Animated Cats

I got thinking about animated films about cats a few months ago and remembered two I had seen in my childhood – The Aristocats and Gay Purr-ee. The first is the story about a family of kidnapped and dumped cats who must find their way home (sound familiar – how many strays and feral cats go through this!) with Eva Gabor voicing Duchess the mother cat and Phil Harris voicing O'Malley, the Alley Cat who helps them overcome an unscrupulous butler who wants to cut them out of their owner's will. I had seen this one in the cinema – my grandmother used to take all the kids to see Disney movies in the holidays. 

The second is an earlier release. I hadn't seen it in years and remembered it fondly from television on various leisurely Sunday afternoons before sports became king on the weekend programming. Gay Purr-ee is about a farm cat called Mewsette voiced by Judy Garland, who is lured from the provinces of France to Paris by the promise of romance and adventure. The male farm cat Jaune Tome who adores her and who is voiced by Robert Goulet, sets out to find her with his faithful sidekick and comes up against a multitude of slinky villains as well as the master con-cat and a madam who are grooming Mewsette to become a mail order bride for a rich American fat cat. I bought the DVD recently from Amazon and watched the feature fondly at home. I especially like the animated interpretation of various French artists' work. I've found a few clips for you to too. Check them out and if you like them, put them on your Christmas list – I've bought three copies in all to distribute to friends and family.

Xmas Donations

Animal welfare (obviously including taking care of feral cats) is very close to my heart. I support a number of charities such as the RSPCA, WIRES, AnimalsAsia, and IFAW amongst others. Most of these organisations have special Xmas programs which give specific examples of where and how your donation helps. If you choose the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), for example, you can donate to any of five campaigns – you can provide Urgent Pet Care, Rescue Animals, Protect Elephants, Save a Seal or Help a Bear Cub. The gifts start from $25. I would urge you to start checking out these sites now. As far as I'm concerned, the people who run these animal welfare groups are heroes and they need all the support we can muster.

Couldn't Resist

Sasha, sister of Sihri (the champagne and white kitty in the bannerhead), the duo otherwise known in my family as the Squeaker Sisters.

How to Socialise a Feral Kitten - Part II

Catching Your Feral Kittens

A hungry cat is more likely to step into a cat trap than one that has just been fed, so the best time to catch feral cats or kittens is at meal time – that is, early morning or evening. 

The first tool you will need is a humane cat trap that is triggered by the cat eating and pulling on the bait. A panel slides down and the cat is trapped inside. You do not have to be present for this to happen. If you cannot access a cat trap then get a cat cage or a box with air holes on the side and a lid, blanket or towel to go on top. However, you will need to manually catch the cats and put them inside for transportation.

The best age at which to catch a feral kitten is between six to eight weeks old. Too young and they may not have been weaned; too old and they may be more shyer, suspicious or street smart. That is not to say you can't catch and work with an older kitten or cat (I recently caught one that was four months old), it's just that if you intend to rehabilitate it then you may need to make adjustments to the basic socialisation techniques, which will be covered in a future blog post. 

There are several ways you can approach the task of catching a feral cat or kitten, depending on your proximity, access and cat receptiveness to human contact.

Firstly, you can do what I call the "snap catch" or the "slow conditioning catch". The "snap catch" basically means catching the cats quickly without any preemptive socialisation or human contact. The advantage of this method is that you can make a decision and get things started, especially if you are operating under a time constraint. The disadvantage is that you can traumatise an already terrified cat to a higher degree and make it more difficult for it to trust you.

The "slow conditioning catch" means gradually getting the kittens or cats to associate you as being a food provider prior to you catching them. This won't instantly get them to trust you from the outset, but it will maintain the continuity of you being a carer (and therefore less of a threat to their safety) so that they ease into the rehabilitation process more easily.

Just remember that feral kittens are taught from the outset by their mothers (and nannies or aunties if they live in a cat commune) to fear humans – from their point of view we are predators – and accordingly they will hiss and spit at us. It will take some patience, kindness and love to convince them otherwise.

 

Here are some tips for setting up a cat trap or cage:

1. Do not feed the cats prior to setting the cat trap so that hunger becomes the motivating factor to step inside the trap.

2. It is preferable to trap cats in the warmer months rather than the cooler months, as the cold weather will interfere with the scent molecules emanating from the food (this, however, is out of your control because the timing of your catch depends on the age of the kittens and not what season it is or what the temperature gauge is telling you).

