Panic Time!

Every time I go down to the kittens, I have the small worry that something horrible will have happened. That they have all mysteriously died, or my own cat will have gotten in there and is waging war against Gypsy in a fight-to-the-death scenario.

…Or they’ll have all simply vanished.

So imagine my shock—my panic!—yesterday morning when I went down to the cat room and they were all gone. They were not in the little round hutch-thing, they were not in the kennel, and they were not under the newspaper. I checked.

So here I am, in the kitten room with no kittens, no momma cat even, and did I mention? I can’t hear them, either. Which is unusual in and of itself. Usually the kittens are crying loudly and a little obnoxiously, or Gypsy is meowing because I haven’t given her enough cans of food to last the night or she just wants attention. But no. Yesterday, I heard nothing.

I start calling them, in the ridiculously high-pitched voice I reserve for babies and animals. “Kittens!” I call, only really I say it more like “ki’ens!” completely dropping both “t”s and successfully making myself sound ridiculously silly and baby-talkish. Not that I really mind, honestly, I like sounding silly when it comes to babies and animals. “Ki’ens”, I call again, then “Gypsy, bay-beee, where are yooou?” Finally, thank goodness, I heard one of the kittens crying. It took me a minute to figure out where it was coming from, but if one kitten starts crying, they ALL start crying, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t hear it once they started. I eventually found them all in the bottom cupboard of an unused bookshelf, tucked away in the dark. Absolutely relieved, I proceeded to scold Gypsy for hiding her kittens—and herself—and giving me a heart attack. Gypsy was entirely unmoved and informed me she wanted more food.

I figured out that she kept moving her kittens was because the kennel where she sometimes kept them wasn’t dark enough, the round bed which sits out in the open obviously wasn’t dark enough, and the round hutch was too small for all of them to fit, so she had to find her own dark place big enough for her and the kittens. Fortunately, this was solved easily enough by draping a large towel over the top and sides of the kennel so the only way light go in was through the front. I transported all the kittens and Gypsy to the newly-darkened kennel, where Gypsy proceeded to sniff around and proclaim it acceptable by curling up with her kittens in the very back and ignoring me. Crisis averted.

So, that was yesterday. Today, there were no surprises when I came downstairs, other than noticing that Gypsy had piled all the litter in her litter box at the very back of it. That, however, it is not heart-attack-inducing, so it was okay.

I do have a special treat for you guys! Ever wonder why my blog is called “A Cornucopia of Kittens”? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s because I wanted an alliteration, and I so wanted to be able to take the following picture:

Now tell me that isn’t the cutest thing you have ever seen. Go ahead, tell me! …But then I want you to prove it by providing the cutest thing you have ever seen, as well as at least three documented sources proving it is the cutest thing you have ever seen.

I decided that, rather than post their daily pictures, I will simply post their weekly pictures ever Friday. Honestly, they don’t change much day-to-day.

Phoenix, the calico

Lorelei, the muted tortie

Griffin, the tan one

Dragon, the mini-Gypsy