My Latest Rescue: Trixie and Her Kittens...

Okay....so no one in their right mind needs seven cats, and no one even remotely sane has seven cats and then rescues six more UNLESS...

A pregnant kittie shows up in your yard from out of the woods every day (and eats the dog food you put out for the Raccoon Rehab group you had the summer before...who still happen to "come home" to eat every night) and then subsequently gives birth to a pile of kittens under your grandson's wading pool that is flipped over and stored not far from my grandson's outside play equipment. 

After finding said kittens in this spot I made up an outside area all cozy and nice for the kittens (in a SAFER spot in the yard)... which mommie-kitty (that I have since named Trixie) promptly hated. She moved the kittens...but not before leaving three of the them to nearly freeze to death in the night. I took those three and with the handy-dandy blow-dryer and some kitten formula brought them back to life and over the next several days waited in the yard with the kittens until Trixie came up to take them back (it took two days but she got all three). The next day I discovered where she was hiding all five of them, yet again (down in the woods under a decaying tree) ...but this time I was smart enough to leave them alone....and simply feed Trixie several times a day (and try to get her to "like" me).

After several days of this and temps that were going to drop down to the 30's.... I decided to make my move. I have since captured Trixie... and her five kittens.  They are now ...SAFE, warm, well-fed and living in my basement walk-in closet (away from the other animals and people activity).... and I can sleep at night knowing the kittens aren't freezing to death or getting rained on.... they are now just getting very FAT! :-) Trixie, once very skinny... is now getting fat as well and has decided she's pretty dang happy too (little does she know once these kittens are weaned she has a trip to the vet in her future to prevent any further off spring)... I'm thinking Trixie is really liking being a "house" cat too... and while she might not look thrilled here (I think the flash of my camera surprised her)... she is actually very friendly and is loving the easy life (although she does make me bring her food dish to her when she's nursing the kittens. Bless her heart :-).