The Ferals

Police at my door yesterday (this time they were the ones stealing my license plate) necessitated that I get up far earlier than I wanted to on a Saturday, but it did mean that when I looked outside from my balcony I discovered Walsingham (the pictures were all blurry of him, though) and Agatha hanging out in the shade.

Then, later in the day, Little Grey And Amaranth posed for a few shots. The cooler weather has been helping me to spy more kitties.


Later still, at a grocery store 2 blocks away, I spied this little guy. He's definitely not tame (he ran from me.) I had stopped, thinking it might be Gremlin, but he's definitely not. He's pretty young looking, too. He seems to be living under the building before which he's standing in the picture (I saw him go into a hole beside it.) I'm obviously not looking for another project, but I'll be keeping an eye out over there, to see if it's a colony or a single cat or what's going on.

Kittens Update

Okay, firstly, Miss Bea, of whom I will hopefully have a picture in the next day or so. She went through her surgery just fine on Thursday, as I mentioned before, and came home and was acting normal (well, normal for her) by Friday. (She was a bit wobbly still, on Thursday.) I can verify her normal behavior because I was over at her house, and even though I was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, she still hissed at me (and my stuffed big bad wolf.)

But alas, I got a call today from Miss Bea's mom. Her incision was red and oozy, and so they were off to the vet. The vet said, 'Yep, it's infected.' Apparently Baby B licked it, and kitty mouths are dirty. The wound has been cleaned, and Miss Bea now has a cone-collar, antibiotics for twice a day, and has to have her wound cleaned daily, as well as pain-killers if necessary. Poor thing. But through it all she was eating/drinking normally and playing, so I have every faith that she'll recover very quickly. Still, think good thoughts for the little one.

There's no actually Malcolm news, other than that he's doing fine, but upon plugging in my camera I found some pictures that I had never posted that I thought I'd share. This first one is from the day Malcolm moved to his new home. He's hiding under a couch. The next one, of a tabby cat you haven't seen before, is Malcolm's new brother Fritz. Fritz and Malcolm are getting along now, everybody sleeping on the same bed. His new family has apparently managed to dissuade Mal from sucking on fingers any more, which I think is a bit sad, but Mal is still happily kneading at things and purring and trying to sleep on people's faces, so that's all right then.

The last picture of is again of Malcolm, from about 2 weeks ago. I went over to pick up the crate in which I had delivered him. He was immediately frightened of me, and I get the impression that he reacts to everyone but his family that way now. I found him hiding in the bathroom and scooped him up (poor thing) and got a tiny bit of loving in. Then he hid under the bed and his new-dad didn't mind me snapping this picture of Malcolm hiding there. As you can see, he's still a very handsome fellow. What you can't see is that he is getting bigger, and starting to grow into his tail. I'm hoping his family will send me some pictures.

I get more stories about Miss Zoe than I do about Malcolm. Her household's current fear is that when it comes time for Zoe to move to CA with V's middle-daughter, V's older-daughter isn't going to allow it. Zoe has 100% adopted the older daughter, spending most of her time in that room, sleeping on her bed and following her around when she's home.

Wembley, the large family dog, stayed nervous around Zoe for a while-- at one point apparently she'd stolen his bed, sitting right in the middle of it, and he wouldn't reclaim it. He's make wide circles around her whenever he needed to pass by, too. One morning V saw Zoe steal a large piece of dog food from Wembley's bowl (the pieces are about as big as Zoe's head!) and Wembley went to V with a look as if to say, "But mom! You yell at me if I steal from the kitty dishes, aren't you going to do something about this?!"

More recently, with the gradual (very gradual) shift to cooler weather here in AZ, V had her kitchen door partly open so that Wembley could go in and out. She'd thought that Zoe was in with her daughter but looked up to see Zoe sitting outside. She called Zoe! and Wembley went outside and herded Zoe back indoors!! How incredibly cools is that?

Beatrice's Surgery & Ferals Update

Okay, that title makes it sounds like something was wrong with Beatrice, but no. Today she was just off to Altered Tails for the routine spaying. (Don't forget, you can donate to Altered Tails, to make a difference in the lives of animals, both with and without human families.)

I got a call from Bea's mom while they were on the way home. Bea was very unhappy and confused when she was left. She's now groggy but awake. Confused enough, though, that she pooed in her carrier-- ahh, the fun parts of pet ownership!

Enjoy these pictures from just a few days ago. Her tummy is probably mostly spot-less now, though, 'cause they'd have had to shave her. Poor polka-dots, but they'll grow back. :)

Feral Spotting: Despite not posting much, I have been keeping an eye out for our ferals. They eat a *ton*, so even when I don't see them, I know someone's eating!

