So a few months back, Jaime and I noticed a little kitten on our porch.

Using our keen sense of judgment, we determined this kitten was a male, and starting feeding him. As time passed, we found that we needed a name for this cat, so we called him “little dude.”

Over the course of a few months, we fed little dude just about all he could eat. He would come up onto our porch and patiently wait for food. I would sit down with a bowl of food, and toss him individual pieces of food in an attempt to lure him closer.

As time passed, little dude became more and more comfortable with me, and started eating food out of my hand. Sure, he would occasionally miss the mark and lay a strong bite into my hand, but all in all, he was starting to loosen up to me.

Eventually, he would sit and eat food out of the bowl as I scratched his head with my finger. We made major progress.

Then, one day, Jaime and I took a closer look at little dude. He had grown more comfortable with us, and now proudly swooshed his tail about.

Interlude: Gross. My cat Jerry just trapped some sort of flying bug with his paw, and ate it. It was a big bug, and looked like a moth or a big mosquito. He chomped it right down while trying to get a look out of the second floor window.

Back to it: So, little dude started leaving her tail in the air, displaying her newfound confidence in us.

At some point, and I’m not sure if it was Jaime or me who originally noticed, but at some point, one of us said something like, “Does it look like little dude is pregnant?”

We weren’t 100% sure, but our suspicions were confirmed one day as I looked out the window. After seeing what I saw, I immediately called Jaim at work. “Jaim,” I said, “I just learned something very important about little dude. Either he is a she, or the black male neighborhood cat is gay!” We were pretty sure we knew the answer.

And of course, you know it– little dude quickly became “little girl” when her belly started hanging low.

So a few weeks back, it has got to be six or seven weeks ago, we noticed that little dude (I still call her little dude) disappeared. When she returned, the belly was nearly gone. We knew she had her kittens.

In the time that passed, and in chatting with our other cat-friendly neighbor Ron, we started wondering if little dude’s kittens made it, or if they were dead under my house.

As a matter of fact, Ron and I discussed it last night as I took Stella Blue out onto the porch for a few moments.

Ron thought the kittens must not have made it, since we would have seen them running around by now. I told him I tended to agree, but also said that they were probably hiding under my house, where I suspected little dude gave birth.

Well, on my way to drop Jaime at work this morning, she breaks the news:

“I saw little dude’s kittens! Well, Jerry actually saw them first. He jumped in the window, and I looked out and saw three little kittens. They’re mostly black with white paws, and look like they’re six to seven weeks old. They were scared off when Sugaree jumped in the window and hissed.”

When I got back home, I went out by the opening where I suspected the kittens would be hanging out. It’s right next to our furnace/air conditioner.

There are five of them total, 4 black/white and one brown/white speckled. They all appear to be in good health, even the most scared one that I was unable to photograph.

And without further delay: