Susies' first kittens
By Sprng 1956, Susie duly gave birth to three kittens. At
first, she showed all the usual care and affection for them,
proudly showing them off to us in her bed. She mothered them
well and fed them properly so that they grew fast and soon
had their eyes open. We were all, especially Richard,
fascinated to see them develop, feed and sleep, and then
start to become aware of the world outside their basket.
Within a few weeks they were staggering around and at that
point, Susie decided that she should catch up on the latest
happenings in the world outside and that Richard was quite
capable of keeping an eye on them while she attended to more
important things.
She decided that the three kittens were
not getting enough out of life and that the garden would be
the place to further their education. So, the moving started.
One at a time they were carried by the scruff of their necks
out of the living room, through the kitchen, round the back
yard and dumped on the nearest part of the garden path.
This got Richard very worried and he overcame his fear of the
great outdoors sufficiently to follow her out and then carry
the kittens back in to safety! This of course, did not suit
madam and as fast as he carried them back in, so she carried
them back out. The trips got shorter and shorter as she
became more impatient and they ended up scattered between the
kitchen door and the garden itself. Eventually Richard gave
up trying to get the kittens back into the safety of the
house and we were treated to the amazing spectacle of Richard
sitting out in the garden, having got all three kittens
gathered together on to a safe and sunny part of the garden
path.
From then on, Susie and Richard never looked back. She knew
that she could go off on her jaunts with her family in good
paws and he knew that the garden was, after all, quite a nice
place to be.
These kittens were all found homes and we got news of them
from time to time. Their later siblings (four) were also fine
and healthy and we found homes for them all.
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