Little Lovelies
It’s been awhile since the boys have shown up on the blog. July and early August was hectic with both of them as they battled some kind of intestinal infection for several weeks. Samson, who at his chunkiest was 14-15lbs got down to 7lbs and I could feel the bones in his tail. It was not good.. Needless to say I fed him whatever he wanted to eat and now he’s in love with as much tuna as I can give him. And would you believe he’s picky about what kind of tuna it is, too? Cats! (FYI if you are going to give tuna to cats look to give tuna in water, not the tuna in oil.)
Leo was pretty sick for awhile as well, but didn’t lose the weight Samson did. I felt like all I did for two weeks was to follow the cats around to make sure they ate, to see what their bowel movements looked like and to see if any vomit was on the floor. When we left for Washington I was very nervous about leaving them and ended up meeting my mom halfway between Fort Worth and where I live in order to pass the cats off to her to watch for a week. They were right at home being back at their Mimi and PawPaw’s house, a place they lived for a long time while Chris and I were hiking and doing field work.
I’m just glad they are mostly back to normal! Let’s keep it that way.
The brood outside has begun to fluctuate in numbers. I believe most of this has to do with being gone for a week. I’d left food with our neighbors to feed them but I think some of them decided to find other houses to get some grub. Which is good, but I kind of miss having them all around. It seems that right now five to six still stay nearby and look for their twice daily ration of food. However some days I have 10 or more around. This gal above got spayed this weekend along with her sister who you will see in a minute. She is a talker! Meow this, meow that! Very sweet! I think that’s her dad in the background.
Here’s her sister, another sweet kitty. I learned she is a called a dilute tortoiseshell from the woman who has let us borrow traps to get the colony TNRed. Likely her momma was the tortoiseshell that was hit by a car awhile back. I miss her.
The rest of the ones hanging around are all male adults. This male was one of the first neutered and he is pretty friendly. He needs a name—they all need names.
Two of the other males head butting…they have all been doing this lately, something I hadn’t seen them do before. Either they are more comfortable around us or they like each other. Good thing everyone except for two are fixed. There’s a black cat that I just identified as male and a calico kitten that I really need to get. As calicos are generally female, I really need to get her. (this link will go into genetic detail—fascinating stuff…and I didn’t know calicos were a version of torties!)
The ferals are very sweet and will generally let you get pretty close to them, though some are more suspcious than others. I do notice that they will congregate near our front door and lounge as if they are waiting for us. And in the mornings they all runnnnnnn over to the front door as soon as I open it and get all antsy for food.
Definitely an entertaining bunch!
3 Comments
chel
I think it’s so amazing your new lovely house came with a lovely cat colony! Although I’d be so tempted to adopt a few, or all… which is probably why I’m sort of relieved we have no stray cats. I’m glad your boys are feeling better- so happy for you! A few years ago Delilah was super sick and after about a month and delaying our trip to Disney we decided to go for just a few days. I think she was probably more at ease after we left because I wasn’t lurking around behind her, in tears, watching her every move, trying to get her to eat, and talking to her. When we came home, I was surprised at how much healthier she seemed- it boosted my spirits to walk in the door and see her, and realize “oh my gosh, she looks okay!”
Moosie
Here kitty kitty!!!! They are soooooo cute!!!!! I could be one of those old ladies w tons of cats in the house,
Sam and Leo are the best boys ever. It was nice to have the visit Mimi n Pawpaw. Kylie is chewing on my foot as I type.
Patrice
Glad to hear your boys are feeling much better!! So scary!! What do they think of the cat colony outside? You are amazing to take care of all these felines.