Homeless cats
Jul. 7th, 2017 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeOne of our neighbors (the source of Lillian) produces multiple litters of kittens annually, and last year or so, someone dumped a bunch of black and tuxedo kittens at their house. They've sort of been taking care of them, but the kittens also grew up pretty feral and raiding garbage cans and the like. The black and white one was aggressive as a kitten; the others are just terrified.
Now the black one has her own litter - apparently her second, poor thing. She's been hanging around on my front lawn and under our trees and among our bushes. Today when I came home from my errands, I saw that she had at least two of her kittens with her! They dashed off, and she stayed put to keep an eye on me.
Ajani and Sorin eat dry food regularly, and two cans of Fancy Feast wet food a day. Ajani (the arbiter of such things) didn't like the chicken flavor I'd given them yesterday, so I opened a can of it and spooned it into a bowl for the black kitty. She was so starving that she gulped the whole thing down, while I sat right beside her and talked to her. Then she ate a bowl of dry food... and another black cat appeared, even more skittish. I'm guessing he's her brother. He didn't eat any food until I left the yard for a bit. I refilled the bowl with more dry food.
Then Henry, the barrel-shaped cat across the street appeared and took command, as he does. He stood there eating the food himself, until I put him out of the yard and shut the gate. The mama cat then ate another half bowl of dry food... and finally was content and sat there grooming herself. The other black cat watched and waited for me to leave. I didn't see the kittens again; they're pretty big though and probably fine being ignored by their mom.
So we'll see if I can succeed in making friends with her. If I want to feed her, I'll have to sit there to keep Henry from stealing it all. If I can actually tame her, then I could get her spayed; we'll see.
(Oh, ha, it's the 40th anniversary of the day I first saw Star Wars and had my first kiss.)
Now the black one has her own litter - apparently her second, poor thing. She's been hanging around on my front lawn and under our trees and among our bushes. Today when I came home from my errands, I saw that she had at least two of her kittens with her! They dashed off, and she stayed put to keep an eye on me.
Ajani and Sorin eat dry food regularly, and two cans of Fancy Feast wet food a day. Ajani (the arbiter of such things) didn't like the chicken flavor I'd given them yesterday, so I opened a can of it and spooned it into a bowl for the black kitty. She was so starving that she gulped the whole thing down, while I sat right beside her and talked to her. Then she ate a bowl of dry food... and another black cat appeared, even more skittish. I'm guessing he's her brother. He didn't eat any food until I left the yard for a bit. I refilled the bowl with more dry food.
Then Henry, the barrel-shaped cat across the street appeared and took command, as he does. He stood there eating the food himself, until I put him out of the yard and shut the gate. The mama cat then ate another half bowl of dry food... and finally was content and sat there grooming herself. The other black cat watched and waited for me to leave. I didn't see the kittens again; they're pretty big though and probably fine being ignored by their mom.
So we'll see if I can succeed in making friends with her. If I want to feed her, I'll have to sit there to keep Henry from stealing it all. If I can actually tame her, then I could get her spayed; we'll see.
(Oh, ha, it's the 40th anniversary of the day I first saw Star Wars and had my first kiss.)