Strange Kittens on Tad's FB

Many of you have seen Tad's latest photos on his Facebook Fan Page where he is taking care of some very, very young kittens.

If you don't follow Tad on Facebook, here are some of the pictures you've missed:

Chica has been a surrogate mother for too many orphaned kittens, puppies, birds, guinea pigs, rats, and other creatures for nearly 10 years. Tad is very interested in helping Chica by becoming a Surrogate Uncle.

He is...for the most part, gentle with the kittens, but he is only allowed a few minutes to socialize with them before he is put in a different room for the kittens and other animals in the house's safety. :/

'Tad has an external parasite! It's really, really clingy...like a tick!'

Now, I have waited to introduce these babies because....well, with kittens this young, they often do not make it without their mothers. They still may not make it, but so far...they're fat and healthy. We guesstimate that these babies (there are four) are a little over a week old now. We got them when they're umbilical cords were still attached. Today, we've noticed that their little eyes are just barely starting to open on two of the kittens and they have started purring. Which is ADORABLE!

So, how did they get here?

Dr. Holliday's son is a huge animal lover...of course, he was at someone's house and they found these babies under a tractor. The owner of that house was just going to...erm, do away with the kittens. Apparently, the neighbor to them has an uncontrolled cat population and the majority of them are sick, starving, and multiplying like cats do. Well, this was really upsetting for her son, so he called her and begged her to take the kittens away in fear of what might happen to them if she doesn't.

Well, Dr. Holliday isn't the one to care for the babies (meaning bottle feeding, stimulation, socialization)...that's where I come in. I've bottle fed orphan babies for nearly 10 years, with the aid of Chica, of course. So, she called me...we talked about a few things, and assumed if the situation was as bad as it sounds with the adult cats that these babies may not make it much longer, but we'd give it a go anyway. So, off we went to pick up the kittens...

There are 4. Two solid blacks, a black and white, and a gray kitten. It's fairly difficult to sex them at this age, but we 'think' there may be two boys and two girls.

Currently, they do not have names...because you guys know, when you name something...that bumps up the attachment ten fold! We can't guarantee the babies will make it, so we try to protect our hearts a little. They'll be named shortly...and of course, it'll be a theme and it'll have something to do with where they were found (under a brush hog tractor). But, for now...they get fed, cuddled (at times), and they sleep...tons.

So, that's the story of the strange creatures appearing in some of Tad's recent pictures...and you guys can bet on it that I'll keep you updated. ;)