My Feral And Rescued Cats

[Jcatbird]

Thank you rubysmama ! You may have more confidence in me than I do. For their sakes, I hope it is so.I must leave it to the cats to decide what they can do. I will give them all I can.

 

[Jcatbird]

My news tonight is very good. Mister BJ has honored me. We sat together in the woods for a long time this afternoon. A neighbor across the road was mowing and it made him nervous so I wanted to try and calm him. After awhile he did settle down. A steady breeze was blowing and that made it pleasant to sit in the brush with him. The sound of the mowing finally stopped and all I could hear were the birds and the leaves rustling in the trees. It became a relaxing time. I came in long enough to fix BJ some supper and when I returned I found him still sitting where I had left him. I had his treats in my shirt pocket. I sat down under the tree next to him and put his plate down by my knee. He came to eat without hesitation. After he had gotten a few bites I quietly reached over and stroked down the back of his neck. To my surprise, he kept eating. although I have touched him before, he reacted by backing away and giving me a suspicious look. While he ate tonight I petted him several times. He did flinch once but he didn’t leave. After he had eaten a good bit of his supper I put a piece of ham on my knee. He came to me and ate it. I then placed ham on my opposite knee. He had to step in my lap to reach it but, he did not hesitate. I continued working with him for a bit. Each time he got closer in to my lap. He is normally wary of my camera but this afternoon he decided that he was curious about it. All of this is great progress. Just a week ago I was only allowed to sit near him. If he gives me a chance, I have every hope of convincing him to come in to safety. I think the following pictures may make others smile as much as I did today. Ferals can trust us. Maybe one day soon he will reach into my pocket for his treats.

 

[ileen]

Whoa! Was all that food for BJ? That looks to be about 4 days' worth of food for my cat.

 

[Jcatbird]

ileen Well...... lol. Yes, but BJ is a very large cat. That was a can of Fancy Feast, a can of Shreds and dry food. He eats it all! He is getting a larger portion right now because he has been living off the land for at least a year. He was quite thin when I first started feeding him and he still eats like he is starving. He is filling out now but has a little roughness to his fur and some places that are healing on him. You can see some of it in the close up picture across his nose. I can’t get him to the vet yet so I am boosting his system every way I can. I want him to get used to eating here and not foraging. The closer I can keep him to my house, the safer he will be. I have been known to slip some worm and flea medicine into the food too so I want him to eat what I provide instead of some sweet little bird. Using food to bond with a feral is my best tool outside of trust. I hope this is just the start of a long relationship with this cat but if he did leave before I can catch or trap him, I want to know that ,at least ,I built him up before Winter. I am still trying to trap him but so far he has managed to eat from more than one kind of trap without tripping it. That caused me to change my tactics. Getting him to eat out of my lap today gives me hope that I may be able to get him another way. If I get to bring him in then he will ,eventually, be nourished enough and secure enough to know that food will come regularly and he won’t need to gobble up everything he can find. I hope! I do have two other large cats that eat almost that much. They are Maine Coon and just seem to require more. My little Blue Smoke would burst if she tried to eat that much! (Or I would have to put her on a treadmill!)Thank goodness they don’t all eat like that!

 

[Norachan]

Awesome! He's such a beautiful boy. I do hope you can get him indoors before winter. It looks like you're well on your way to getting him to fully trust you.

One of my tiniest cats, Mia, will eat 4 small cans and a bowl of dry food in one go. I don't know where she puts it. She has always eaten more than some of the boys that are twice her size.

I think being a total Diva must burn off a lot of calories.

 

[ileen]

I love the close up of BJ - is that from a camera phone, or do you have a better camera?

I realize I was exaggerating. It wasn't four days' worth of food for Luciano, it was four meals, so two days. He gets half a can of Fancy Feast each meal and a scoop of dry. Maybe BJ's plate had more than four scoops of dry, but I don't think there were eight scoops.

Luciano is a big boy in that he is tall and long, but he is 15 pounds or so & looks slim. My nephew's cat is 14 pounds and he is a chubster.

 

[maggiedemi]

That's awesome that he sat on your lap. Yeah, Demi loses his mind when he hears a lawnmower. He's also afraid of Amish horses and now road pavers. Oddly, he is not scared of storms at all, but Maggie is. She will sit in my lap during any kind of storm.