Yesterday, however, I had a really pleasant surprise-- in the morning I saw Cyrano, not a usual occurrence. Even better in the evening I saw Agatha!! I hadn't seen her in probably a good 2 months-- not since I was with my neighbor trying to rescue James from the drainage tunnel back in August, I think. I'd seen Walsingham around a bit, and they had previously almost always been together, so it worried me that I wasn't seeing her. But there she was!

Cats I see on a pretty much daily basis: Bessie, Little Grey, Mistoffolees, Gandolf (still thin, but still eating and here), Amaranth, Daphne

Cats I see fairly regularly: Daisy, Pigpen, Aloysius, Walsingham

Cats I see rarely: Cyrano, Moo-Cow Kitty #4, Agatha, Athos

Cats who are currently MIA: Gremlin (not seen since July), Barnaby (not seen for about 6 weeks), Creamsicle (not seen in about 4 weeks.)

Mario was spotted by someone else recently, but I only 1/2 consider him part of the Colony. (Hen mostly gets his food and love from neighbors farther south of my particular building.
And he's not feral.)

Obviously I worry about the cats I don't see much, but I should also point out that lately I'm not beating the bushes looking for them-- not because I don't want to but because this semester is kicking my butt. ARG. This is definitely my hardest semester of grad school thus far (and the economic worries, and fear of loss of funding, is not helping!!) So bear with me and we can hope that when classes end, and then when my schedule radically changes in the Spring, things will be different.

(Of course, the best time to see the ferals is in the wee hours of the morning, as I discovered last week when one day, at 6:30 am I had a cranky policeman at my door, informing me that my license plate was found a few towns over, and that the plate on my car was from a different town still. Cue me standing out in the chilly morning in just my pjs and robe, and several cranky cats wondering why there were so many people around, making them nervous about eating their breakfasts!)

Maolcolm's New Home (and other updates)

(Pictures to be added upon finding my wayward camera.)

So, almost two weeks ago now, I loaded wee Malcolm into a cat carrier and took him to his new home. He cried the whole time we were in the car, and I tried to talk to him about his loving new family, but he would have none of it. Just, "Mew! Mew, mew, meeeeeewwww. Mew. Mew. Mew."

Thankfully, it's a short drive.

So we arrived. As with Zoe, we left Mal in his carrier for a while, to see if the resident cat, a wonderful boy named Fritz, was interested. He pretty much wasn't. Unlike Arwen and Zoe, Fritz didn't go up to the crate, just watched warily.

Eventually I let Mal out, and like Zoe, he didn't actually want out. He stayed in the carrier until I actually removed him. But once I did that, he was pretty happy to (carefully) explore. Weirdly, he just ignored Fritz mostly, he sniffed him, then kept going. He was scared, clearly, belly low to the ground, but interested.

After about 10 minutes of this, Fritz got annoyed and growled a bit.

Malcolm just kept exploring. He learned about stairs and was shown to the litterbox, and the bedroom, and all the space he didn't get to have when living in my bedroom.

When I left, Malcolm was still exploring and Fritz was still growling, but not too much.

Since then things have only gotten better over there. I've heard that Fritz isn't completely adjusted (he doesn't sleep on the bed any more, but the assumption is that he will again eventually.) The two cats play a little, although Fritz, a long time only cat, is a little confused by it.

Fritz's favorite thing is his tent-- his people use a blanket and some pillows to build him a fort on the couch, and Fritz will happily sit inside it for aaaaages. And now he lets Malcolm join him!!

So, the kitties are adjusting and happy. Malcolm continues to try to sleep on people's heads. And he continues to suck on people's fingers, and generally seems to be a happy boy. I got to see a couple of pictures of him on Saturday and he is, indeed, getting bigger-- his tail is sooper long and his legs are long.

As for Miss Zoe, she is also doing very well. She has her family's dog (a chow, lab, retriever mix) completely afraid of her, thinking she's a big fierce tiger. She follows the oldest daughter around, skittering after her when she calls, "C'mon Zo-Zo!" I think this is absolutely fabulously cute!!

Beatrice hates me. I saw her on Sunday, and previously last Saturday, and both times she spent the whole time growling and hissing at me, and even striking at me (with claws) if I came close enough. Yesterday I left her alone, but she actually stalked up to me and batted at me. The theory is that she smells other cats on me and she has become fiercely territorial, but I think it might be more than that. Oddly, her mother gave her a bath yesterday evening, after I left, and it made her completely calm, and afterwards she snuggled into a towel and her mom's arms.

It doesn't matter how many cats and kittens I meet, help raise or whatever, I will never understand them.

(My own spooky kitty, who generally doesn't like people and doesn't care to be touched, gave me kisses and let me pet her a bunch on Saturday. I figure that was her birthday present to me, as I turned 29. She hasn't let me pet her since, of course... heh.)

A Good Day for Moo-Cow Kitties

I was just out getting my mail and spotted 3 out of 4 moo-cows. And I saw a 4th earlier today.

I saw Cyrano earlier today, which was great as I hadn't seen him in a while. (Generally speaking, Bessie is the only Moo-Cow you can count on seeing around here.) Then when walking back from the mailroom I spotted a kitty in the bushes. I stopped to chat with him and realized it was dapper Aloysius. Then at the food dish (which I had just refilled moments before, although DNL had left food out earlier) I spotted Bessie and Athos!! I hadn't seen Athos in a long time-- as long as it's been since seeing Cyrano, actually.

Walsingham (Little Orange) has become a staple again, but I'm worried about Agatha (Little Crooked) having not seen her in a long time. But, as evidenced by the return of the Mysterious Moo-Cows, you never know.

I had also just commented on how long it's been since I'd seen Daisy, and then I saw her yesterday.

So now I'm going to comment on how long it's been since I've seen Gremlin and Barnaby (Splotch) and, as mentioned, Agatha.

Weirdly, I haven't seen Creamsicle in a few days, but hopefully that's just because I haven't been out much.

Amaranth, Pigpen, Little Grey Girl, Bessie, and Gandolf are the ones currently most likely to be spotted.

DNL is still very worried about Gandolf. She called me over on Friday ('causing me to trip down the stairs and twist my ankle so that it is still not recovered) to tell me about it. She thinks he has worms because he eats but gains no weight. I asked her what she wanted me to do about it, frankly, because he's feral. I cannot catch him without sitting out all night long and catching eleventy-billion other cats first, and that's only if we don't feed them for two days, which alway upsets DNL. So...?

Man, that sounds hard-hearted of me. I want to help Gandolf. Of course I do. And if it were something as simple as worms (but you tell me how I'm going to get a ~!@# fecal sample from a feral cat) then it could be treated in one dose. But if it's something more significant-- diabetes? FIV? FeLV? It's not like I can just give him a pill once a day when I can't get more than 5 feet away from him. I do the best I can.

...

In happier news, the best I can includes finding Malcolm a home. As of today it is official that his new people's land-people said yes. He's going to his new home tomorrow evening. I will, of course, miss him. That should frankly go without saying. But he's been pining for Zoe (or at least companionship) since Friday and it's driving me a bit nuts. He'll be happier with his new people and their other cat (Fritz!) And my cats will be happier, too!!!

Zoe has Moved!

I'm sitting here in Beatrice's abode to write this update. I'd love to show you pictures of Baby B but I forgot my camera. Also, I apparently smell too much like other cats, so she hisses and bats at me. I'm actually sporting a bandaid across my forehead because she took a swipe that connected (after the one that removed my glasses) and I was bleeding kind of profusely. She's a very territorial beastie. But more importantly, she's a happy one, when her space isn't being invaded by cat-smelly visitors, and she's healthy and playful.... if a bit strange.

(She's currently trying to 'kill' a light-up magic wand that her mommy is taunting her with. The evening I've spent over at 'her' house has been punctuated with hisses and growls. I suggested Feliway...)
-----------------------------

Now then, let's talk about Zoe. On Friday evening, after a long day during which I must admit I was quite sad, I bundled her up and drove her to her new home. My friend, V, agreed to adopt Zoe for her daughter, who lives in CA. Zoe will spend most of her time, after January, in CA, but when V's daughter is home, Zoe will be, too. Therefore it was imperative for Zoe to fit in with V's other pets, a dog and a cat.

We left Zoe in her crate at first, so that the family cat, Arwen, could sniff her. Arwen was not immediately intrigued, but eventually came to the crate and sniffed. I could see that inside the crate, Zoe was sniffing the bigger cat, too.

The family dog, Wembley, a large and friendly mix, sniffed the box and Zoe hissed and jumped, 'causing the whole crate to move. Wembley took off to hide behind V.

Eventually we let Zoe out and she fairly calmly started exploring in ever widening circles. She went right up to Arwen and the two cats touched noses. Then Zoe moved on, and Arwen followed, as if half to keep an eye on her new little sister and half asking to play with her. She'd reach out ever so gently with one delicate paw as if to ask Zoe to play. Zoe, however, was too interested in looking around, and avoiding-- but also checking out-- the giant dog.

I have never seen two cats acclimate themselves to each other so quickly. Never. It was amazing.

I left after a time, sad to leave Zoe of course, but anxious to check on Malcolm, since he was alone for the first time. It turned out it was a good thing, because he was miserable and I rather suspect that he was meowing for much of the time I was gone.

Today I heard from V again, and Zoe is eating, drinking, using the litter box and generally making herself at home. Arwen is acting as though Zoe has always been there. Wembley is still giving Zoe a wide berth, but is otherwise fine.

Zoe has landed the most wonderful place-- with lots of people and a cat to take care of her. She has lots of cat furniture and toys to share, and even some of her very own. The cats even have "cat tv"-- V sometimes pulls a cat condo up to the very large (and beautiful!) fishtank they have, so that they can watch the fishies!

The pictures here are all from Thursday evening. I took my camera along with me to Zoe's new home, but decided not to use it for fear that the flash would upset any/all of the animals in this new and potentially delicate situation they found themselves in. But hopefully at some point V will send a picture or two, and I will share. :)

I miss Miss Zoe, but am *incredibly* happy to have found her such a home.

Mr. Mal is still with me as his Probably Forever Family waits for an okay from their landlord. The sooner he gets to a home with another kitty, the better, as he seems very lonely.

42 new pictures in the Wild Kittens Set.

Recovery: Day 1

Well, the kittens are home and they are not happy. Can you blame them?

Apparently Zoe decided that the vet techs didn't know what they were doing and chewed her IV out of her leg before they could bandage things up, so she came home looking sort of scraggly and with some bloodstains on her legs. And of course she's clearly in pain-- you can just tell by the way she's walking and such. I let the kittens out of their carrier, and she went to use the litter box, then went under the bed and stayed there.

Malcolm's surgery was later, so he was more affected by the anesthesia when we first got home. He, too, joined Miss Zoe under the bed. A few hours later (almost three after we got home) I went to check on them. Mr. Mal came out pretty quick, and he seems to be almost back to his normal self. He wanted to be in my lap, sucking on my fingers. If I didn't give him my full attention, he was head-butting and purring.

Miss Zoe eventually came out from under the bed. She let me stroke her back just a little, then she sat (kitty loaf style) just out of reach for a few minutes. Then she wandered off to hide in my closet.

I have pain meds for them, which I will try to give them shortly. But I'm worried that in trying to get meds into them I might traumatize them more (and/or have Zoe pull on her stitches.)

In other news, I have added two pictures to the Beatrice collection on Flickr-- both from the vet visit. She spent most of the trip climbing on her forever-mommy, who kindly let me get a picture of them both.

Great news!

I've been sitting on some good news for a while now. Honestly, it's mostly because I'm nervous that if I talk about it, it'll fall through... Regardless, I have decided that my faithful Project-Cat readers should know....

But first, the more immediate good news: Mal and Zoe are both at the vet right now, and have both come through surgery (spaying/neutering) just fine. I'll pick them up in about 2 hours, once Mal is fully awake. I know that vets spay and neuter every day and (knock on wood) I've never had a pet (or feral!) have trouble from it, but of course I was nervous all day, especially when it took longer than I anticipated to hear from the vet. (Turns out she was literally seconds away from calling me, heh.)

There was some question at first as to whether they'd be willing to spay/neuter them so young, but this vet, the same one who saw all three kittens for their last set of shots, had no problem with it. I wanted to them spayed/neutered before they went to their forever homes, as, even though I completely trust the people to whom they are going to live, it seems the most responsible thing to do. (After all, there wouldn't be a Feral Colony outside my door if not for irresponsible people. The people adopting Mal and Zoe are not in anyway irresponsible, but who knows what might happen down the line-- cats go missing, etc.) Anyway, I digress.

But note that I said "the people who are adopting Mal and Zoe." That's the news I've been sitting on. I posted in the past that it's an almost-sure-thing that Mal has a forever home. (We're all still waiting to hear from the landlord of his parents-to-be for confirmation that it's all right.) The new news is that Zoe also has a forever home!! Hurrah!!!

She is going to be a traveling cat! A friend of mine is adopting Miss Zoe for her daughter, who is a student. Zoe will live with the whole family when the daughter is home, and with the daughter and roommates when she is at school. She will have so much love and companionship!!

So keep your fingers crossed that all goes forward as planned. And I'll update again about how the kittens come out of anesthesia and recover at home.

Holy dog? An update?

Cat news first, as this is called Project-Cat: The kittens (all 3) will be getting their last set of shots at the vet tomorrow.

