This morning at 11, I went back to the river. I usually walk my dog at this time, but today I left her at home. Instead, I brought a kennel, food, and a clean blanket. The mother cat was not scared of the kennel and started meowing as soon as I arrived. She recognized the sound and smell of the food right away. She went inside and ate without any problems.
The situation with the kittens was different. Only two of them came out. I am worried about the third kitten. The two kittens did not follow their mother into the kennel like I expected; instead, they just sat nearby. Eventually, they went in one by one, and I made sure they had enough to eat, though it was less than half of what they ate the day before.
There was a tuna can lid on the bench near the cat hole. This makes me think someone might have fed the kittens before I arrived and possibly took the missing kitten while it was eating. The kittens prefer to eat directly from cans, and the third kitten had seemed healthy and active yesterday. It’s possible that something else could have happened, but I prefer to believe it was taken to safety.
I didn’t want to scare the mother or the other kitten by taking them one by one since they are already quite nervous. So, today didn’t go as planned. Tomorrow, I plan to arrive around 6 or 7 a.m. I know one of the women who feeds them comes at 10 a.m., and I want to bring them in when they are hungriest. I also met two other men who feed the cats, and they mentioned that the mother has been in the area for at least a year, while the kittens were first seen about a month ago.
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Reddit source: Reddit, shared by u//u/JonLongsonLongJonson