just a cat

Here's Moira trying her best to blend in while hunting:

Luckily no mice were harmed this time.

We're gonna need a bigger boat.  Latest update on the children:

They continue to enbiggen.  As of today Leo the buff one who we didnt think would make it, is up to 10lb, Nico is at 9.5lb. They're like cat/greyhound hybrids.

My parents are bringing them back when they come for the holidays, should be entertaining.

Random cat showed up at our neighbors. Not chipped. They are highly allergic and put up signs all over the place. It's freezing out tonight. So Mrs. Jav brought her home. I guess we have another cat?

In reply to Javelin :

Congrats and thanks for making the world a little better.

You are probably on top of it already, but a note: We fostered a puppy for a day (it got a home the next day) and it had fleas. Even though we gave it a treatment within a couple hours of being here, fleas transferred to our other dogs. All our pets needed a treatment the next week - the 30 day chewable pills are great.

In reply to Javelin :

Pretty cat. Looks very happy!

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Already been to the vet. Clearly somebody's pet and well loved. No chip, no fleas, no issues. We're trying really hard to find her owners. 

Blizzard today, Mrs Heretic and I are involved in a right now occurring kitty rescue. we are already feeding Boo Too pure white cat number two, and a Black kitty, but today, I discovered a couple months old orange kitty crying out in our garage that we keep the back door open for our dog. We are now trying to get it to come close enough to us for me to grab it and put in the basement for quarantine. Evidently kitty #5. I recorded it crying for it's mother and when I play it back on my phone, Kitty really responds, but won't come close. More info to follow.

My little yellow kitty, even when he was dumped nearby at that small, was crying out a bit. But as soon as I sat near him, he came right over. Proceeded to clime all over me. We bonded right off. I sure do miss him!

We caught little Berlioz, what a bobcat I thought I had when carrying him down into the basement. Thank God for heavy leather gloves. I almost needed a pint of blood. He can't be any older than 2 months old. Tomorrow, I will search for his mother and siblings if they don't find my garage tonight. 

Did a perimeter search. Traffic to and from my yard towards and ending at the next door overgrown non-occupied house to the north from there and into my back yard through the fence up to the back door. Also tracks to the south 3 yards up the alley also heading to my house from a yard with a giant junk wood pile. Lots of food at my house. I think that there is a feral black cat, white cat, and now this little orange kitten and whoever it's mom is. I have an insulated and heated cat feeding tote outside my garage and evidently a somewhat warm garage which I forget to close up at night a lot of the time. 

The weather has turned cold. Inspired by VolvoHeretic, I have made a simple cat house for a Feral. There is a spring-fed pond behind my house that supports plenty of wildlife. I put the cat house in a sheltered area above the food bowl at the head of the spring. It seems that there are two ferals who regularly use the food bowl. I rarely see them still, but the food is always completely gone when I check.

Black&White showed about 15 minutes after I set it out and cautiously approached.

Taking pictures with a telephoto lens from about 50' away, a twig snapped as I moved for a better shot. Busted.

Black&White retreated from the full bowl, preferring to stalk aquatics rather than risk exposure to a human.

Two week quarantine is over and today was Edith Ann Beth's first day upstairs with the rest of the herd. About 9 weeks old and over 2 pounds. Everybody has meet before one at a time separated by the crate (lots of hissing), but now it is a free for all. So far everybody is kind of behaving. Edith has lots of chairs and couches that the other cats can't get under and I have a spray bottle if needed. She will sleep in her crate in our bedroom tonight. 5 cats and 1 black lab, all rescues.

Here's a good article about tending to Ferals:

https://www.saveakittyca.org/feral-cats.html

I still need to work out trapping the ones in my area and getting them to the vet.

Thought of this thread this morning, as i was getting up at 4am to leave for a business trip.  Jag slept at the foot of the bed, then followed me all through the house while i had breakfast, packed, and moved everything to the front door.  He mostly runs and hides when other folks come over (feral kitten rescue), but when its just him and i, he's got more personality than any dog or cat i've encountered.  Love this guy:

We have a cpl Bengals, they're fantastic, and then we have Sam, a rescue from the local shelter. They said he'd never warm up to us. He is about as big a sweetheart as I've ever met. He is also a troublemaker, here he is about a minute after we put the tree up... 

I was out of the house for the first half of the day for a funeral.  Lucy, my 17 year old cat seemed pretty independent when her brother was still alive.  Now, she doesn't want me out of her sight after I've been away for a while.  She has me trapped on the couch right now.

Cats in Christmas Trees? Edith is adapting well. Hobbs and Marty, the two normal male cats are getting along with her and actually playing with and licking her. Odie the odd male cat (who hates everyone) and Agnes the only other girl cat (jealous) hate her. Della, the neurotic Black Lab is just a bitch.

Haven't had a tree up for years but we put one up this year and putting decorations on it doesn't look hopeful.

Caesar was a little disappointed to discover the top tier of the cat tree was already occupied.

AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:

Caesar was a little disappointed to discover the top tier of the cat tree was already occupied.

Ya think ......absolutely awesome thank you

We've never had a Christmas tree climber before, but mister Lewis Hamilton is one.

It's going to be very cold for the next few nights and I don't know where the ferals shelter at. I can tell that a cat has been in the modified cooler that I put out a while ago. Today I made another emergency cat shelter from some boxes and packing material. I don't have electrical power outside the fenced part of the yard, so I put a couple 18 hour chemical heat pads in with some rags. No idea if it will help, but it was easy enough to do. My cats have always loved boxes.

The low temperature got down to -1 F and the feral cats made it through. I don't actually know how many there are, but I have seen the three most frequently observed ones and there are lots of tracks around the food bowl.

Merry Christmas to all your cats.

Lymphoma - Chemo treatment. What are her chances of lasting more than a few months after? 

Couple of recent photos of some of ours.

First, Ely, one of our more senior cats - she's about 11 and takes full advantage of my split keyboard:

She picked me when I went to the shelter to look at some new used cats. Since then, she's turned into a full blown lap cat. Her brother took a lot longer to get to that point, but he's getting there after about 18 months...