Cats Do The Unexpected, Watching Over #Feral and Homeless #Cats, Part 4

Just when you think you have cats figured out...


Romeo is a feral cat who won't come close.  He watches from afar.  There's a pine tree at the edge of our property that makes a perfect cover when he doesn't want to be seen.  One of the feral cats, Lance, is around all the time now.  He's not wandering off after he eats and he considers our back yard to be his.  But Romeo is interested in the food in the feeders.  At least that's what we thought he was interested in.

I have a little deck off my office that we never use.  Steps lead down to the backyard through French doors that we keep locked.  Once in a while I open the doors to let fresh air in and our three inside kitties like looking through the screen.  This day, it was closed.

Zoie, our year old black rescue kitty, saw him first.  Romeo was sunning himself on the deck!  I think he was oblivious to us behind the glass, but who knows.  Zoie meowed and he could have heard that.  I was talking to my husband and he could have heard that.  But we watched as he rolled and sunned and had a general good time.

After a little while, I went out another door to the back yard where the feeders are located.  Romeo was on one of the steps, watching me.  We looked each other in the eyes.  He didn't run this time.  But I told him I'd put food down and leave.  I spoke to him in a low calm voice and he kept watching.  I left food in the feeder and went inside.  A few minutes later through the window, I saw him eating.

You just never know what will happen next!

Another story about our ferals next week.

©2013 Karen Rose Smith

 

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Friendship or Mating? Watching Over #Feral #Cats, Part 3

Guinevere

One evening, a change happened between the three feral cats that we're watching over. Catch up with Feral Cat blogs.

We thought the Smith diner for feral cats was closed for the evening. We thought Lance had left and Romeo had come and gone. But then...

I happened to look out the window as darkness was falling.  I called my husband over and the next fifteen minutes were amazing, an absolute study on how two cats relate.  By the way, I'm no expert on any of this behavior. For the past forty years, I've had inside cats. But we're learning.

Feral Cat house with upper loft for dryness and warmth. For now, Lance lays on top! I put catnip at both entrances.

Lance was on the patio at the feeder again.  This beautiful gray and white cat who we'd only glimpsed before cautiously approached the edge of the patio.  Lance saw her and froze.  She froze, too.  They stood that way for a long time.  Then very slowly, Guinevere (which is the name we dubbed her) slowly turned her head away from Lance.  He turned his head away from her.  They stayed in that position like the proverbial statues.

Lance

Even more cautiously...so very slowly...Guinevere lifted one paw at a time in slow motion. Lance remained still.  But then he turned toward her.  At this point they were about three feet apart.  They made some low meow noises, one almost answering the other and once again revolved their heads away from each other.  After a long pause, ever so cautiously, Guinevere took one step at a time toward Lance, approaching closer and closer.  It was like a choreographed dance.  (Again, I have no experience at this but this looked more like a getting-to-know-you session than a mating ritual.)

The reason we came to that conclusion is because of what happened next.  Guinevere slowly and gently brushed her cheek against Lance's--the one that had been injured.

Then Guinevere walked away from him, still in slow motion.  He watched her as she climbed on top of the feral feeder and crouched down.  Lance lay down, too.  They must have watched each other that way for another five mintues.  Afterward with great care, precision, and dexterity, Guinevere stole off the feeder onto the patio once more and headed for the dry food feeder about two feet away from the feral feeder.  Every few inches, she stopped and waited.  He laid on his side and watched.

(Keep in mind, Lance chases Romeo away when he sees him at the feeder.)

As Lance watched, the gray and white beauty dipped into the feeder and he let her.  She ate and left.

The continuing saga of Lance, Guinevere, and Romeo next week!

Romeo

My sleuth, Caprice, in my Caprice De Luca mystery series rescues stray animals. My love of cats and dogs shines through in STAGED TO DEATH, the first book in the series available for Preorder now.

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Watching Over #Feral and Homeless #Cats, Part 2

 

Watching over feral and homeless cats has become part of our daily routine!

When I was growing up, my cousins lived on a farm. On visits, I always headed straight for the barn where the cats and kittens lived. That's where my love of cats began.  After my dad brought a kitten home, I started to learn about cat behavior.

To catch you up, my husband and I have adopted three rescued indoor cats--two are twelve and one is a year old. We found Zoie Joy, the baby, in our backyard last summer at six weeks old, hungry, dehydrated and needing lots of love.  Catch up with Part 1 Seven Lessons I Learned About Feral or Homeless Cats

Because of a dry food we had put near our patio last winter in case Zoie's mom was out there, we had two yellow tabbies visiting. The yellow tabby who we dubbed Lancelot--Lance for short--appeared on our property battered and bleeding with sores on his face and back.  But he (we thought he was a she at the time) was protecting a kitten.  Before we could build enough trust to capture the kitten and maybe its protector) the kitten no longer appeared.  I'm hoping a good family found and adopted him.  Lance, however, kept appearing.  We had set up an igloo in case he and the kitten needed shelter. My blog about feral shelters

Since Lance was so battered and had trouble eating from the injury to his face--I could tell by watching from a window--we got a feral feeder and left canned food, too.  I learned the times when he appeared most--around 8 a.m. and around 4-6 p.m. --and joined him on the patio, sitting very still in those first weeks and talking to him in a low voice.  I was so hoping good food would help him heal.  (I added L-lysine and Omega 3 to those dishes in the beginning. His eyes were runny and I knew the lysine would help that and the Omega 3 would help his coat.  Often adopted cats who have been in the wild have the eye problem for a lifetime.) Then I began moving around slowly when he was there and my husband joined me.  He began taking the morning shift.

