The babies at my house - Manx kittens

There are six new babies at our house.  The mama was a stray who had two kittens when she first came to my house.  A friend (Jill) and I gave her a big job at the time.  We asked her to nurse and help us raise five kittens (along with the two she was already nursing) which had been abandoned by the massive spring flooding in our area.  Jill and her family literally plucked the babies from the flood waters swirling around their house.  Jill's family had to evacuate their home, so we took the babies to give them a chance.  Jill's husband Brian brought them to me in a box via canoe.  The Humane Society was simply overwhelmed with all of the flooding, so we could not take them there.

Well, with this mama cat's help and a few weeks of intermittent bottle feeding, all of the babies grew strong and homes were found for them.

(Dare I tell you what my inventive children named the mama?  Phoopie.  Yes.  Phoopie Cat.  I think they named her that because they want to hear me open the door and call "Here Phoopie.  Come here, Phoopie Cat.  Privately, I call her Thia.)

We called that first batch our "limited edition flood kittens."  Kind people took them in.  (Another one of my good friends, Julie, took two.  I could have kissed her.  :)  )

Jill very generously offered to pay to have the mama spayed, but since the mama is a manx, with no tail, I asked if we could allow her to have one batch of kittens first..  I was dying of curiosity to see if she would have tail-less babies.  The community tom cats were happy to oblige.

Phoopie had her babies a week ago.  Six babies.  And four of them are tail less!  They are so cute, some with long hair and an almost grey/white tabby siamese look about them.  There is one orange baby (already named Quackers) and he has a tail.   These babies are so unique I wanted you to get a glimpse of them too.  So, without further ado, here they are.  Are you ready for the cuteness?  Manx kittens:

Wow.  Nothing so fierce as a one week old kitten, eh?

Same kitten as above.  He looks almost like a little lamb.

Phoopie has taken up residence on my backporch, way back underneath a shoe rack.  Today was the first day I let the children hold the babies.  We wanted to be sure that she had established a nursing relationship with all of them.  She's a pretty good mama to her babies.  It's going to be fun watching these unique little ones grow.  Have you ever seen a manx cat?  What can you tell me about them?