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The cat fight outseide last night was bad. Really bad. They rolled across the porch, then someone slammed into my window, and then they fought down the hill and back up. Even when I turned the lights on, I could not see which cat was facing down Orange Boi, but I am guessing it was the long hair black and white from the previous night.
Orange Boi looks a little ruffled today but doesn’t seem too injured. He took good care of his ladies and protected the castle. I 100% am also sure that I know the origin of the banshee wailing myths. There is NO way that that did not originate in the long growls, howls, and soaring wails of two meatball head cats getting ready to throw down.
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Was in bed all comfy and I heard the unholy, low howl that precedes two cats having a brawl. It was coming from the front porch to I turn on the light.
Orange Boi was puffed to twice his size and was having a stare down with the long haired black cat with white whiskers. I have seen them duke it out before so I figured eventually Orange Boi would chase him off the porch and I could go to sleep. No. The dumbasses are just going to sit and growl at each other. I banged on the windows to try to get the interloper to run but they both just looked at me. I had to get bundled up and go outside at 12:40 at night to scare off the other cat because they clearly didn’t care about my sleep schedule. Meanwhile Gimpy was sitting in her heated cat house with her head out the door just watching it all as though she had the private box at a ball game. Lol Daddy Cat is still limping, but is moving around better than before. He is eating well, and is letting me pet him again. I cannot see any swelling, but I am not foolish enough to try to grab his foot. Daddy will NOT even investigate the cat houses, but I learned that he has a pretty serious set of tunnels he has made in the leaves under the juniper out front. Mommy has been choosing to sleep with him there, so I am guessing it is a pretty warm nest for cuddling. Charcoal (one of Gimpy's spring babies) seems to have officially joined the herd. I still don't know if this pretty cat is a she or he, but it is definitely blind in one eye. It will come up to me to feed, and I can touch it while it eats, but not at any other time. I think with a few more weeks of work I can improve our relationship to a catching point. (I have learned it is MUCH easier to just get them to the point where they let me pick them up and I can shove them into a crate than it is to try to trap a specific cat because the only ones I ever seem to trap are Orange Boi and Tiny Face... and I catch those idiots repeatedly when I DONT want them.). Charcoal also seems interested in the cat houses on the porch. Hoping maybe Gimpy lets it sleep with her on cold nights. I did learn a lot about these cats though. Things that make my heart hurt and that make me angry. We are on a rural road with only a few other houses. One of the other neighbor's feeds these cats as well, and I was talking to her recently and she told me the background on these cats. Apparently there was a resident of this street a few years back that had a dog and four unfixed indoor-outdoor cats. When she moved, she took the dog but just said she was going to leave the cats. She had pets that she just abandoned to fend for themselves (and procreate like crazy). Daddy Cat and Miss Gimpy were definitely two of them, as is a gray and white one that lives on the neighbors porch. This makes me so horribly angry, especially given how utterly sweet some of these cats are, and how much they want human attention and interaction. So we have an over population of cats that I am trying hard to now control, and I am being left to make potentially hard decisions, because someone else couldn't be sussed to make hard decisions herself. Yes, this bothers me. On a somewhat lighter not, I learned that apparently Orange Boi is the neighborhood bully. He goes up to her house and beats up other cats and leaves without even having dinner. I am hoping that he will get some better manners now that he has been denutted. (He is a lover to humans, but apparently is a punk as soon as he leaves our property.) The current neighbor is familiar with other members of my crew too. She calls Daddy Cat "Big Head", Miss Gimpy is "Old Lady" (and the neighbor was very happy to hear she is doing well), and Orange Boi is "Golden Boy". One of Mommy's previous boys that I call Mochi is "Oreo", though the bully doesn't let any of Mommy's previous kittens up here any more, I do see both Mochi and Bandit hunting in the field here. A couple of days ago our neighbor by the cabin called me. I freaked out when I realized who it was because they NEVER call for anything, so I thought it was an emergency. Turns out there was a baby kitten on their porch. There are NO more babies around here right now, and none of the ladies are due, and this one quite social and knew to go to humans for its needs. He asked if we could take it and get it a home and said they were going to give it food and water till I could get there. I messaged him today and asked if it was still hanging around. He said yes, that they were going to keep it because his wife was attached now. I offered to take them some food and a litter box. This is a BABY. Fully socialized, loves everyone, plays with everything, lots of head butts and purrs. Someone HAD to dump this sweet little girl and that makes me absolutely as angry as anything ever could. I am happy someone can take her in, but this NEVER should happen. I explained litter boxes (they are dog people), and food (they feed hight quality dog food so they will get the same brand for her). They are going to take her to the vet for shots and a check up. But I seriously hate the ass that just ditched this baby on a country road.