3. Set up two feeding stations in the same place every feed time close to the cat's home or nest. One is for the older cats (feed them first so they are distracted) and one is for the kittens close to their nest or where they hide or play. Try to get the kittens' feeding station set up out of the line of sight of the adults' one.

4. If possible, set the empty cat cage down near the kitten's feeding station several days before you want to trap the kittens so that the cats get used to it, explore it and it becomes part of their normal landscape. 

5. Use a sheltered area so the cat is not exposed to extreme weather or temperatures, and cannot be accosted by any passing predators – human, dogs or otherwise.

6. Avoid catching the cats on days or nights where there are high winds, rain or snow, or any inclement weather.

7. On the catching day, cover part of the cage to provide some protection from the elements. This will also give the trapped cat some small degree of psychological comfort. However, do not let the covering interfere with any trap mechanisms.

8. Hang some aromatic food on the end of the hook (this can be raw or cooked chicken, a chunk of fish or red meat but not tinned cat food). It needs to be solid so it won't shred and break on the hook when the cats eats it or pulls it.

9. Leave the vicinity and if possible check in every few hours in order to bring in the caged cat to safety as soon as possible. 

In the "slow conditioning catch":

1 to 6 as above

7. For about seven to ten days prior to the proposed catch date, sit down close to the kitten feeding station and talk to the cats and kittens as they eat so they get familiar with your voice, smell and presence.

8. Communicate with the cats by using a high sing song voice that matches the pitch of normal cat meows. Use 's' sounds like "psssss" or "puss puss" as they also respond to those.

9. After a few days try to stroke the kittens by rubbing down their spines, hind quarters and tails. (It may be too early to go for their chin, head and neck). The kittens will then associate your loving touch to food and perceive it as a positive thing.

10. If you build up the trust in this way, then on the proposed catching day it will then be easier to pick up the kittens while they are eating and put them into a cat cage or box with a cover before transporting them elsewhere.

I usually scoop up the kittens at breakfast time while the mother is out of the line of sight, so as not to induce her into defending and protecting her kittens or to traumatising her into perceiving me as just another "evil" human (I may be projecting a little and anthropomorphising the experience but it has worked up to now). There is a point at which she will begin separating from the kittens and not be guarding them 24/7. This will vary according to how many litters she's had, her maternal instincts, her personality and the age of the kittens, but as a general rule, the older they get the more she will leave them on their own.

When the mother comes back she will usually search high and low for her kittens and then wait in one place for them to return. However, after 24 to 72 hours the memory of them will start to fade and she will revert to her single life again.

Emotionally the catching time can be stressful for you too, as you may experience a sense of guilt for the act of separating the kittens from their mother. The way to cope with this is to keep focusing on the bigger picture – you or someone else is going to love and care for them and give them an opportunity of living out a happy and healthy life in a way they previously may not had. The life of a wild cat can be a hard one!

How to Feed Feral Cats on a Budget 2

Speaking of Aldi, check out their line of Sylvester cat food which is considerably cheaper than many other well known name brands you buy at the supermarket. The flavour I favour (a nice piece of alliteration there folks!) is the Sylvester Complete (400gm) Lamb and Kidney Meat Loaf which is very chunky and goes a long way. There's also Chicken and Turkey, and Beef and Chicken. In the seafood variety there is Seafood Platter, as well as Sardine with Smoked Salmon Jelly. The cats absolutely love the chunks of fish in the latter two. However, the cans don't go a long way in winter. The cats tend to eat more and get hungrier quicker, probably because I would estimate that half of the contents in the can are jelly. The meat loaf varieties appear to be much more filling and they mix well in the rice recipe I provided in my previous How to Feed Feral Cats on a Budget 1 blog post. I buy the Sylvester cans for around AU$0.79c in my local store. You can also buy them on the Aldi website. Most other well known brands can range from $0.80+ for 80gm of a 'gourmet' style food or around $1.22 to $1.36 for 400 or 410gm cat food. I know that Coles has a generic brand which sells for around 0.75c per 400gm, and Woolworth has one that is 0.74c per 400gm which is better value than the Aldi one, but I still have to test these. Reports coming soon.

Cheap Cat Tunnels

Don't know whether Aldi has sold out, but I picked up one of these nifty cat tunnels, which I thought was good value for $10.00, from one of their local stores. My cats have found it quite fascinating, as it appeals to their intelligence, sense of curiousity and play. My tunnel – or should I say my various cats' tunnel – is black and white rather than blue and yellow like the pic. If you want to buy it just go to the Aldi website.