 

[Jcatbird]

Norachan Mia is a diva because she is so beautiful. That look she is giving the. Camera is priceless! I think some of us burn off all our calories doing a lot of running around!
Following cats in the woods makes me hungry every time!

Bj was missing this morning but apparently he was just hiding from neighbors who were making noise. He met me a little further into the woods this afternoon. He was nervous but okay.

( the second plate in this picture was not supper. Lol He didn’t eat breakfast and it was full of ants. I had to toss it out.)
ileen I do everything related to TCS on my phone. I had a home break-in early during the cat rescues and I lost my computer and a few other things. I still have a camera but without my computer it is pretty useless. I still prefer my “old school” Minolta. Lol The phone does a pretty good job but it is hard for me to do all the posting on such a small screen with my vision problems. At some point I will get around to replacing the computer but right now every minute is devoted to the kitties. It can take an entire day just cleaning carriers, cages, bedding etc.
I knew you were probably laughing at BJ’s plate. It was very full. How about a picture of Luciano? I love seeing everone’s kitties. 15 pounds is not exactly a tiny kitty. I have one cat that is long and lean. He has some Siamese in him although he is black. Two of his siblings were marked like Siamese one was kind of half Siamese marked and half black. Purry is almost all black with on tiny spot of white on his chest. He moves and sounds like a Siamese though. Very sleek cat.

M maggiedemi Thanks for that about BJ. Poor kitties getting scared. A mower must look like a monster to them. I am glad Maggie finds safety in your comfort during storms. Kitty trust!

The news for tonight is a little different. I have followed some posts from Norachan about cat cafe adoptions and thought that was a great idea. I even commented to someone recently that I wished we had something like that here. Today I got the news that one of my cats that was at the adoption shelter had been chosen to go for the “Grand Opening” of our new Cat Cafe. He will be staying there and, hopefully, will get adopted. Man is a sweetheart so I hope he finds love quickly. His brother, Eisenhower, was invited to go too but declined the invitation to go with the person who collected the kitties. Hmmmmm. Not sure why. Jazzy will be going to the shelter from foster care on Thursday. The cafe opens on Saturday. Maybe she can join Eisenhower for company. I hope the Cafe is successful. I had imagined it would be coffee and food but this is actually wine and pastries. I have two friends who will be going to check the place out for me. I should have been notified about the transfer but I just found out so I will have some questions about the protocol there. I am told they are following all the same rules as the shelter so it should be a great thing. Man may be very lucky to be there at the opening. Their website promotes no kill for shelters in the future and is donating some portion of certain sales to the shelter. A business that can survive and help the shelter animals could be fantastic! They have some really cute gift items offered. I hope all goes very well. They certainly chose some very pretty cats from the shelter.
For those of you who need a refresher on who Man is, here are a couple of pictures.

Other news of the day is that the Gingerbread babies are well and all three go to be fixed tomorrow. Once they recover at foster care they will go for adoption. This was my final look from them. They were so scared it broke my heart. They are some of the most beautiful kittens I have ever seen. It has been a long journey with them and I am grateful that they have survived all to make it to this point. A large part of me goes with them. It was a very different adventure for them than it was for most of the babies I have saved. I hope that good fortune continues to protect them. Every time I look at the door of the Gingerbread house I will imagine their little faces looking back at me. Good luck my prescious Gingerbread babies!

No more hunting the woods in the dark for lost babies. I hope they will be safe from now on.

 

[ileen]

Luciano is pictured in my signature and my avatar, but maybe you can't see those so well on your phone. Here are a few pics.

 

[maggiedemi]

That's exciting about the cat café. I think they should have stuck with coffee, but that's just my opinion.
Sad about the gingerbread babies leaving, they were my favorites, but I think they will find homes quickly with those beautiful coat colors.

 

[Jcatbird]

ileen Oh! I love the pictures. I do have trouble seeing the avatars. That last picture really made me smile. That is s happy kitty. Such a sweet face. Pretty eyes too. That stretched out position reminds me of Banjo. Distant cousins!