So this weekend I was able to grab both Orange Boi and Daddy Cat and box them up and get them serviced by a professional. I even got to do cool things like listen to their hearts with a stethoscope!
Like the ladies earlier this year, they also got vaccinations and flea drops (the latter of which were a very generous donation). When I released Orange Boi he ran like lightening (or maybe ran like his nuts were nipped or something). Daddy was a bit slower to come out of the cage, but as soon as I was out of sight, he was gone. I worried, just like I did with Mommy and Tiny (Gimpy was in no danger of going anywhere), that they would be so traumatized that they would not come back. But Orange Boi showed up the very next morning for breakfast. He was a little shyer, but here and happy to be fed. Daddy took another day but I was so delighted to see him creep up to the porch to not only eat, but to visit with me. Another good thing is that they are now using the cat houses we purchased for them! I looked at several types and opted for the K&H Heated Houses that I found online. I got two of the larger ones, thinking that the cats would double up in the boxes (silly me), and I really very much like these products. They are insulated vinyl that fasten together with sturdy velcro. They take about two minutes to assemble. Inside is a fleece covered heating mat that only operates when there is a cat sitting on it, which should save electricity. These do not weigh much, so I do recommend that they be fastened down or weighted in some way if the area is not sheltered from the wind. In addition to the houses we also got a heated water dish so that I dont have to keep chopping ice out of their bowls. I need to disinfect it frequently, but I think they very much appreciate not having to drink slimey pond water. And because likes everything to be perfect, Siada even inspected the houses before I put them out for the Furrals. She was pleased! (I think she also wanted some of the limelight as the Furrals seem to be getting more than their share these days.) Because I am working from home during COVID, I spend way to much time tracking the comings and goings of the Furrals. I worry when any of the regulars (Mommy, Tiny, Daddy, Orange Boi and Gimpy) miss a meal. Even though I know the toms will wander (Daddy will poof for days at a time), it stresses me out.
This time it was Mommy that was missing for four days. She always hangs close to the house and never misses a meal, ever. She was congested for several days and wheezing a bit before vanishing so I had extra cause for concern. She finally returned and was even more raspy. This is the really hard part of this for me. She is totally feral and I cannot get my hands on her to help her when she needs it. I did offer her some vitamins, which she ate. I tried to get her to eat stinky food with an antibiotic in it and she ate most of one dose but wouldn't touch it after that. She even refused food a several times, preferring to sit on the throne (the massive wood glider) and sneeze instead. Fortunately for her (and my blood pressure), she did bounce back after a few days. She started eating with gusto and the sniffles were definitely clearing. I hope that once she gets over this bout that she can stay healthy for a good long time. You think you know a lot sometimes, and then you discover that the whole world has lied to you (much like my first 47 years of life thinking I had the straightest hair in the world and then the pandemic revealing that I actually have wavy hair). See, I had this big beefy cat when I was in High School. His name was Raistlin (yes, a Dragonlance reference, and there was also a Caramon in that litter). He was a massive black tom that liked me, and only me. No one else could get near him, even with food. He was built like a tank and his head was shaped like a grapefruit. I just figured it was genetic, that some cats have meatball heads and some don't. Then these Furrals started showing up here at the cabin and we both thought Orange Boi was goofy looking as all get out with his poofy cheeks and his eyes being too close together (goofy in a cute way, but yeah, goofy). Then Daddy Cat shows up. And then I was told the truth... intact male cats have 'stud jowls'. I am seriously angry at the world for not telling me about this sooner (and aside from Raistlin, I had little exposure to fuzzy-nut boy cats as we always get our cats fixed by 6 months). If you were as unaware of this as I am, I am going to give you a few minutes to go do a Google image search on 'stud jowls' or 'tomcat cheeks' and then a few more to compose yourself because the photos are often hysterical. So anyways behold the boys below (and do not warn them that their nuts are doomed because eventually I will catch these guys...) It really does get better though. I, of course, had to announce my ignorance to the Savannah Cat community because now I need to see what a sleekly built cat like a Savannah looks with a meatball head, or better yet, I need to see a serval with tomcat cheeks. I was NOT disappointed. Sonu of Bastet Exotics shared a photo of one of her intact servals and I am just dead now. Seriously, does it get any thing better than that? (And yes, he lets her pinch those cheeks, and yes, I am jealous!) I also feel the need to throw in a photo of sweet Miss Gimpy here, to show how different her face really is from the boys. And also because she is just the most loving girl and is doing quite well after her spay! Important news flash.... I PICKED UP ORANGE BOI. He didn’t even struggle, just went all noodle and hung there!!!!
