it's happened again.....

For the second time, the other being several years back,  two mother cats have deposited their kittens in the same nest box that sits on my front porch swing.  One set of 4 kittens is about 2 weeks old and I have tamed that mother cat with bribes of Grilled Chicken Tenderloin from Cracker Barrel.  She loves me now and I can even pick her up, so I have named her Aubrey.

The second mother cat is totally wild, and I found her in the nest box this morning.  As I peered in to say Good Morning to the kittens,  I was abruptly surprised by a growling cat inside.  Of course this caused me to jump back, because I wasn't expecting to be startled by a mad, mother wildcat.  Aubrey always purr's if she is in there and she seems glad to see me.  I have kept her nest box safe from predators that might want to harm her precious babies, and I think she knows this.  But, this new black wildcat was not glad to see me, and I don't know where she came from.

Of course being the curious person that I am, I had to take another look.  I waited for about an hour and approached the box slowly and deliberately this time and the wildcat was asleep, or worn out.  I could barely see some tiny new babies way in the back tucked against her, but I couldn't be sure.  The older babies were at the opening of the box all huddled together wondering where their mama was.  I don't think they like this new, mean, growling wildcat mama :(  

Aubrey was pacing on the porch and was even doing something she had never done before.  She was peering in through the front window as if to get my attention.  She got it and I went outside and lifted her near what used to be her nest box.  She saw her babies but she didn't want to enter.  

All that is left for me to do is to wait and let the mother cats handle this mess themselves.  Years before when this happened it involved 3 mother cats who were very close and were always found in the nest box at the same time, making me wonder how they all fit and how the kittens all survived without being crushed.  It will work out this time too, but I will worry until I see Aubrey back in her box and reunited with her little family.