I just had a moment of great amusement about the tunnel. It's located in the room next to my office. My door was open and one of the feral farm cats called Boots (I need to get a photo of him to show you) who is black with white paws hence the name, just sauntered inside just to have a look at what he could find in here. I sat quietly for about ten minutes and let him be, and then peeked around the corner to see what he was doing. He was exploring the cat tunnel. Evan feral cats like to let their guard down and play every now and then!

How to Socialise a Feral Kitten - Part I

Preparing Your Room or Space for Feral Kittens

You will need a dedicated room in your house or your property for the purpose of socialising a feral kitten. I recommend you organise a room according to the following criteria:

1. Window/s and doors – the windows need to allow in natural light and air. The window should be covered in fly screen/mesh to prevent the kitten from escaping, but please note that the kittens will climb up the mesh so it will need to be stretched tight and secure over the frame. Cats like to sit on window sills and watch the world go by, so that can be one of the considerations when you are choosing a room in your house as the cat room. As far as the doorway is concerned, make sure that the door can open and close securely and with ease in order to keep the kittens in and strangers (including other family pets) out until you are ready to introduce the kittens to your human and pet family.

2. Hide- or crawl-spaces – the room needs to contain a variety of different furniture with some crawl and hide spaces. I have a large carpeted rumpus room that contains three windows with views to the rest of the farm so that the kittens can watch human or animal traffic from the safety of their abode. The room also contains a single bed covered with an old bedspread, several stacked boxes of newspapers, a ping pong table, two old desks covered with material, a bookshelf covered with a tarp, and several filing cabinets. There are gaps between the furniture and the wall for the kittens to hide when they are first introduced into the room. This is VERY IMPORTANT for the socialisation process to go smoothly, as the first thing the kittens will do is dart for cover until hunger drives them out to look for food.

3. Feeding station – Lay old newspapers on the floor; the broadsheets such as the Sydney Morning Herald or the Australian (or similar if you are an overseas reader) are the best because you get better space coverage and they are also good for wrapping up rubbish. The space should be about two or three double sheets wide. On top of the newspaper place abowl for dry food, a second bowl for wet food and a container for water. Depending on the size and age of the kittens make sure the water container is something they can't fall and drown in. Place a second water container in another part of the room as a backup in case the first one is tipped over when you are not there. Allow some sitting room next to the feeding station, as part of the socialisation process will have you sit by the kittens while they eat.

4. Toilet station – lay down more newspaper for the toilet station close to (but not right next to) the feeding station. The kittens want to be able to spot the toilet station but being clean animals they don't like having to do their ablutions next to their dining area. The toilet station should contain one kitty litter tray per two kittens. The trays are available for around $8 to $10 in cheap shops. These will need to be cleaned morning and night – you will not need to remove all the kitty litter but just the droppings and the soiled clumps. I have trialled a number of kitty litters and the most economical one I have found that is also durable and low maintenance is the Woolworths Home Brand Cat Litter (large red and white bag) which sells for just under AU$4.50 for 15 litres. One bag lasts me about two weeks looking after four kittens serviced by two kitty litter trays. You will also need a kitty litter shovel, which costs around $2.50 in supermarkets or cheap shops. 

5. Cat toys – best thing out are ping pong balls. You can also buy balls with bells in them, or rip up old rags into strips, or depending on how elaborate your set up is and how much you want to spend, get a scratching pole. What is important is for the kittens to keep themselves entertained. Cats are extremely curious and they love to play and be mentally stimulated.

This is your basic set up. I recommend you prepare the room prior to bringing your kitten in so that things can run smoothly and that you don't spook the kitten too much.

How to Socialise a Feral Kitten – Table of Blog Contents

This is the first in a series of blog posts/articles on the process of socialising feral cats that will appear over the following weeks. The subheadings I will be posting under include:

Preparing Your Room or Space for Feral Kittens

Catching your Feral Kittens

The Feral Kitten Socialisation Process

Healthcare for Feral Kittens

Finding a Good Home for Your Feral Kittens

Desexing and Microchipping Your Socialised Feral Kittens

Keep reading for updates.

Burrows vs Nests Part II

Here's a look at Mimsy's second nest, which is located about three or four metres down the cattle enclosure from the first one.

