My Feral And Rescued Cats

[Mamanyt1953]

Jcatbird , did you get a card from me? Just need to know it got there safe.

 

[Jcatbird]

Mamanyt1953 I only get my mail once a week and since today was a holiday it will be at least Thursday before I can get it again. If it came in since last Monday it may be at the Post Office. I live in a place where they don’t deliver the mail. As soon as I can get it I will let you know. I will try to find someone to get me there before then if possible. It’s too far to walk. It will be nice to get something besides bills or ads!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I think it will make you chuckle! My mail box is only about 75 yards from my house, and I only get up there about once a week!

 

[Jcatbird]

Mamanyt1953 Yes! I did laugh. Now maybe you will too! I am very late posting this for a good reason. My explanation will not be brief. The photos will say a lot!

Monday’s are always supply day here. Everything for the week or more is brought in at once. Unless you forget a few items on the front porch. I realized I had left one bag by the door and retrieved it late tonight. I admit I was a little tired when I brought it in and failed to switch on the front light. As I came back in Lady dashed across my path as I entered the living room. I always put life and limb at risk to avoid stepping on a cat so we had a small catastrophe. We are all unhurt but in the attempt to avoid falling the bag swung and hit the edge of the door frame. It broke and the contents flew across the room. One item was a can which hit a small box of cat litter. The cat litter poured out onto the floor. Not so bad....... except that an entire bottle of dish liquid accompanied the can and splattered all over the room. When I realized no one was hurt, I reacted by bursting out laughing. OMG what a mess! Cats were running, soap was dripping and bubbles were forming. It looked like something from a sitcom or maybe a horror movie. Lol
I have just spent the last hour + trying to clean up the resulting mush. You would think that the litter would absorb the liquid quite well. It absorbed some but not enough. Maybe if I had covered the floor with litter but in reality I think that just would have compounded the problem. So much for mop days being over for a few days! I’m tired but it really was funny. The mess and the looks on the faces of my poor kitties! Besides cleaning the room I had to clean paws. Thrasher got the worst of it. Here is what happened.

Mix one box of cat litter........

With one bottle of dish soap..........

And 18 buckets of water later you still have this........

A Thrasher cat with soapy paws......

Learns how to skate. ( I couldn’t help myself, I laughed but in all fairness, she laughed at me when I made some accidental gymnastic moves myself during the course of the clean up so...)

After she caught me laughing,( never a good thing!) she gives me a dirty look and gives up walking. Then she finds she can’t even jump up to get away from the soap........

So begrudgingly allows me to rescue her....

Only to discover that until she lets Mom clean her paws, she can’t even stand on her usual perch. Poor Thrasher!

With freshly cleaned feet ,she submits to entering the cat house for the first time. Not with pleasure!

Saffron also got a little soapy on two paws but managed to maintain traction and jumped to the top of the piano.

It was obvious which paws were affected.

At first I was worried his front paw was injured as he continued to hold it up.

He even examined the damage! Fortunately he didn’t lick it! I don’t want any of them blowing bubbles. I cleaned him well.

The other cats managed to miss the mess. Mitsy clung to the edge of the sofa....

Flowers made it to the top of a carrier.....

Dolly did get his paws soapy but...

tidied up a little on his own by wiping his paws on the sofa. ( He was happy to let me finish the job)

Banjo got on a small footstool but forced Whistle to remain frozen behind her on a dry spot for the duration.

Muffin had retreated to a cage but was amused by my attempt to mop.....

So she grabbed a mopstring.....

Only to discover that soap tastes really bad! ( I’ll be cleaning her litter box later I bet!)

Even Purry Man knew this was more soap than he wanted to be involved with. He made no attempts to play in the water tonight!

Bonjie watched all that took place from the coffee table as I mopped back and forth, back and forth, back and forth....

Right up until the motion of watching the mop made him sea sick.

In spite of Bonjie getting dizzy, no cats were harmed during the filming of this unnatural catastrophe. I do think a few fleas may have been killed.
I expect to be trying to earn kitty forgiveness for some time to come.
I expect to be mopping up dish liquid residue for years to come! After bucket number 18 was dumped, I decided to dry the floor and resume rinsing tomorrow. At least I got all the cat litter up!
I’ve done all I can for tonight. I’m going to bed!
Have a good night everyone. Still lol

 

[maggiedemi]

Oh man. All we can do when these things happen is laugh! I had a similar experience the other day with my PetSmart order. The box of litter busted and left a trail from the FedEx guy's truck, all the way through the house. To complicate matters, for some strange reason, they taped up the handles to the boxes. You should have seen me trying to carry two 40 pound boxes with no handles! So of course I fell over some clutter, with the 40 pound box. I heard my knuckles go crunch and more litter went everywhere. What a disaster!

