Watching barn cats look after kittens taught me a few things about "small cat nutrition". The mother tirelessly hunts to feed her family. She brings them
protein
in the form of birds, mice, gophers and pocket gophers.
I really don't like rodents and I'm not good at catching them, so I fed him the next best thing:
hamburger!
On a cattle ranch, ground beef is readily available.
Three or four times a day, Little Scruffy gobbled up a small hamburger covered in milk. Autumn also loved the hamburger mixture, and had finally given up on trying to eat the little guy. In her eyes, he was no longer a mouse.
Some days, work was too much for
Little Scruffy Peanut.
As much as he loved running through the grass, it did wear him out. He was learning to carry himself on underdeveloped legs and feet. His bone structure wasn't up to par and people would say: "Oh that poor little kitten! Look at his spindly little legs".
I would say: "Don't worry. Once he starts eating meat, his bones will grow".
And that's exactly what happened.
By June 14th, Little Scruffy got tired of travelling in the cat carrier. Giving in to a crying baby seems to be part of our nature, so on the way to work, he was allowed to roam free. When I opened the cage, the little guy scrambled up my arm and perched where he could see the road.
Every once in awhile, I'd pat him on the head and say;
"You're such a little peanut!"
More and more, I called him Peanut until the name stuck, but it wasn't fair to change from Little Scruffy to Peanut. Jane had named him first.
Hence, we compromised, and he became known as
Little Scruffy Peanut
By May 27, Little Scruffy's eyes were completely open. Every day, he was packed up and taken along. He helped feed, mow lawns, clean barns, and any number of other things happening on any given day, but he wasn't always called
Little Scruffy Peanut.
A 3 year old called Jane happened to see the cage sitting by a fence in town while I worked in the yard. She played with him for a few minutes and decided to call him Little Scruffy. His last name came later.
It only took a few minutes to realize that Autumn didn't jump in the box to snuggle!
Little Scruffy moved toward the warm body that he thought might be his long, lost mother.
He got a rude awakening!
Autumn grabbed with her front feet, thumped him with her back feet and proceeded to try to open her mouth wide enough to crush his head!
My gosh!! Get that cat out of there!
Flashback!!
to before the arrival of Little Scruffy Peanut
Peyton thought a new kitten might ease the sadness she felt with the disappearance of Big Kitty. Some farm friends, the Broomfields, mentioned a litter of Manx cross babies, so we went to have a look. There in the shop, guarding the cage was the most vicious looking Basset Hound ever seen! At least she was looking as vicious as a Basset Hound can. Inside the cage were 6 kittens with tails of varying lengths. Peyton fell in love with the black calico that, at the time, had a tail about a half inch long. She picked her up, and immediately gave her a name:
She called her Autumn.......
When Little Scruffy Peanut wasn't in his pretty new blue cat carrier, he lived in this little box. The milk mixture started to work it's magic, and he began to grow. His coat took on a healthy shine and it was easy to see, he looked forward to mealtime. There was only one problem, and that was
Autumn
the Manx we picked up 5 days prior to finding
Little Scruffy Peanut
Autumn was only 7 weeks, but had a hunting instinct, the likes of which we'd never seen before. To our utter dismay,
Autumn thought this kitten was a mouse!!
Nobody said it would be easy. Nothing, and I mean
NOTHING!!
can replace a cat mother's milk. Dropping life into this kitten, one drip at a time was tedious work. As you can see, we improvised and came up with a mixture of Cat Milk and cream with a bit of 2% milk, a cattle syringe for administration and a warm washcloth to wipe away the pain!
He didn't ever learn to suck. He lost the instinct when he lost his mother. An inherent will to live kept this little guy going. What kept me going through this ordeal?
......a little voice that kept saying, "Don't give up!"
Thanks for hanging in there and waiting for another episode from Barn Cat Mansion. I lost my creativity when Big Kitty didn't return, but it's time to move on. I talked about a new kitty and we'll track his progress from the day I found him, and gradually catch up on his life.
They said it couldn't be done. They said, you can't save a kitten abandoned by its mother at 2 days of age! I said,
"I can't leave him there to die!"