Burrows vs Nests Part I

The other day in my Hide and Seek and Kittens post, I mentioned that Mimsy the feral cat had just given birth to some kittens. I described her birthing place as a burrow but have since discovered that die-hard cat people call them nests. Anyway, I took out my camera yesterday and took some snaps while the cats were eating and I thought you might want to see what the nests looked like. The kittens were deep inside and I didn't want to disturb them. The nests have an entrance and an exit, rather like rabbit warrens, for easy escapes. In this case, Mimsy has three nests right next door to each other. I'm surmising that she shifts the little ones around in case the other homes become uninhabitable or in case she wants to flummox my dog Belle who is fascinated by all cats (but who poses no threat to them) and who just wants to sit down outside and stare at the nests and cats in wonder. I deliberately put the iron grating up so that the cats can still have easy access but any large predator will have a hard time getting inside, although it won't keep any snakes out. Oh to be a naturalist and have access to those miniature cameras on cable to see what's happening inside the nests ... I see a nature documentary coming on (or at the very least a YouTube video)!

Recommended Cat Books 1

I have been an admirer of Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen of the inspirational Chicken Soup for the Soul books for a long time. Their story is in fact quite fascinating, and you can read about the how the "chicken soup" title came to one of them in a dream on the history page of their website. Now they have about 100 spin-off titles in the series, including Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul: Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit of Writers which I have sitting on my bookshelf at home. I also recently came across a more recent addition to their backlist – Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, which I am about to order. If it's anything like the other ones, I will be moved to tears. 

There is something you must know up front – I am a goner when it comes to animals. I cannot watch animal movies or read tragic animal books because I get very distressed and I feel physical pain when the major animal characters (animated or real life) get lost or die or something bad happens to them. This goes for all animal movies not just ones with cats. I haven't see Free Willy to this day. I think Bambi was the start of it all – I have it on good authority that several generations of children were traumatised by that film in ways that we are all still working through. Even Stephen Spielberg attested to this in a recent interview I heard.

But getting back to the major subject of this blog post, I will occasionally be highlighting cat books in this blog. This particular title is probably the only one I haven't read up front as I only stumbled on it today – so the "recommendation" in the blog title is perhaps a misnomer. But working from the position of an excellent reputation of the other CS titles and working on the basis that other cat lovers have praised it highly, I am starting off my recommended cat book list with this as the lead title. Let me know what you think of it when you have a chance.

How to Feed Feral Cats on a Budget 1

I am feeding 20 cats at the moment. I give them breakfast and dinner. For breakfast each cats gets half a handful of dried cat food or pellets, which seems lousy but I have found if they eat much more they can become prone to vomiting. I buy 10kg bags of dried cat food from Big W. I have compared prices to farm supply shops and found that on the whole Big W prices are considerably cheaper. Keep checking the shelves at local department stores in your area, because they often have specials and the prices can drop by around $5.00 per bag. You should be paying the equivalent of about AU$20-$25 per bag. The bag should last around four weeks if you are feeding the same number of cats I am.

I occasionally give the cats watered down milk for breakfast too – mostly in winter when they are hungrier. Kitty milk can be very expensive, so I use normal milk that has been mixed in the following ratio: 500ml (milk) to 300ml (boiling water) to warm it up. Be aware that some cats can be lactose intolerant. This will usually manifest in gassiness, cramps or diarrhoea. Don't give cow's milk to kittens for this reason. There is an excellent article on Human Foods for Cats? A Guide to Safe vs Toxic "Table Scraps" for Cats, which has a more substantial section on milk. Di-Vetelact, a low lactose animal supplement, is more suitable for kittens, but it will cost approx AU$22.00 for a 375gm tin. Check the feeding instructions on the tin as the dosage/dilution varies according to age, weight and species of animal. The manufacturers recommend four feeds per day for kittens.

I also learned a trick from my cousins who live in Fiji where the stray animal problem is quite rife. My auntie and cousins live on an island called Ovalau, and they often feed feral cats and and homeless dogs. Cheap supplies are hard to come by in some of these towns and villages, so my auntie buys large bags of broken rice considered to be second grade and therefore not sold for human consumption purely because you don't get the full grain. My auntie then cooks the desired quantity in a large pot of rice and mixes it with left overs.

The most economical place to buy rice is in Asian stores in your area. I just bought a 25kg (55pd) bag of Jasmine rice from an Asian butcher for AU$43.00, which works out at $1.73 per kg. Compare that to the cheapest retail price I came across at my local Woolworths – $19.98 for 10kg, which comes to $2.00 per kg. These large bags of rice will last you about two to three months.