Miss Gimpy was the "one who got away" this summer. She was pregnant at the same time as Mommy Cat and Tiny Face, but I could never find where she stashed the babies. I tried several times, unsuccessfully, to catch her and she got pregnant again at the end of the summer. And you know what? I STILL could not figure out where she stashed those babies after she had them! She would come up twice a day to eat, but she would never let me follow her back to her nest. Eventually, she started bringing the kittens onto the porch late at night to feed. I made sure that we had plenty of food out each night (despite that it brought every raccoon, opossum and skunk in the forest to the porch) so that they would keep coming back. Eventually, I tried to go out there with them. There was a little boy that as all black with white whiskers and toes who would let me touch him (or who was so hungry he just didnt care), but the two little girls (and dang does Gimpy produce some pretty girls) were exceedingly wild-shy. I made an appointment for a spay and prayed I could round up all these cats at once. Part one of this quest was actually easy. Really easy. Gimpy is quite tame really, and I discovered I can pick her up. One day when she brought them up to feed, I sat and petted the little boy and then just picked his little squeaky butt up and ran to the garage and put him in the Kitton Prison. I went right back out side and picked up Gimpy and put her in a crate that I had sitting there open and waiting to receive her. I took her right out to the garage and put her in with her baby and some food (she was honestly more interested in the food as these kittens were about 7 weeks old at this time and I think she was done with the whole notion of motherhood). I then set traps for the remaining kittens. I wont lie and say this is at all easy. I stress myself sick each time I try to trap kittens. I am worried about never catching them, and them getting lost and going hungry in the woods. I know I am doing the right thing in getting them to medical care and eventual pet homes, but there is just so. much. stress. Of course, part two was much harder. First, I caught Orange Boi. Again. That makes three times catching this goob when I am trying to get pretty much ANY other cat on the property. I also caught Tiny Face. Again, as she was spayed this summer but apparently isn't all that bright. And I almost caught a damn skunk. Because that would be lots of fun. I saw it going towards the trap and I, of course, immediately post to Facebook demanding answers on how to get the thing off the porch because I did NOT want to have to try to get it OUT of the trap later. (Note, lots of window rattling and banging and such eventually scared it, and everything else within half a mile, away.) It took several sleepless, stressful, days before I took 5 traps and shoved them in the bushes out front instead of on the porch and I, at last, caught the little girls (together in the same trap even, so kind of them). After that they all went off to Alpha Animal Hospital. Gimpy was spayed that morning and came home with me right after. Because I can handle her easily, she fared much better than the ladies this summer. She got to spend several days in the luxury pen in the garage (and she was happy to be there) and got pain meds and regular visits from me where she would purr and purr and purr.
I am very glad I was able to catch her this time. The vet told me her uterus basically fell apart when removed. Another pregnancy would absolutely have killed her. Miss Gimpy is a very sweet lady who does not deserve a fate like that, so I am thankful that we could help her now. The kittens were older than the last group, and much more skittish, but they went to a foster who could work to socialize the girls (the little boy was already a charmer). So while this whole Furral business is stressful, it also delights me to no end to know that the clowder here have a chance at a better life (no more babies AND they are vaccinated), and the little kittens will have a chance at loving homes. I know you wanna hear more about my kittons. Their personalities are so very different, in adorable ways and it never ceases to amaze me how their reactions to a situation can vary drastically.
We have a clowder of feral cats at the cabin, which of course I feed. This means they come up to the house when we are there. A couple of them even come right to the front door (which is glass) and look right in at me, so that I know they are there and that they are desperate for cat food. And because cats have domesticated humans (rather than the other way around), I get up out of my chair and get them some breakfast. When these felines come around, Siada and Malik go on alert. They will follow the cats from window to window to keep an eye on them. Most of them they just watch, there is one that they are a little more aggressive over (a torbie female that I think is sister to Mommy Cat, the sweetest and least skittish of the colony). But mostly they just stalk around and glare at the interlopers and keep them in their place. Layla is different. When she sees Mommy Cat or her black and white kitten from this fall (which is now almost cat sized), she is actually excited. Her posture is playful and she wags her tail like a puppy (not the thrashing of the tail which is her "annoyed" sign). She will play peek-a-boo with the black and white one at the door for hours. Outside Kitton sits right outside the door and looks in and Layla crunches down and then pops up, and they are nose to nose at the glass. The kitten then ducks down and Layla looks around bewildered as to where it went and then when it pops up she ducks down. Over and over and over. It is just about the cutest thing ever. Hopefully I can coordinate with a friend who is a vet and get some of these critters caught and fixed so that the population doesn't get out of control. |
AuthorSavannah Caretaker who is honored to do the job. The Merry Rosette participates in the Amazon Associates program and a small commission is earned on qualifying purchases. This revenue goes towards helping to feed the Furrals!
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