So began the saga of a tiny kitten, lifeless and cold, that I found in the shop at Fox Farm on May 15th, 2014. He was born on the 13th and abandoned on the 14th. I saw that he was alone, but hoped his mother would come back. On the morning of the 15th, he seemed to be dead. I placed a hot water bottle in a blanket with him and waited for a miracle. Within an hour, his little paws began to move, and he thought about eating. That night, I left him in the care of Dr T. She fed him throughout the night. My first question the following morning was, "Did he die?" She said, "No! he's doing ok!" And so began the life of Little Scruffy Peanut.
Little Orangey Blue Eyes is our 2014
Halloween Mascot.
Some folks carve pumpkins to resemble cats, but we have a cat that resembles a pumpkin, at least in the color department!:)
He posed in front of the fading autumn hues of the cotoniaster bush, and we couldn't help but realize the part he is beginning to play in the ongoing saga known as
Cattales from Barn Cat Mansion
Flashback to Halloween 2012!!
We'll always remember how
Big Kitty
could organize a photo shoot of the whole family.
We miss his calm manner, friendly eyes and big fluffy cheeks.
A second addition to the Barn Cat Mansion family is Autumn. Actually, she arrived shortly before Little Scruffy Peanut, but that story will have to start from the beginning.
Autumn B.B. Broomfield
is a descendant of a long line of Manx farm cats raised on the Broomfield Farm, way down in the flat lands. You can see by her intense stare, that she's a hunter, but that too, is a story for another day.
Yes, it's been awhile. and there's a lot of water under the bridge since we last visited our blog. It's been difficult to tell a story because the main character, who inspired the whole Barn Cat Mansion story. is no longer with us.
Big Kitty,
AKA Bumble Bee Lion King Orangey Butt.
left to make his yearly rounds last spring and didn't come back. Bad weather, heavy snow and bitter wind must have impeded his journey, and we're afraid he perished in the snow. We can't replace the Big Kitty, but life goes on. The next chapter of Barn Cat Mansion will tell the story of Little Scruffy Peanut. That's him sitting on the stump.
Timbit tells us what happened:
"So like I called OT out on her vile behavior and she was like, don't tell me I'm the Queen and I was like, you're ruining our day and we like, won't get any Temptations if we, like don't find ALL of the eggs and like, give them to Barn Cat Master and she was like, I forgot about the the reward, so I'll like, behave and like apologize because I was like, so wrong to take the pink egg and the yellow chicken. So like, Barn Cat Master, it's like all straightened out and you can like, bring the other five bags of like, Temptations and like, put them in the feed pail in the Mansion."
Fur flew and everyone ran off......except
Timbit!!
She's not one to back down, even when the Queen is pitching a Queenish fit.
OT's outburst is ruining Easter morning. The rules are clear: hunt the eggs down and bring them to Barn Cat Master.
The reward??? Temptations for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Timbit looked OT squarely in the eye and said,
"Come here! I want to talk to you!"
Sunday morning is meant for sleeping in. Everyone knows that. OT was kicked out of her sleeping tub waaaay too early.
Or she woke up on the wrong side of the tub!!
Whatever the problem is, she's mad!!
Whiskers found the pink egg and OT took it, along with the yellow chicken, and claimed them for her own.
Whiskers doesn't really care, and finds her behavior unladylike and certainly un-Queenish!
Everyone stay away from OT and let her have the pink egg.
Easter morning started like any other. Everyone was hunting.
Oh wait!! It's not like any other morning because Mansion cats never hunt in the morning.
Except for THIS morning!!
Yup!!
They're hunting!!:)
Tipster may be the "odd man out", but he loves life at BCM.
He's just plain L-A-Z-Y!!
As you know, a few years back, he met with the sharp knife of Dr. T and is the only "fixed" cat in the Royal Family. In traditional royal circles, he's known as a eunuch! Around here, he's
Tipster, Friend to All, Enemy to None!
Flag was at the meeting, but left abruptly when her name came up in the conversation.
She knew what was coming!
Over the winter, we lost Homer "Chelsea" Simpson. She had a chronic cold and the vet suggested we let her go since she perpetually infected the other cats. Sadly, she passed away peacefully in January. Anyway!! Someone must replace H"C"S as Attendant to Every Wish and Command of OT!!
LOBE's nose is somewhat out of joint. He was overlooked for the position of Prince, but really, that's only natural. Pinkerton is better qualified and at least one year older.
LOBE is now in charge of Cat Food.
When the pail runs low, he's required to set an empty bag on the Mansion floor, sit squarely in the middle of it, and meow loudly until someone understands the dilemma.
