I was sleeping soundly this morning when I heard something that sounded like a cat growling and hissing. My first thought was "Oh, no, something's after the kittens." Our sweet little outdoor cat, Miss Kitty, had presented us with five kittens about six weeks ago. Since they are bigger now, they have gravitated from their safe little shelter on the side of the house to the back porch. As I was trying to force myself to wake up and get my b*tt out of bed, I heard "Yike, Yike, Yike." Apparently whatever was after the kittens was a stray (or wandering) dog. Miss Kitty is a small cat, but apparently she was determined enough to chase a dog away!
I finally got out of bed and went to the kitchen to turn the back light on and try to see if everyone was OK. La Niña had heard the commotion, also, so I called her to come outside with me. After all, a 108 lb. Great Pyrenees should be able to track down and chase off any intruding dogs...right?
I turned the light on, saw 5 kittens sleeping together in a circle on the deck, and the momma cat was coming back to the deck. I let Niña out and she sniffed around a bit, did her thing on the grass, and looked at me like, "What are we doing out here at 5:00 in the morning, Mom? So much for my big, bad watch dog.
I guess it's up to Momma Cat to protect the kittens unless I buy some kind of cage to put them in at night.
