My Cat

We have several cats. 5 at last count not including two kittens. It's the mother of the kittens that I refer to as mine. When we first moved here we would see this streak of black and white every once in a while, but that's all we saw. So I named it Phantom. I like to name things. Gradually over the course of two years she became somewhat tame, in a feral kind of way and we discovered she had no tail. We also discovered she had this mask of calico over her eyes (appropriate name, right?), while the rest of her was white and black spots. The only person she would tolerate was me, and she would even deign to let me pet her sometimes. As she domesticated herself further she would bring her litters over to the property. Some of the survivors have stayed, farm life is not the safest life for a cat, others visit often. But Phantom has decided to stay. She likes to follow me around and even comes into the house sometimes, but only into the laundry room. She doesn't like the larger rooms at all.

Last Spring she was very pregnant and came up to me in the yard. Then right in front of me had her babies. Knowing she was not doing this in her usual way, in a hidden place, I scooped her up and put her and the babies in the laundry room in a carrier. A few weeks later I placed the carrier in the tall grass near some places she could choose to hide the kittens. She chose a tree *roll the eyes*.

This Spring, two weeks ago, Phantom came to me in the yard and meowed at me. My husband was there, he can back me up. She walked a few paces, turned and meowed some more. So we followed her. I know, we felt a little silly too. She led us to a dark quiet place and slid under into a hole of sorts and meowed some more. So I peeked in. Not knowing what else to do I left her there, thinking, "okay, she's in labor and wanted me to know". Inside the hole was some old decaying insulation, not good, right? I got the carrier ready and went out again the see her a few hours later. Sure enough, there was a baby. I scooped her and baby up and placed them in the carrier. The next morning there were two babies, and she seemed very happy. She now goes out to use the lawn and comes back to care for her young. Sometimes I forget to close the cage, but she has no interest in going anywhere, or removing her babies to a different location.

Does anyone else find this odd? I mean she used to be completely feral, hissing, fizzing, fighting, running, etc. And now, is it possible, she actually sought me out to help her care for her young? Twice? She is still wary of strangers and not overly friendly with the rest of the family. During the Winter she's downright unsociable. Thoughts?