We were scheduled to meet a couple of kittens about Gypsy's age. I had been in contact with the lady and we were excited to meet the two kittens - a tortoiseshell and a white kitten. It was a 55 minute drive, and when we got there we were presented with three kittens to pick from. A short haired tabby, a long haired tabby, and the white kitten (with a grey smudge on her head). I asked about the calico, and was told she had disappeared days ago. Well, that would have been nice to know before we made the long drive, during any of the conversations online, or maybe in the ad we'd replied to that still had the calico listed as available. We paid for one kitten, and took the white one. I will be clear, #3 was with us and is thrilled with the new kitten. I'm a little disappointed we drove that far to pick up a single kitten (and paid a fee for it). There was an ad for an almost identical kitten in our town for free, but I passed it up because this ad had two that I wanted.
But alas, that was not the case. So we stood out in the cold as the woman indicated several animals she wasn't willing to part with, and a couple she'd give us if we could catch them. Her husband helped us to herd them around, but after nearly an hour, and all of us shivering despite wearing jackets, we had only been able to put three chickens and two rabbits into the car. She had offered us some ducks too, which I was very excited about, but the ducks were wary and stayed well away of the commotion of chasing animals. We were all cold, and finally they gave up. They asked if I could come back another day when it wasn't cold and wet. Problem is, Tony only has one day off a week, and that just happened to be the day they (the owners of the birds) were moving.
So we made a plan. They will continue to try to catch the animals they don't want, and put them into a pen. We will come back Thursday evening after they've done most of their moving, and take whatever they have caught and penned up for us.
We also brought home two Dutch cross rabbits. One buck and one doe.
After picking up a chicken waterer, a rubber feed tub, a brooder lamp, extension cord, and more pine shavings, we were set.
I finished setting up the new area by light of the lamp, thankful the roof was well maintained and doesn't leak. With plenty of pine shavings on the ground, waterer filled up, and a variety of feed in the rubber tub, I released the animals. The rabbits hid under stuff, and the birds seemed content to stay in their big travel kennel. I turned out the light and headed in for the night.
The new kitten is set up in the bunny barn. She doesn't understand yet how to climb the rabbit cages to get to the kitty food (which has to be up so the ducks don't eat it all), and initial introductions are bumpy. Gypsy is not happy to have a companion yet. I hope they grow to love each other. The whole point was to make sure they could snuggle in the cold winter to keep warm. The barn is not heated. Joke is on them because they're going to be in a travel kennel tonight with one another all night. Neelix will have his first night without a kitty companion. I'm looking forward to feeding time tomorrow and not having to sanitize cat poop out of his food dish (Gypsy's favorite place to poop). We have tentatively named the new kitten Luna (after #3's favorite Harry Potter character, Luna Lovegood).