I've taken a VERY deep breath and I'm focusing on the 4 kittens. So, a meal time photo

[Siwsan]

BTW, these kittens are great grief counselors.

I brought all 4 kittens up on the couch with me, and instead of racing around, they all sat on my lap or crawled up my shirt, giving me kitten kisses and nibbles. Well, ok, the occasional wrestling match broke out, but they gave me the distraction I needed, and any guilt I felt about taking them from their mother has pretty much disappeared.

And now I'm reflecting on how I've seen Skittish sitting in my front yard, just staring across the street, for the past couple of nights. She would have walked past where I found Spooky Jr, so I'm just not quite sure what that's about but Spooky Sr. does the same thing, but in the neighbor's yard.
*****************
So, this is what meal time is like for Madoc and Squeaky. I put them in 'containers' to avoid having the mess spread, far and wide. Smokey and Sootie are FAR less messy.

[niyad]

1. Kittehs make excellent grief counselors. You are doing an amazing job with your

little extended family. Try to remember that as you grieve little Spooky Jr. Talk to him, ask him to talk to the others, reassure them, calm them, make things a little easier for all of you.

[Siwsan]

2. I'm wondering if his little spirit is what led me to look beneath that bush

I just can't explain why I did. I had no reason to. Just something told me to check.

[niyad]

4. Of course he did! He did not want you to worry anymore.

[Diamond_Dog]

3. Everything else aside what you've gone through recently,

That’s an awesome photo, Siwsan!

[Walleye]

5. So tough

[Dream Girl]

6. I thought you learned that Spooky Sr. was female and a mom herself. Did I imagine/dream

That? Sometimes I get confused….

[Siwsan]

7. That's my suspicion

There's another black feral, but the more I reflect, I've never seen that cat hanging around my yard. The confusing part is, Spooky Sr only ever showed up for food and sheltered somewhere across the street.

[Dream Girl]

8. What was it that made made you think s/he was female?

[Siwsan]

9. I thought it was Spooky Jr.'s dad because of the amazing resemblance

I could never get close enough to confirm a gender but they both had the same long, brown/rust fur, same golden eyes.

[Dream Girl]

10. Maybe spooky Sr. And Jr.'s mom are sisters?

[Siwsan]

11. Who knows - cats are so mysterious

None of Skittish's kittens resemble her, but then I don't know how many she actually had. There were 4, when I first noticed them. Mittens and the late Tuxie - both tuxedo cats, but Mittens is gray/white and Tuxie was black/white.

It's hard to miss that Smokey and Sootie look VERY much like Skittish's kitten, Scooter - fluffy, gray furballs.

[AverageOldGuy]

12. You are . . .

. . . A GOOD PERSON.

[Chicagogrl1]

13. Kitties

ROCK!!!

[samnsara]

14. this is how we got our first security cam. A friend had a stray cat that would visit her and

..another neighbor. So the 2 of them made a cat box and installed a small web cam in a corner of it and had the cam available to a few friends and family to view. We got to watch the cat and a few mice. We got so hooked we got cams for all around our house so now we watch the dogs.

[dawn5651]

15. the babies are adorable

[Jilly_in_VA]

16. Have you considered

trying to trap the adults and get them altered? Then you could let them back out in the neighborhood and they could live longer and not overpopulate the area. Your local humane society might lend or rent you the traps.

[Siwsan]

18. That's exactly the plan

I want to trap the mamas, the big Tom and the two remaining kittens. They certainly look like they are old enough to be neutered. And then they are MORE than welcome to continue living and eating here. Even if they won't let me pet them, I love to watch them and talk to them. I swear Mittens and Scooter know their names.

[Jilly_in_VA]

21. Our shelter

neuters kittens at 10-12 weeks. I was surprised. You will have your own little colony if you can do a TNR on them and keep feeding them, and it won't increase.

There is a big black cat hanging around our property and my girls are having none of it. Apparently there was a very noisy disagreement the other evening which my husband described as a "hey, you, get off my cloud!" sort of thing. He knows our girls' voices and one of them was not theirs so I guess it was the interloper. I'm contemplating trapping him and just bringing him in. I did that with another cat last fall who had ideas of a takeover. Ha!

I must have missed it, but what happened to Spooky Jr.? My condolences. We do get attached, even to the ferals.

[Siwsan]

22. I just don't know what actually happened

When I found Spooky Jr one of his legs was trapped under an exposed root. Now, I don't know if he couldn't get lose, or if that happened during the process of him passing.

He had suddenly been letting me very close - a few times I got right up to him but Skittish, Mittens and Scooter were there and I didn't want to traumatize them by grabbing him. Well, a friend who does a lot of rescues said Spooky might have actually been sick and that's why he didn't run, that one time, BUT when I saw him about a day later, he did run. So, who knows. It's just so heartbreaking. That little sweat heart brought me a lot of smiles, anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30, every morning.

[MustLoveBeagles]

17. They're so adorable

Baby animals are great therapy.

[Siwsan]

20. They are. And I get in LOTS of exercise, chasing after them.

I guess they think they comforted me enough and now it's time to go back to challenging my speed and depth perception.

[IcyPeas]

19. it's fun to walk in your food, then your siblings can lick it off, which leads to more wrestling.

[CaptainTruth]

23. Focus on the kittens! Focus on what you CAN do to make the world better.

Sending hugs!

[lunatica]

24. It looks either like food fight or an orgy

What a mess!