Spoke too Soon

Some of you may recall this cat that was hanging out on our balcony while our youngest son was here January/February.

I never put any food out at my husband's request but did just let it be since it mainly just slept in the chair.

I thought I had identified it as a he. but then HE turned out to be a SHE when she did this.

Kittens a few weeks old in a big empty elephant planter that we rescued from our neighbor who was throwing out so many ceramic pots and planters from his garden.

The thing is, mama cat had to scale several balcony ledges across 3 homes to get here and I have no idea why or how she found us in the first place. A few of weeks ago, when they started to mew a bit louder, I moved the planter around to the backside of the balcony while mama cat was off looking for food. Then we had a big rainstorm and when I checked afterwards, I thought she had taken the babies somewhere else because they were nowhere to be found.  I was relieved because that meant I didn't have to contact a rescue group since they are all so overwhelmed already.

My husband didn't have a clue about the little ones for the first month, but then on a walk Sunday morning he mentioned he thought he heard kittens on our balcony. So I fessed up and told him the whole story. I also told him he was probably hearing them from downstairs or something because they weren't on the balcony anymore.

Well, when we got back from our walk, I went out there to sweep and he came out to look around and I was explaining to him a bit more what happened when lo and behold if there weren't little eyes peering out at me from the bottom of a shelf behind a big planter. The babies were all there and at this point, it seems that they've been abandoned -- or something happened to mama -- because I have not seen here in at least a couple of weeks.

 They were so scared and in such a sad state that I started feeding them a few day ago.  Poor things still don't have full eyesight and are still suckling when they slurp up the food.  They also try to crowd the others out so they can have all the food to themselves.  I've since switched to a larger dish -- actually a drip tray for a potted plant that I found on a neighborhood walk. 

So, I will still have to contact a rescue group after all. :(

Sure hope someone can come get them.