Gatti e Gattini

It did not take more than 24 hours for "our" cats (gatti) to show up and ask to be fed. Our usual black and white female (Squeak) and black male obviously knew that the back shutter door being open meant the food people were back.


Much to our surprise, Squeak has a trio of kittens (gattini). We know she has been pregnant in the past but our neighbors say she is not a good mother and the kittens don't survive very long. The first one we saw was Mini Squeak. The spitting image of the mother Mini is the boldest, always right on the heels of Mom.



Here are Squeak and Mini Squeak waiting to be fed.



There is another black and white kitten--this one mostly white with a bad eye. All three were eating but the two shy kittens did not stay long enough for me to get a picture of the whole family.



Here is a picture of the little gray kitten. It has a very worried expression and some orange mottling in its fur. If you enlarge this photo (by clicking on it) you might be able to just make out the white and black kitten right under the cobweb. Apparently, they are getting in out of the rain under our bread oven.

We really enjoy our interaction with the local cats. It will be interesting to see how "tame" the kittens become over the next few weeks. After several years Squeak still barely lets us pet her. I have already managed a few strokes on Mini Squeak's back. The other two have not stayed within reach yet.