M maggiedemi i agree that coffee may be the better choice. I am looking into the details about the system there. I believe it is a limited thing on the consumption of wine. Making a decision to adopt is a serious commitment and should only be done while totally sober. Since children 12 and older are admitted then I suspect there is some dileneation made between drinking and adopting. I will let you know. That is one of the reasons I am having two separate and trusted cat people check out the cafe. One will be present at the opening as well as checking in as frequently as possible. They may be taking a job there if it can be managed. Animal lovers in that area are very serious about protecting them and I have been connected with some of them for a good 30 years so I am very grateful to have them in the cat’s corner right now. I wish every town had people who are able and willing to do what these people do. I really feel that this will work out to be a very positive thing. Just checking to be sure. Even if they just served coffee, if they have one of my babies ( really any cat) I am going to go to see if it is a good enviroment. I do that at shelters, pet shops etc. anyway.

I share your feelings about the Gingerbread kittens. There is just something in those faces. I love every kitty that I see but some of them are harder to release. That family just seemed to belong in that little house. Bright was always there to answer the door. If someone adopted the family I would give them the house! Hey! Maybe I could use that idea to keep them together! Thanks Maggiedemi for giving me the thoughts that lead me to that idea! I am going to make that offer!

 

[rubysmama]

So happy to hear the Gingerbread kittens are well. I loved them too. Particularly little Bright's sweet face looking out the Gingerbread House. In fact, I think Bright should be your avatar/profile pic. And just to make things easier for you, I cropped the pic to the right size. No pressure, though.

That's cool about the new Cat Cafe. Hope Man welcomes all the visitors, and finds one to take him home with them.

 

[Jcatbird]

rubysmama thank you and done! Look top left!

 

[maggiedemi]

thank you and done! Look top left!

You couldn't make a more perfect avatar if you tried.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking about the wine, it clouds judgement, but maybe they will limit the number of drinks.

 

[rubysmama]

rubysmama thank you and done! Look top left!

It looks great.
And how cool that this icon looks so much like Bright.

 

[Jcatbird]

Icon looks like The cat named Avatar too! Lol

 

[Jcatbird]

Pan to the bottom for smiles only.


Rough news today folks. My post must be early. Kelly has complications. Local vet out for today. Place that performed surgery not answering either. I can get her to my vet tomorrow. Her Spay may be an issue. I will post pics for educational purposes. As I know more I will update.

Warning do not look if you are sensitive to seeing surgical sites. Not an open wound but does not look typical.

Mittwo has been returned by the person who adopted her. Very sad news. They seem to have mishandled her but I am waiting for updates on her. They reported that they tried to put Mittwo into a carrier and she bit them. I am assuming she was frightened although she never refused to go into one before, either here or at the shelter. It does take some practice to handle a cat. She was already totally up to date on all vet care, even has microchip but maybe she got sick or needed a vet visit for some reason and had to go into a carrier. We all know they get scared at times like that. Patience must be used when trying to crate a scared cat. I am still in shock that she bit them. Totally out of character for that cat. I could see Flowers doing that but not Mittwo. If she has problems adapting I will be bringing her back to live here. We will have to hope that she will readjust. I am very upset for her but glad this person returned her if they don’t have a clear understanding of how to handle cat situations. If they loved her I wish they had called the shelter for advice. Maybe they would do better with a kitten or perhaps a puppy.

Family illness right now. I will post when I can.

Going to leave you now on a happy note.
Kodiak is socializing much better.
In these pictures she is jammed against the side of my face, petting me. Very kind of her!

 

[rubysmama]

I didn't look at the pic, but sending healing vibes for Kelly.
Also hope your ill family member feels better soon.
And that Mittwo will be able to be re-adopted out.
Take care of yourself, your family and the kitties.

 

[maggiedemi]

Mittwo has been returned by the person who adopted her. Very sad news. They seem to have mishandled her

When you said mishandled, my heart dropped. I hope they didn't hurt Mittwo.
Yeah, I've been hurt a few times, mine don't bite, but they like to slash me every now and again. I know that it's out of fear and I would never abandon them. Like you said, wish they would have called for advice.
Great pics of Kodiak!

 

[Jcatbird]

Ever have one of those days? Feel like things are coming down on your head? Then here is your giggle. Mackie is crowding Whistle , just a little.