 

[rubysmama]

Oh what a nightmare! And you hadn't even been to bed yet. Hope you got some beauty sleep once you dumped the 18th bucket of soapy water.

BTW, was nice seeing Saffron again.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh my goodness Jcatbird and M maggiedemi lordy!!

 

[Jcatbird]

M maggiedemi I hope you are okay! They need to put wheels and a long cord handle on those 40 lb. boxes! Lol At least if they fall over then, they won’t break open! Sounds a lot like my night. Just add soap and stir.

rubysmama At least I got a cardio workout! I am still tired and so are the kitties. Maybe a catnap is in order?!?!?! I’ll still be trying to remove residue today. That’s really good soap! Saffron says,” Hello!”

Furballsmom I think Lordy is exactly what I said when I thought I would land in the whole pile of soap! I just had a vision of me hydroplaning across the whole living room, taking cats down like a bowling ball hitting pins.Whew! It could have been worse. Lol

 

[maggiedemi]

Don't worry I'm tough, I've survived this type of thing before. Another time I was trying to scoop the cats' litterbox out in the garage, but I had food poisoning. I started to feel dizzy and tried to steady myself on the garbage can, but I didn't know that dad had emptied it. So me & the garbage can went flying and landed right in the litterbox.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

OH MY! What an adve...well, what a MISadventure! HUH, I used to be able to strike through on here, but either we can't anymore, or I've forgotten how! ANYWAY...I am glad that everyone survive both at your house, Jcatbird , AND at M maggiedemi 's house!

 

[rubysmama]

I used to be able to strike through on here, but either we can't anymore, or I've forgotten how!

There might be an easier way, but I use a "strike through" generator, like this one: Strikethrough T̶e̶x̶t̶ Generator : Facebook – Twitter – Mobile

S̶t̶r̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶t̶e̶s̶t̶

 

[Jcatbird]

Mamanyt1953 and rubysmama
I think M maggiedemi and I need that app to strike through a couple of rough days! Lol

I am working on forgiveness today.......
on going process.

Here’s how it is proceeding.

Thrasher , thinking it over......

.....I guess so.

Bribing Whistle by massaging behind the giant ears.....

No! More bribery required!

Dolly, I’m busy looking at the ceiling....ask again later.

Purry......Really?

Smokey..... read my face!

Saffron.....I really don’t care. It was a late night. Let me sleep!

Mitsy hasn’t decided yet. Lol

Banjo has retreated to the bedroom and from the look on her face, the answer is no.

The last cat I asked was Lady. She had to think about it a minute....

Turn it over in her mind and then she gave me an......

Okay, I still love you, but please stop mopping for awhile!

Maybe by tomorrow the rest of them will be over it.
Funny thing though.... they all want to cuddle now that it’s close to bedtime.
Happy dreams everyone!

 

[maggiedemi]

I am working on forgiveness today.......
on going process.

Quote them Matthew 18:21-22 about forgiving 77 times. I use this scripture whenever I mess up & need to get somebody to forgive me.

 

[Jcatbird]

M maggiedemi Thanks! I will! Very good post!

 

[Jcatbird]

As you all know, I was very busy with a world of bubbles and upset kitties. I found today that after a night of MANY cats piled on top of me that I have been forgiven. I guess I make a pretty good security blanket. Poor BJ didn’t get his usual dose of attention the last two days and I discovered that it made him a little more appreciative of my attention. He let me pet him all day without a single swat! Yay BJ! I didn’t even need to use the stick to pet him. Lol I did have a little trouble walking though. He kept winding in and out between my legs so I couldn’t move! I got lots of BJ snuggles tonight. Maybe the bubble disaster wasn’t such a bad thing.


My first impression after going in the room with BJ was , uh oh!

Mr. BJ Whiskers stood right over my foot. I waited to see what would come next.

Then he started snuggling. Is that a smile?

He wound himself around my legs.

He went around them so fast he was a blur to the camera at first.

Then he slowed down to look up.

Hey Mom!

Can we just snuggle awhile?

He finally just planted himself as tightly as he could between my legs and stayed there. We got lots of petting and chin rubbing in tonight. My fierce feral forgot to be fierce. His little heart shaped nose gave me many bumps up against my hand. Then I noticed something new.....

While I was gone......someone has been playing with the ball.

