Feral in my garage

[Bitsy's Mom]

I just finished reading your book and enjoyed it very much! Just the right number of characters to make it interesting, but not so many that I couldn't keep track of them! Funny parts and good animal rescue parts. How are you doing with Book 2? Let us know when it is ready to read!

Thanks so much for reading I really appreciate it . . and if you did like it, please write a review <3 And yes, Mr. Bellows is such a good kitty . .. .my first kitty was all gray. I love gray kitties . . and black kitties, and oh well . . all kitties I am so glad you enjoyed it. All of the street addresses and restaurants in New York city were factual. And the newspaper was based on the rag tabloid New York Post. Anyway, working on book 2 as I write this. Thanks for your support <3

 

[Bitsy's Mom]

Good morning

He remembers!!
I looked at the video tape this morning and he remembered the heated car igloo from two years ago!! It had been in the garage when he was there in the winter 2020-2021.

It’s a heated pad that is only half heated - and half not heated. So the heated part is only about 8”x10”. Do you think that’s enough? Or should I buy a pad that is heated for its entire length? He does have long hair and so hopefully it’s enough. It’s going to be 20 degrees here and can get down to 5 on rare occasions.

FullSizeRender.MOV

• Bitsy's Mom
• Dec 13, 2022

Oscar and the heated house!

 

[tabbytom]

Good morning

He remembers!!
I looked at the video tape this morning and he remembered the heated car igloo from two years ago!! It had been in the garage when he was there in the winter 2020-2021.

It’s a heated pad that is only half heated - and half not heated. So the heated part is only about 8”x10”. Do you think that’s enough? Or should I buy a pad that is heated for its entire length? He does have long hair and so hopefully it’s enough. It’s going to be 20 degrees here and can get down to 5 on rare occasions.

That's great! I think his scents are still there and he does not look skittish or have any suspicions about the igloo.

I can't help you with the heating stuff as we don't have winter over here. Wait for the others and see what they say.

I'm so for him

 

[rubysmama]

That's wonderful that he remembers his igloo.

As for the heated pad, I really can't advise, but bigger might be better, since he's a big boy. But I'm sure having been feral his entire life, and lived through winter before, his body knows how to prepare for the cold. And at least this year he won't have to worry about snow and ice, since he'll be safe in his deluxe kitty condo.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'd leave the pad as is. That gives him the choice in case he becomes too warm, to be able to move over.

 

[shadowsrescue]

You could get a heat pad for the small tent you have next to the love seat. They sell them to fit. When I had outside feral cats, they loved the tents with the heat pad.

 

[tarasgirl06]

As with many others I'm following, I lost your thread but have been thinking of you and Oscar, found it again, and caught up. Awwww, so glad Oscar is enjoying the Baby's bed, which looks very sturdy and comfy! So the Baby was abandoned in the woods with HIS babies? Hoping and praying they are all okay somehow...and their mom, too...
I have one of my first cat's dishes. He was 3 when I was born. I don't use it but I'll always keep it. I have his brush, too. And I've saved several other bowls, toys and beds that were specific to one or more of our angels who have left us.
Does Oscar ever play with the moths?
My "barnies" used to enjoy catching wild prey on the hoof, so to speak. I found a few remnants and once, even the business end of a scorpion!!!VERY glad no harm done...except to the scorpion, that is. The original owners of the house and land built up protective barrier around the compound but that scorpion got in somehow. Slither,"our" Pine-Gopher snake, probably didn't go in that part of the compound, preferring the chickens' barn, where she could catch the mice and wood rats who came in. She'd slither straight up the side of the barn, which was smooth metal! to reach the shoplights. The rodents would run along that line and I guess she'd catch them there. Thankfully, the rattlers, sidewinders, and Mojave Greens didn't breach the berm, although I did disturb a Mojave Green in the small henhouse in back of the regular chicken barn once--with the tail end of a large rat hanging out of its mouth! I high-tailed it back to the house, called my (then) husband who told me to just give it a wide berth, and followed his suggestion. Sometimes I'd see scorpions on the land at night -- they fluoresce in the dark!

 

[Bitsy's Mom]

Happy Holidays everyone!

Oscar has his heated water/food dish and his igloo bed with a heating pad in the back - so hopefully he will be warm enough. It’s going to get very cold here.

Below is a video from last night. You have to wait for the action - and don’t take your eyes Off it or you’ll miss it. He is the black lump outside the igloo bed in the front - then he goes inside and disappears - and then . . .

FullSizeRender.MOV

• Bitsy's Mom
• Dec 21, 2022

Wait for it!

