There's a New Kid in Town

Last week a new kitten showed up at the park.  We have never seen it before; it came with no siblings, and no mother. 

A  new kitten at the park

That is usually an alert to us that the kitten has been orphaned, because when their mother is alive and well, the kittens stay with them for a long time, and they continue to nurse for a long time, too, as we still see Baby's kittens do, and they are many weeks older than this new kitten.

Baby still very close to her kittens after 14 weeks

At times like these we will still see the kittens nurse

This new kitten is feral.  We don't know yet if it is a male or female.  It is skinny, timid,  and shivering.  It keeps trying to nuzzle up to the older cats who began by hissing at it and walking away from it, a heartwrenching sight to behold, but by this weekend they were getting more tolerant. 

Moonpie, here, on the left, has become more tolerent of the kitten as of this weekend

And it took us until this weekend to get it to come close to the food plates with the other cats.  The least movement and it goes running off.

That's the kitten, over on the far left, and to the right of Moonpie - it's been a challenge to get it to come this close

He has played with Mustafa a little, which is nice.  Mustafa isn't a kitten anymore, but he is still a very young cat having been a winter kitten, and he does love to play.  Here, after eating, the new kitten climbed a tree after a low key game of chase from Mustafa:

The kitten climbs a tree

Mustafa

Could this kitten be related to the kitten we found here?  It's very possible.

The lone kitten we found at the park 1 month ago - are they related?

 We don't know.

This morning, the new kitten crept up very slowly and submissively in between Moonpie and Petey, not so much wanting to eat, but to be close to another cat.

The submissive and shivering lone kitten inches up slowly here in between strangers, Moonpie, left, and Petey, right

 It is difficult to see things like this.