been watching May-Mays backside to see if I saw any mucus to indicate labor, and eventually, my husband came to say, “I see something.”

Sure enough, she was finally in labor, this was three and a half days after her I found her in the pony barn,

She started at 6 p.m. and finished with her last baby a little after 10 p.m.

At the start of her labor, she seemed a little stressed, so I stopped videoing her before she could push out baby number one, but I went to check on her every 20 minutes or so.

In total, she had five deliciously adorable babies!

ONE WEEK AFTER BIRTH

For their first week of life, I left the kittens alone without any touching because I didn't want May-May to feel unsafe and move them, but after one week, I moved everyone indoors to the laundry room.

I wanted them to be able to be indoor/pet cats, so I knew it would be better to handle them and have them use a cat litter box.

Once indoors, May-May had to be wormed, and she had to learn to use a cat box herself.

KITTEN GENETIC MUTATIONS

When the kittens were born, I noticed right away that they genetic mutations.

Three of the kittens have no tail.

One kitten has a stub tail and is polydactyl, and the only kitten born with a tail, is also polydactyl, meaning extra thumb or toes.

Tailless cats can live happy and healthy lives but also can have some health issues.

They sometimes also suffer from balance issues and in my opinion, do best as indoor cats.

As for these kittens, they are perfectly healthy and have had no health concerns.

IT'S BITTERSWEET

As fun as it is, having all the cat additions to our family, it's also bittersweet, knowing this could have been prevented if May-May and the male cat she encountered would have been spayed and neutered.

Along with all the other cats/kittens filling the local shelter.

Thankfully, I was able to get all of the kittens and Mama May-May spayed and neutered through a spay and neuter only clinic called PURPLE CAT MOBILE VET CLINIC in Wisconsin.

It was a drive for us, but since the clinic only does cat spay and neuters the surgeries are very affordable.

If you're looking for an affordable neuter or spay option in your state for your cats, search for farm cat spay and neuter clinics, sometimes your farm animal vets offer these surgeries at affordable prices too, and they are just as sterile, so you don't have to worry.

Since May-May was unfixed female and the five kittens were male I had everyone fixed when the kittens hit 14 weeks old, because technically, a male cat can start breeding as young as five months old, and I wanted to make sure we'd have no issues.

OUR SEVEN CAT COLONY

So, with Mama May-May, her five kittens and our indoor cat Macho Man, we are a wild and crazy seven indoor cat home.

It took a bit of adjusting for Macho Man to get used to all the new feline companions.

It also took a bit for us humans.

I built a cat playroom so we can keep everyone under control for us to eat meals, and what not.

They also have an outdoor catio that is open 24/7 for fresh air.

Cat box chores are done daily, and meals are on schedule three times per day.

The kittens were named Huey, Dewey, Dell, Teddy, and Panda.

You can see what the cats look like these days and read a bit about their personalities in my MEET MY ANIMALS post, or head over to Instagram where each of them has their own highlight @farmdustandpaint.

Let's spay and neuter, OK!

And if you have a new kitty in your life, Amazon is a great spot to shop all the must have TOYS!

I linked the favorite kitty toy in my house here.

XOXO

Emily