This morning Scott and I woke up and he immediately said, "Did you hear that cat outside last night?"
Of course, I had. It was LOUD. But it was also not the first time a feral cat at loudly wandered through during the night, so we didn't think much more about it. Scott and Nolan took off for school and work, and then Carson and I were out the door for an appointment just a couple hours later.
When we returned home about 1pm, the meowing was back and Carson went to investigate. In hindsight, perhaps I should have gone with him because then I could have mediated a bit before he came running back to the house yelling that there was a tiny kitten stuck in the blackberries next to the barn.
Down on my knees I worked to free the kitty while she bit down hard enough on my finger to draw blood (your welcome), and finally got her free. We knew she had been out there at least 12 hours (based on when Scott and I had heard her during the night) so we warmed up some milk with a little tuna and watched her scarf that down fast. While Carson met with his tutor I called the vet to see what I could learn:
*The kitten appears to be about four weeks (we thought it was closer to 3 weeks until she started getting some strength back from the food)
*The chances of a feral mamma coming back for her was extremely slim
*She still needs formula for about four more weeks, so she's not going to survive on her own
*We're going to end up raising this cat