I played with that idea and came up with a variation on my auntie's recipe. Here's my interpretation. It should feed around 20 cats, allowing for about 1/2 to 3/4 cup per cat, depending on their size.  

Ingredients

3 cups of uncooked rice

6 cups of boiling water

4 tins of cat food

cooked vegetable scraps such as beans, peas or potatoes (optional)

Place uncooked rice in a large round bowl with low sides. Add boiling water and cook in microwave for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Mix cat food into rice and combine until all rice is coated with gravy or meat from the tin. 

You can also add chopped up left over (and deboned) chicken, fish or red meat to this recipe.

Hide and Seek and Kittens

Mimsy, the tortie and white mother feral cat on our property, has been walking around with a bulging belly full of kittens for the last few weeks. She has about three litters a year, and is too intelligent to walk into the cat trap I have consistently set up for the last six months in order to get her to the vet to be desexed. I've switched around the bait, switched locations, switched tactics but to no avail. Our vet said that cat traps in winter are often unsuccessful unless the cats are absolutely starving, because the cold affects the smell molecules in the food so the smell doesn't carry in the air. I just think our older ferals are too street smart to walk into the traps. Anyway ...

I fed the cats this morning in the cat shed we had built for them and I noticed that Mimsy came in last. Her stomach was still a bit puffy but not the awkward swaying balloon I had been accustomed to seeing. I thought she may have had her kittens but when I looked into the nooks and crannies in the shed I couldn't find them. (The shed itself has many levels and many escape routes so that the cats have free passage in and out. I have lined the ground with straw which keeps it very tidy but also warm in winter.)

I later saw my cross border collie Belle, who is absolutely incredible at sniffing out kittens, sitting to attention near a fenced in cattle yard. Mimsy spotted her too and, in a great display of maternal courage, ran across the grass to launch her hissing self at Belle who promptly backed away. When I investigated further, I found two dug out burrows in the long grass with an entry and exit to each. When I peered into one, I spotted four tiny black and white kittens nestled inside and squeaking for either attention or in fear at being disturbed by the unfamiliar sounds around them. 

I took our two dogs away and then returned. I found two lengths of old criss-cross iron (don't ask me what it's called or what it's used for) and then attached them to the fence that ran around the burrow so that the cats could still walk through the holes but the dogs couldn't get in. Then I left them alone.

As I mentioned before Mimsy has had three litters this year. The first one was the most beautiful bunch of cats I had ever seen – all five of them were completely different in colour (a tabby, white with black stripes that looked like paint, a tortie and white, black with white face and paws, and a silver and white tabby). Gorgeous. Their temperaments were lovely as well – they bonded quickly with humans and were and are very loving. I found good homes for three of them and kept two. 

The second litter died from the cold I suspect. We had a bitter winter this year and unfortunately they must have been affected, despite the fact they were completely sheltered in the straw of in the cat shed. I heard their tiny meows for about two days and then they stopped. When I looked for them on the third day, all four of them were dead. They were ginger and white. My cousin buried them in his garden.

This one is the third litter. I wonder how they'll go? You can mark my words I will keep you posted on their progress.

Quick Quiz and Bios

Question: Which of these two cats – the ginger or the white one – are feral cats?

Well, the answer is both of them – they are brothers from the same litter. It would probably be more accurate to say they are ex-feral cats, as they have been domesticated and live in and around the house.

Their mother who I have named Mimsy is extraordinarily fertile and unfortunately for us, too savvy to get caught in a cat cage so that we can have her desexed. She lives at the back of the family property in a cat shed which my generous and kind hearted father built for the coterie of ferals we have living on the farm. Mimsy is a tortie and white cat and has given birth to many multi-coloured offspring, which I will gradually introduce you to over the upcoming weeks. Some remain here with me and others have gone to loving homes with various good-hearted cat people. Unlike their intelligent mother, these two wandered into the baited cat traps (loaned to us by the Animal Welfare League) when they were about eight weeks old. We promptly brought them to our rumpus room which we have converted to a rehabilitation centre and home for cats. The rumpus room is set away from the rest of the house and has a tennis table and old furniture in it with lots of places to hide for the newcomers who need a feeling of safety and security in the first instance before they begin trusting humans. It's warm in the winter and cool in the summer if you open the windows and doors.

