Mama Kitty and Stubs

When Janice first moved here, there was a sweet black and white cat she nicknamed Mama Kitty, for good reason. Mama kept them well supplied with little black and white mouse catchers.  


The cats lived in barns and out buildings and except for coming to the house for food or water, they kept to themselves.

When Mama Kitty was nursing her kittens, she kept her distance from Jan, but when she wasn’t caring for little ones, she was friendly enough to accept some petting.  

Papa Kitty was a black cat with stubby, flat ears named Stubs. Mama Kitty and Stubs had an interesting, and rather unusual relationship for a pair of barn cats. Stubs would disappear when the kittens had grown big enough to fend for themselves, but when Mama Kitty was caring for babies, he was always around and helped her take care of them. Although Stubs accepted Jan and the family, he was never friendly enough to come up to them. And the youngun’s followed suit. They would scatter when people came near.

Oftentimes a cat would hide under a vehicle in the yard, but most were wary enough of humans, and when someone walked toward the car, there would be a flash of black and white shooting away into the bushes. Sometimes, though, they would perch on the undercarriage out of the wind, perhaps to get closer to engine heat. And that would lead to new adventures for an unsuspecting, but very agile kitty. I’ve mentioned before that farm cats come and go. Several of Janice’s cats have managed to hitch rides to new places, on the family car.

Last fall, Janice took the kids to an orchard 50 miles away in order to go through the corn maze. When we got out of the van, a woman said she thought she heard a cat. As Janice leaned over to check under the car, a black and white cat shot out from the undercarriage and dashed away into the field. He had ridden the entire way under the car!

On more than one occasion Mike has discovered a black and white cat from home hopping off from under the car, at his workplace 30 miles away.

And Susie, the black cat that is currently living here, hitched a ride on someone’s car from a neighboring farm.

Mama and Stubs aren’t here anymore. Last winter, Mama moved to the farm down the road. I can only hope that Stubs is somewhere around there.

Susie now reigns as the kitten producer. Tiger Tom is co-producer. But he’s not the faithful father that Stubs was.

Susie is sweet and the kittens are adorable, but I have to admit that I miss seeing Stubs and Mama Kitty. They really were a special pair.