It's looking more and more like Little Mal has a home (soonish). That's the good news. The bad news is that Little Zoe still does. And two out of my three possibilities have said no. Anyone out there know anyone in AZ who might want a beautiful baby girl kitty?

In dog news, I received the following in my inbox via a rather circuitous route. It's a dog who was found in Mesa, AZ and needs a home. (He's in a kill shelter, and his time will be up quickly.) I don't know any more information than what's below, but he looks like an adorable pup.

The following is the message:
Hi. I don't know if you can help me but I am going to try anyways I know there are so many animals without homes, but I feel for this guy because I found him on the highway someone left him there to die, it tore my heart apart, I stopped and picked him up, I brought him home, hoping I could find him a home but I only had a short time with him, my mom would not let him stay anymore, so she called the pound, I took it hard, I got this dog to trust me then they had to come get him, I cried for the last couple of days. truly hope you or someone else can rescue him before its too late, tomm is his last day for evaluation or it may have been today im not sure I just hope he made it, he was friendly with us just a lil scared is all, I believe he was in an abused dog or neglected all together here is his information his id is 08-32718 at Mesa East 2630 W. 8th Street Mesa, Az 85201 office is 602-506-7387 please from the bottom of your heart help him....the guy that picked him up is J Coville or Covicce 478

EDIT TO ADD: It looks like this guy is now available to adopt via the Maricopa County Animal Control. I can't be 100% sure, but it looks like this is his adoption page.

Holy cat! an update!

But where has all the rum gone?
Wait, no, that's not what I meant. Let's try that again: But where has the summer gone?

Yup, that's what I meant.

Business first: I know I'm terrible at keeping this thing up to date-- which is bad because I enjoy it, I enjoy that people read it, I enjoy having something to point to when I get into debates about Feral Cats and kittens and such. So. I shall endeavor to be better about posting. To that end, however, I think I shall set up a schedule. My question to you, then, is, if I were to post once a week, when would you like it to be?

Next, some observations and thoughts-- nothing particularly coherent here, I'm afraid.

Beatrice-- I haven't seen her in a while, but her mom assures me that she is doing well. I'll see her this week, though, when we take her to get her last set of shots.

Zoe & Malcolm-- These two... man, what to say about these two? They continue to be the most calm kittens I have ever come across. They'll play sometimes (most often loudly when I'm trying to fall asleep-- typical felines), but most of the time they prefer to be sprawled somewhere. And if they have their druthers, they prefer to be sprawled on me. Zoe likes to lie across my chest or, if I'm on my side, then either on my side or on top of my head. Malcolm, the silly boy, prefers to be as close to my face as possible, sharing a pillow and making sure that I breathe cat fur. ::Sigh:: We're working on this.

That said, I had a cat growing up, whom I loved very much. And I wanted more than anything for this cat to cuddle with me like a teddy bear as I fell asleep-- I'd actually hold him like a bear and he hated it, and as soon as I relaxed as I fell asleep he'd dash off. Smart cat. My point, however, is that Malcolm wants to be held like that. If I'm sleeping on my side, he wants to be cuddled to my chest with his head on the pillow, halfway under the covers.

Weirdos. :D

Some friends of mine came over yesterday and met Malcolm in the possibility (this is still pending a number of things, including landlord permission) of adopting him. They, too, commented on how very calm he is. Both Zoe and Mal did play for them a bit, Zoe more. They commented on how beautiful Zoe's markings are, and how fluffy and handsome Mal is. Neither got comfortable enough to purr for my friends, or snuggle, but given how quickly they warmed to their "babysitter" last month, I know that Mal will warm to these friends should they decide to/be able to adopt him.

The Ferals: Mostly I've been seeing Little Grey and Amaranth around. They were both out tonight when I fed them all. I've seen Walsingham (formerly Little Orange) a number of times, too, which is great, but makes me nervous because I haven't seen Agatha (Little Crooked.) In the past few days I've also seen Mr Mistofolees and Bessie. If the @#$!@# weather ever cools, I'll try to get out and walk around every day like I used to, to keep better tabs on the cats .

Photos: More of Mal and Zoe (who *always* closes her eyes when the flash goes off) over at Flickr, in the Wild Kittens set. (Man, that is *such* a misnomer now.) There are 22 pictures. I didn't get to caption them all, sadly. Did caption a few, though. And I, at least, find my commentary amusing, so go check them all out. :)

Oh, and Also: A shout-out to Mr Gecko. Your wife told me that you've discovered the world of blogs thanks to this wee site. That makes me happy. Are you *sure* you don't want to adopt a kitten? I promise Zoe won't eat your gecko.