 

[tabbytom]

Below is a video from last night. You have to wait for the action - and don’t take your eyes Off it or you’ll miss it. He is the black lump outside the igloo bed in the front - then he goes inside and disappears - and then . . .

I brightened up my screen and I saw him clearly. Wow! He sure is loving it!

 

[Bitsy's Mom]

I brightened up my screen and I saw him clearly. Wow! He sure is loving it!

I hope so!! I always worried that he’s sad, bored and stir-crazy living in the shed!!

 

[shadowsrescue]

Such a bright spot in my day to see him running around! Is that snow I was seeing? Cold cold temps are coming to my area (Ohio) in the next few days. Luckily it's only a few days.

Btw, I am about 1/2 way through your book. I am really enjoying it! Now to find the time to sit and read!

 

[tabbytom]

I hope so!! I always worried that he’s sad, bored and stir-crazy living in the shed!!

I think he likes it in there. If he's not liking it, he won't be running, dodging and climbing. He'll just hide in one corner and sulk. The way he plays by himself is very cat-like.

I'm pretty sure that he's much more happy now than before.

 

[Bitsy's Mom]

Such a bright spot in my day to see him running around! Is that snow I was seeing? Cold cold temps are coming to my area (Ohio) in the next few days. Luckily it's only a few days.

Btw, I am about 1/2 way through your book. I am really enjoying it! Now to find the time to sit and read!

Thanks so much for your support and for reading the novel I wrote! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it and isnt Mr. Bellows a lovely cat?

it’s a bright spot for me too, to see him running around. I’m always out there talking to him but never see him. I’m also glad he is going in the heated igloo bed. The heating element is only in 1/2 the pad but it’s something and hopefully will keep him warm enough. It’s freezing in there but no wind or snow.

 

[rubysmama]

Oh, look at Oscar running around at 3 AM. What a little night owl.

Happy Holidays to you too, Bitsy's Mom . I hope your first Christmas in your new home is a pleasant one.

 

[rubysmama]

Bitsy's Mom : Happy New Year to you, Oscar, and your other furbabies. Anything new with your handsome panther?

 

[Bitsy's Mom]

Happy New Year Everyone <3

Love and good health to you and all the kitties around the world

Oscar is doing fine. We had an extremely cold spell here and I was super worried. Luckily he was fine as he went into the igloo house which has a half-heated pad. I considered buying a fully-heated pad but since he is using the current one where half is heated and the other half isn't so they can move off if they get hot - I decided not to mess with things.

He would spend most the day in there and I know this since I would watch the video and the moment that I opened the back door - which is 80 feet away mind you - he would shoot out of the igloo and up into the loft. It amazes me that he would hear me, but he did. So I then go in, put the food down and leave. He would come back down, eat the food and head into the igloo.

I just hope that igloo is enough if we have a prolonged cold spell. No way to know if it is enough?

He does have a new behavior at night, and that is sitting on the window sill and looking outside. I saw on the video that he was doing at at 9 pm, and so I went outside with a flashlight and played with the dog. He watched. And then, I went out and brought one of my spoiled indoor kitties out - who is also solid black - and kissed and held them outside. Not for very long as they were not happy - but I thought perhaps Oscar would be interested? The things we do . .. .

Love to all of you

 

[rubysmama]

Interesting that Oscar has started looking out the window at night. Maybe in the spring he'll be ready for his catio. Good idea cuddling with your indoor kitty where Oscar can see you. Let him see that cats don't have to hide from humans.

 

[rubysmama]

Bitsy's Mom : Haven't heard from you in over a month. How are you and Oscar doing.

 

[Bitsy's Mom]

Hi Rubysmama,

Thanks for checking in. I was going to post today to let you know that Oscar made out fine during that horrible couple of frigid days here in Connecticut. It was - 8 F at night so I was very worried. I had bought a heater to use but then felt concerned since a heater draws 1200 amps and I would have had to run two extension cords from the house - one from the outside outlet in front and one from the back. I couldn't just use the one since I also had his igloo house and food bowl plugged in. I started worrying that if an outlet failed in the middle of the night - I wouldn't know it. So, I just hoped that the heated igloo cat bed would be enough and thankfully it was.

He is doing fine it seems. He is so big and fluffy I bought a new YEOOWW banana for him and I think he was up and crazy running around. Stuff was strewn about and I when in that morning, he was sound asleep in the igloo and went bounding out and up to the loft. He was huge And, that was the first time I have seen him in months. I go in there and sit and talk to him but he never appears. I am still hopeful.

I will post a video of him later today. I am grateful he is well even if I can't interact with him . . .I adore him.

 

[di and bob]

A heated cat hut is fine, I have used them for years. It gets down to 15F below zero here. My huts are in a garage though.