After those first few weeks, Lance did begin to heal.  (We considered capturing him and taking him to the vet, but he definitely returned to someplace else after eating on our patio and we didn't know if he was returning to protect kittens.  We also didn't have a place to keep him confined if that was necessary.  Every time I had contact with Lance--he began rubbing against my legs and accepting a head rub--I made sure I left my clothes in the basement and either showered or washed thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap before going near our inside cats.)   Blog about vaccines and L-lysine

Lance in igloo

Lance was definitely a roamer, afraid of confined spaces.  We have a porch area off the patio but could not coax him there.  After he ate (sometimes four plates full plus softened dry food), he washed a few feet away in front of the hydrangea near the igloo.  With catnip as an enticement, he rubbed against the entrance and finally sat inside.  Only for a few seconds, but I felt that was progress.  After he began to feel more comfortable with us, if he saw the other yellow tabby approach, he chased him away.

Romeo on alert

This other yellow tabby, we dubbed Romeo.  Even though Lance chased him, Romeo began visiting regularly, watching from the base of a pine in the distance.  Where Lance might be homeless, Romeo is feral.  If we were outside, he didn't come around.  But after Lance ate and left, we put food down for Romeo.  Sometimes we would catch site of him from the window about fifteen minutes after we went inside.

One evening Lance had eaten and left and we were pruning at the edge of the patio.  Romeo must have been really hungry that night because he ventured to the dish at the other end of the patio and ate.  He was on the alert the whole time, ready to run if we moved.  We didn't move.  This is the same night that a beautiful gray and white cat appeared at the edge of the vegetable garden.  As pretty as she was--thick gray and white coat, no injuries, full face and body--I suspected she was an adopted female.  I was hoping a spayed female!  But she was jumpy, too, and if we moved, she ran.  Still, she didn't seem homeless or feral to me. Just out for an evening jaunt before returning home.

Later that evening when it was almost dark, I happened to look out the window.  I called my husband and what we watched over and the next fifteen minutes was amazing, an absolute study on how two cats behave.

The dance between Lance and Guinevere next week!


My sleuth in my Caprice De Luca mystery series rescues stray animals. My love of cats and dogs shines through her in STAGED TO DEATH, the first book in the series available for Preorder now.

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©2013 Karen Rose Smith

Shelters for #feral or homeless #cats

I love animals.  I'll be including cats and dogs in my mystery series which will begin in December.  But I have to admit, I especially love cats!  We have three rescue cats who are an integral part of our family.  Each came to us as a kitten.  Ebbie was very sick on a friend's farm in winter.  London was a half sister who we brought home a few months later.  Last summer we found Zoie Joy in our backyard, only a pound and a half, hungry and dehydrated in 100 degree heat.  I've had cats all my life and each and every one was a blessing in some way.

Zoie Joy

We live in a semi rural area with a farm in our backyard.  Last winter, seeing a black cat with a quirk in her tail like Zoie, we put out a feeder.  We saw paw prints on snowy mornings, but didn't spot cats on our patio.  However, this summer a Momma and kitten began coming to the feeder in the evenings.  We set up an igloo for shelter but I don't think they used it.  After about a week, only Momma came.  Both were skittish and ran at the first sound of noise.  I'm hoping the baby was rescued by a cat loving family.  They were yellow tabbies and another yellow tabby, even more feral, began eating from the feeder, too, but on a different schedule.  We're able to watch from a window.

Now, Momma will eat when we're on the patio, though sudden movement or loud noise will make her disappear quickly.  The other tabby watches for us about a 1/2 acre away under a tree.  After we go inside, he makes his way to the feeder.  (I'd highly recommend Feral Villa feeder .  We've had one outside throughout the summer.)

In preparation for the next season, we have set up another shelter from Feral Cat Shelter.  We have a deck with stairs that has a landing.  Under the landing near the house seemed to be the best place to put it.  It is protected by phlox and a forsythia now and the landing will act as a second roof to shelter it from rain and snow.  It has a pathway on the bottom for the cat to enter and two doorways.  Then a hole  leads to the protected, insulated raised loft.  We laid barn-like straw as the bottom layer and then some softer hay on top of that.  A dash of catnip, too, which I'll replenish.  The roof can be removed to clean out the shelter, but that's only recommended every 3-4 months.

I'd like to capture Momma and have her spayed.  But we'll see how trust progresses the next few months.  At least with the shelters, we know we've done what we can to help protect these homeless cats from the elements.

Here are some pics of setting up the shelter that might be of interest.

Ebbie

copyright 2013 Karen Rose Smith

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