Pregnant mama cat

Did I mention that the mama cat is expecting? My guess is that it will be sometime in the next couple of weeks. Knowing nothing about what to do for an outdoor cat - or an indoor one for that matter, I searched "pregnant cat" on the Internet and came up with some simple ideas.

Let me interject here that none of the cats is tame enough for me to pick up and put in a container to take to a rescue facility. They're tamer than a couple of months ago, but that's all.

Although I'm sure the cat can have her kittens anywhere, I kind of want to keep her close to home. We have a patio, but the roof leaks so it's not dry when it rains. I made a makeshift sort of "cubbyhole" where she can curl up, stay dry, and keep the kittens in one place.

I took a box, covered the bottom with a huge plastic bag flattened down. Then I covered it with newspaper. Some of the present kittens have enjoyed curling up under some hurricane shutters that are leaning against the wall. I simply placed them so that they now cover the cat box.

Then, after finding a big gray tarp, I basically wrapped it around the box. This gives a layer of protection between the box and the concrete so that if it rains, the box will (hopefully) stay dry. It also covers the top of the box, which doesn't have a lid.

Perhaps this will be all for nothing. The box may get soaked anyway or the cat may not use it. I put it together Thursday and so far as I can tell, no one has given it a sniff of investigation.

So, we'll see.

Let me also add that if hubby were here, he would have helped make everything more secure. I just did the best I could consider a few limitations on my part.