The Menagerie: Lima & Bean

One day in the autumn of 2014, I came across two tiny kittens who had been dumped in the yard of a family. I brought the kittens home and got to the busy task of feeding them. They were tiny and hungry and we had to feed them with small bottles and syringes. They spent a lot of time the first couple of days eating and becoming stronger. We called the girl Lima and the boy Bean.

We wore them in baby carriers and fed them and cuddled them and they settled quickly into this life with humans.

Then our young papillon stepped in. We'd noticed that she was fond of the babies and then she took it to a new level. She gathered them up and laid down so that they could nurse. Though she had never had babies and did not have milk, she would lay there for hours and let them nurse, curled against her warm furry body, a doting surrogate mother.

Lima and Bean grew quickly and when they hit about ten weeks old, a dear friend came to pick them up. They now live with two other cats and a very doting eight year old who, as it turns out, Lima is particularly fond of. I hear that Bean occasionally wreaks havoc with his antic and he's even eaten a gnome!
But they are home......