New Kittens

Hubby has a kitten fascination. Being that we have plenty of room, he sees nothing wrong with adding kittens to the family. And since we need cats for rodent control, I have little objection considering that most of our current cats are getting elderly. Sooooooo.........we have several new ones. 

(The first 4 are too feral for me to get photos of yet.)

1- Ro-meow : a black male, 6 months old. One of a group of kittens that had to relocated from their birth location. They desperately needed a place to call home. 

2- Chrome : blue cream tortoiseshell female, sister to Ro-Meow. 

3- Shadow : grey male, brother to Ro-Meow and Chrome. 

4- Jewel : black & orange tortoiseshell female perhaps 7-8 months old. Just showed up here one day. 

5- Marco : 10 week old brown tabby & white boy from a litter born in Pahala, I had taken in 3 kittens that needed homes and successfully found one a home before hubby started naming the others. Whoa, red flag!!!! Once something gets a name, it never leaves here. 

Marco

6- Benji : black & white male, Marco's brother. 

Benji and Bosco

7- Bosco : dark Siamese marked male, 6 weeks old. 

8- Pepper : light Siamese marked (mackerel tabby) male, brother to Bosco.

Pepper 

9- Nami : light Siamese marked (marble tabby) male, brother to Bosco. (pronounced nah'-me)

Nami

The Siamese marked kittens are part of a litter born on my farm, from a feral mother cat. (Mother is now spayed and released back to her territory.) I found a home for one of the litter before hubby announced that he wanted to keep the kittens together....that translates into keeping them here. They spend their days playing with Marco and Benji. 

9 kittens!!!!! You talk about a population explosion! But they will all be neutered, thus be the end of their lineage. I'm hoping that some of them will become topnotch ratters. Right now the feral ones are living outdoors right by the house. The tame ones are living inside for now until they get a bit older. Yes, I'm going through a lot of kitty litter, not to mention cat food. 

Are we crazy to take in 9 kittens? Most likely. But with a farm that has a constant rodent problem due to living next to an old macnut farm, these kittens will become valuable assets. I don't use rodent poison on the farm (dead rodents around could poison the endangered Hawaiian hawk plus other innocent creatures), nor snap traps which could injure the dogs, cats, and chickens. The old trashcan full of water trick doesn't seem to fool these rats. So cats are the best option.