Debut: Bambi and her baby (area 2)
Breakthrough! After all that monotonous pic-less updating on how elusive Bambi was, we’ve finally got vids and pics of Bambi taken 22 Nov 2008. The bonus? Her baby, whom btmao first sighted this Thursday past. Yesterday we confirmed there’s only 1 baby, and he looks to be about 4-5 months old. We had been worried that given her emaciated state, any babies she bore would not survive, but we had been hesitant to speed up her mojo op schedule as we were also worried about what would happen if she did have babies to nurse. It was a relief to see that her only baby seem to be in good health. He was plump with meaty paws, showing that she took wonderful care of him. For want of a proper name. we’re calling him BambiBaby for now.
We first sighted Bambi at the eatery she loiters at, where she was blatantly begging for food instead of hiding among the bushes lining the perimeter (the bushesad been cleared which might have explained why she’s now so open about it). Nothing could convince us more of the urgency of getting her de-mojoed and hopefully int oa home. But first things first, we lured her away from the eatery where btmao fed her.
She’s still scaredy but hunger drove her to be tolerant of scary things…
Like having a human so near as she ate
and being touched while she ate. This is the first time btmao managed to touch her
Closeup of her on her haunches. She is so skinny you can drive a proverbial jumbo jet through the gap between her tummy and the ground.
We had thought her baby gone, as btmao estimated himto be about 3 months or more already, just about the age for mummy to cut the apron strings.
But well, who should I see checking the coast just a little distance away, totally unaware his mum was so near. He is a really good-looking agouti baby with a nice long tail.
It was during his frantic flying to and fro among the shrubbery that I confirmed him as a boy.
We tried to get the baby’s attention, to see that his mum was bear and safe with us. But he scooted off to the back of the eatery. I followed and kept getting shots of him trying to melt into the shrubs
Finally, we caught his mum’s attention and btmao went to invite her to come over and convince her baby it’s ok.
Scaredy Bambi and her scaredier baby
Mum had to show baby it was safe to eat
At last, with his mum near, he settled down to eat by himself.
Bambi contentedly washing as her baby gobbles up the mush. Her purrs were loud and obvious to btmao who stood next to her.
BambiBaby grooming post-gobble
Mock-battle! They are a lovely loving pair of kitties
Mutual-grooming cum wrestling session
The calm, post-wrestle/groom
As we’ve said before, we would love to sterilise Bambi, but we need to fatten her up. THe problem is her schedule remains unclear to us and it’s difficult to do so. Plus we will need to get BambiBaby sterilised too. IF possible, we would love to get them fostered and ultimately rehomed. They are scaredy but given time and tlc, they will no doubt settle down and develope into lovely home cats. And obviously there’s no worries about the introduction process. A mother and kitten pair like this is ideal for the busy person who still wants company and hopes for a kitten. Because even with BambiBaby’s age, there would be no worries about him not getting the attention and love he needs as mum will be right there with him. We believe they can be rehomed also because of what happened this morning: from a swiping warning to btmao for petting her more than a few times yesterday, Bambi was trying to follow btmao home already.
The problem is, Foster mum’s is probably not an idea place to socialise them given their shy nature, and the scale of the activity and number of cats there. We need a place where there’s quiet and ideally with only a few other residents. We feel a sense of urgency in getting this pair as BambiBaby is really overdue for apron-string cutting. We don’t wan to lose him. Neither do we want to see him injured by an alpha male, likely Stanley, eager to mate with his mum. while we await a foster opportunity, we can only work on getting Bambi and her baby to trust us and hope something works out.
