Coffee and Milk

Day two (1/12/2012):

I woke to a cool house. Oh, no! The heater must have clicked off overnight! I hope the kits aren’t frozen stiff! I rush to check on them.

I can only count 5 kits. Where are the other 3? Hubby is paranoid that Coffee will eat them…but I’m not concerned about that because that’s atypical. I’m more concerned about whether or not they’re getting enough nutrition, and my focus is on making the house sufficiently warm.

After the kids are off to school, we pull the nest out of the condo. Three kits are under the towel, and begin wiggling immediately upon exposure to the light (and cold). There are 2 that seem to have missed last night’s feeding. The others had plump bellies and were immediately active.

Mama is a bit skittish, and when I approach the condo, she jumps into the nest. I’m always afraid she’ll squish the kits, but as long as there is sufficient cushion (towels) under the kits, I guess that’s not a common occurrence. The good things is, when she’s ‘hiding out’ in there, the kits jump to nurse.

Later that evening, I see the weak kit alone in the box. Maybe he left the pack because he knew he was sick and near death, and dead kits would begin to smell thereby revealing the nest location to predators. Or, maybe the pack LEFT him (for whatever reason).

Either way, he can’t live alone. So I pick him up, and place him back in the pack. He seems weak, but his only chance is with the pack. Maybe he’ll be present for the feeding tonight.