Outdoor Cat Update

The kittens have been growing and becoming much more sociable. Tabby, the only female, has become down right friendly. We can pet her and pick her up. She will basically do anything for food.

Can you eat a camera?

The boys, Spike and Stripe, are not any where near as social as Tabby. But they are fun to watch when they wrestle in the evening.

The kittens mom, Stumpy, has been keeping herself scarce. We see her once or twice a day when she comes to eat. And she is a little more tolerant of the kittens.

We have a new visitor we call Oscar.

He looks like a big rangy young male cat, but we really have no idea what he/she really is. The other cats are freaked out by him/her so we'll see how this goes.

The Last One

Yesterday I caught the last of the kittens and took him to get neutered. It only took two weeks to catch all the outside cats and get them neutered. No one entered the trap who had already been neutered. I spent a total of  $120. There was a $25 deposit for the two traps (which I gave back as a donation), $20 for each cat and an extra $15 for the mama cat's distemper shot (which was included in the price for the kittens.) We had one female kitten and two male kittens.

No not me!

The mama cat has not wanted anything to do with her kittens since she came back from her surgery. She hisses at them and chases them away. She has also become more vocal and likes to hang out with us when we are outside. All-in-all that was a very well spent $125!

The Neutering Has Begun!

The local trap/neuter/return special until the end of September is $20 for neutering, rabies vaccine, worming, flea treatment, ear cleaning, ear mite treatment. And they tip the ear and tattoo a green line down the incision. I got two traps on Friday and caught one of the kittens this morning to take advantage of the no appointment, walk-in with one feral cat at the Allentown location today.

Everyone at No Nonsense Neutering has been really helpful. They gave great instructions for after care as well. Here is poor Tabby on the ride home.

She is up in the barn stumbling around in her cage waking up from the anesthetic. They recommend keeping females in the cage for 48 hours so they don't hurt themselves. I am hoping to catch Stumpy Tuesday morning to take her to the next walk-in day. But one of the other kittens would be fine too.

They Are Getting Braver

The kittens have been hanging out on the patio more and more but tonight they slept in a big cat pile right outside the patio door.

After they woke up they had a grand old time wrestling, prancing, and climbing. They are so much fun to watch. The kittens are learning to eat in the cat carrier. We are hoping to be able to catch them in the cat carrier to take them to get neutered. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Kitten Update

The kittens are almost three months old and they are quite a lot of fun to watch. After the multiple moves mama cat was no longer able to keep the kittens close to their hiding place. And they discovered kitten chow. They prance and play on the patio and in the backyard throughout most of the day but are most active in the evening. We have spent many delightful evenings watching their antics while we eat dinner on the patio.

They are quite hungry in the morning and come right up to the patio doors.

The local association I found that neuters feral cats is running a special for the month of August so I am hoping we can get something scheduled. We still don't know how many males vs females we have as the kittens haven't let us get any closer than six feet.

Kittens!

The kittens were born on May 2nd and we really haven't seen them up til now. Once, I caught a glimpse into their burrow and thought I saw three; two gray with white and one tabby like mama. Today I finally saw the three kittens sitting outside their burrow, but of course they had gone back in when I returned with a camera. And mama had returned too, and was not happy to see me anywhere near her kittens. I was able to take this picture.

The eyes of one of the kittens are glowing from the flash in the background. The kittens all look healthy. Their are a few trap, neuter and return programs in the area that will neuter and give rabies shots for $35. Stumpy has been letting us get very close to her while she is eating in the cat carrier so she should be easy to catch. Hopefully the kittens will get trained to the carrier as well. I can't wait to see them running around playing. It's been a long time since we had a kitten around.

Updates

Lots of little things going on here.
Alan has been working on the bridge. All that is left is the decking and a board along the top/railing.

The goats have been working on clearing brush.

They get quite acrobatic to get the tasty bits.

Mama Sadie is working on shedding, and looking quite shaggy.

The lilacs are working on perfuming the air with their amazing scent.

This long stand of lilacs is on the bank behind the house. With the patio doors open the smell of lilacs comes right into the house. It's heavenly.

And Stumpy is working on getting to used to her crate. She has been eating in it for a few days and has even gone all the way in. 

The hard part is figuring out the best time to catch her and her kittens. She moved them a few days ago and I know the general vicinity but I think I'll let her raise them up a little more. But we can't wait to see them!

Pregnant!

The stray cat situation seems to have narrowed itself down to one cat. All the other cats have been gone for months. That left this little tiger:

It's hard to get a good picture of her but she is very pregnant. The worst of the cat calling was at the end of February so we should be having kittens soon. I think "Stumpy", she is missing 3/4 of her tail, is living in an old ground hog burrow under a large forsythia bush. We will let her deliver her kittens, see if she lets us near them, then catch everyone near weaning time, get her fixed and maybe keep a kitten or two as barn cats. Anyone want/need a kitten?

The Catmometer

Lily is our catmometer. You can tell how warm the wood stove is by how close she is sleeping to the it.  Usually she sleeps about 2-3 feet away. Once the stove starts cooling down a little she moves up next to the stove.

As the stove gets cooler she moves a little underneath.

If we are really slacking and the stove needs attention immediately she is pretty much completely under the stove.

For these pictures we were letting the stove go out so we could clean out the ash. Lily was not happy about that!