BJ figured out what a ball can do! Why is it that all my kitties like to put their toys in their water or food dish?!?!? I think it must remind them of the hunt. Kind of hard for them to eat a fuzzy rubber ball though.
BJ is becoming a housecat.

 

[maggiedemi]

Great pics! My cats won't play with balls. They only play with catnip toys and wand toys. Are there any catnip balls? My cats might like that.

 

[rubysmama]

BJ is becoming a housecat.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

BJ is becoming a housecat.

I had a feeling that he would. I don't know if he will ever be able to leave you, but he is becoming what he was meant to be...contented, loved, happy. I am just thrilled.

 

[Jcatbird]

rubysmama I just found another really great person! They rescued an orange tabby kitten just before a night of snow! The story is wonderful. The kitten is still scared but I think it’s going to be a very happy story! @Whenderful rescued him. The thread is Just Rescued A Kitten Won’t Let us Near Him/Her . Encouragement there by anyone with tips on helping a scared baby would be great! The picture they posted is of the prettiest kitten with a little pink nose. He’s soooo cute! Still nervous but he let her grab him from under her steps so I think this kitten will establish quickly. It always makes me feel so great to hear about another rescue! Another life was saved tonight!

As for my house.... well it’s kitty business as usual. Lol BJ is talking in his room and the rest of the cats are scattered around the house. I am later than usual and must go to bed but here is what happened tonight with BJ. I did say he is “ becoming” a housecat. Lol Until he is neutered and more socialized, he still can’t come in the main part of the house. This is why I have held off....

Take notice of the look in BJ’s eyes....dilated pupils....

Sweet kitty rolling around.....

Again, look at his eyes......

You would probably reach down to pet him now since he is cute and rubbing against a foot......

Look at his eyes......

He is playing with my shoe lol

I always wear old shoes when tending the cats......

Good thing, he is biting at my shoe.... playing......?

Looks sweet, doesn’t he? I did NOT reach down to pet BJ at first tonight. The look in his eyes and the way he rubbed his face on my shoe and then bit the rough edge tipped me off. He was angry and then marked me. Not good. Three things were going on. I knew his was feeling frisky and probably wanted more attention. His actions told me that. The third thing is something I had suspected once but figured it was coincidental. It wasn’t. When I interacted with BJ outside I was always wearing long sleeves because of mosquitos. Inside I don’t always do that. Most of the times that BJ has swatted me I have been wearing short sleeves. Tonight I noticed he kept staring at my bare arms. Oops! There is something about this that bothers him. Either it seems odd to him to see me that way or someone else has had contact with him where their arms were scary or offended some way. Tonight , after focusing on my right arm...........

This is the look he gave me. Yikes! I know what the look in his eyes means. I grabbed the broom to put between us. I simply use it as a barrier but keep it in the room of any new feral that hits. Ha! BJ is faster than I am. He leaped up and swatted my arm. I held the broom between us and gave him a firm, “No BJ! “ Don’t eat Mama.

He laid back down and bit my shoe again! Lol

Once reprimanded he became a docile kitty again. We were able to continue our visit and I was able to pet him with the wand and finally with my hand. He was still nervous of my bare arm but now that I recognize that as an issue with him, we’re going to work on that. I’ll be wearing long sleeves tomorrow but roll the cuff up a little. When he is okay with that I will roll it up a bit more. Hopefully if I do this by degrees he will learn that my arms are okay to see and not a threat. Poor BJ. I’m glad he returned to housecat mode! He still kept his tail a little fluffed up though. I’ll be very relieved when I can get this one neutered! Lol That should help. Thank goodness I did notice the look in his eyes and he listened to me. We are both still learning about each other. He really is a great cat. Figuring it all out just takes time. We’ll get there.

Good night everyone. I am going to lick my wounds now. Or maybe just use alcohol!

 

[rubysmama]

rubysmama I just found another really great person! They rescued an orange tabby kitten just before a night of snow! The story is wonderful. The kitten is still scared but I think it’s going to be a very happy story! @Whenderful rescued him. The thread is Just Rescued A Kitten Won’t Let us Near Him/Her .

Thanks. I'll check it out, and offer support and encouragement.

Thanks to you, too, for posting in the threads where I've tagged you. I know you're super busy with your own cats, plus other threads on the site, but every so often I see one where I think your experience and encouragement will help.

Good night everyone. I am going to lick my wounds now. Or maybe just use alcohol!

You and BJ certainly are night hawks! If it weren't November, the sun would be coming up by the time you headed to bed tonight. Hope your arm is ok. And that BJ has less reversions to his feral/tomcat self. Yep, neutering is a definite priority with him.