It took about three days to have Saffron and Snow purring and in my lap. They were the second lot of cats I had taken in. The socialisation period can take between 24 hours and three weeks, depending on the age and temperament of the cat in question. These two are exceedingly gentle and very placid in nature. Snow is so relaxed when you pick him up that you think there is something wrong with his muscles. He elongates and drapes over your arms as if he is a droopy piece of material. In summer I need to put sun tan lotion on the tips of his ears and nose, as white cats are particularly vulnerable to skin cancers. He also has a distinctive walk that reminds me rather ironically of the Peggy Lee "Peg" dog character in Disney's Lady and the Tramp (watch the YouTube clip below right to the end to see the walk I'm talking about).

Saffron is slightly more shy in nature but enormously affectionate. He is one of those cats who is never any trouble and he loves being in on the action – he goes walking with the dogs and my sheep (singular) when we troop around the farm in the morning to do chores.

Many people have wanted to take Saffron and Snow home with them but it's never going to happen – we adore them too much. I do not sell or trade animals. The only thing I do is find good homes for some of the kittens I look after. If I didn't the cat population would be double on the farm. And by the way, the interview process for the people wanting these kittens is tough!

Misleading Definitions

My Mac dictionary defines "feral" as the following:

"WILD, untamed, untamable, undomesticated, untrained".

I say UNTRUE. I have ten cats that I now called domestic that were previously categorised as feral. Let me tell you how I was able to achieve this over the next few weeks. 

The second part of the definition pertains to adjectival (is there such a word?) characteristics and personality:

"FIERCE, ferocious, vicious, savage, predatory, menacing, bloodthirsty".

Also completely UNTRUE. My ex-feral family cats are amongst the most lovable, cuddly, cheeky, intelligent and gorgeous felines I have ever had. And those people I know who have taken other feral kittens to their bosom, are in totally agreed with this assessment.

My definition of feral cats is that they are homeless.

Introductions All Round

The kitty you see in the blog photo is Sihri. She has just been desexed and is about 7 months old. She came to me via a neighbour who was at the local farm supplies store earlier in the year when a man approached her with a box. He said it contained two feral kittens he had found on his property and he wanted to know where the local pound was. She said she would take them, and then – knowing that I rehabilitated cats – she promptly rang me up and asked me if I would take them as in two days time she was flying to Alaska for six months and could not look after them herself. I said yes (I was looking after five other feral kittens so two more wouldn't have made much of a difference) and she turned up five minutes later with the box. 

The rest of my family went ballistic when they found out and I began weeping from the frustration of not knowing what to do and having to pass the poor little things on again down the line. Before I even had time to examine them properly, I had to ring up the Cat Protection Society in Sydney. The woman on the phone was able to discern what I was saying in between sobs and told me to drive them to the shelter when I had a chance. I said I would do it the next day.

In the meantime, I opened the box and looked in. Huddled on an old towel behind a white baby's cushion were two tiny females not older than four weeks. One was champagne and white and her sister was calico coloured (which is basically a grey tortoiseshell). They hissed at me and looked absolutely terrified and traumatised. They were also starving because when I put in some food for them, they lurched themselves onto the plate without a second look at me. I suppose Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applies to animals too.

When the others family members saw how tiny the kittens were, they relented. When they saw how well they bonded with me several weeks later, they said they could stay. (Please note that I will post later on about the differences in the bonding journey between all of my feral cats. You will also find out about Sihri's sister Sasha.)

This pic was taken in the front garden a few days ago. My friend J calls Sihri a little Hollywood glamour cat and indeed she is. At the moment she is lolling between my legs and the recliner chair from which I am working. I also have a little black and white boy who was wild about ten days ago but who is now standing on my chest purring and licking my face and playing footsies (or pawsies) with my hair. Did I tell you how wonderful cats are?

About Me and My Mission

I found my first litter of feral kittens on the family farm when I was about seven years old. We had some old dilapidated duck sheds down the hill of what was then a seven acre property. My sister, cousin and I use to claim the duck sheds as cubby houses and play in them. We'd plant vegetable gardens on the outside and put old play furniture on the inside, then take tea and biscuits on tables draped with red and white checked table cloths. 

One cold winter day I walked down the hill by myself and heard a tiny meow. When I followed it to its source I found a dead mother cat and four tiny kittens – three were dead and one was alive. I grabbed the live one and bundled him into my cardigan and ran up that hill as fast as I could to our house. My mother promptly put him in a warm box. We tried to feed him but he didn't respond. It was evening by then, and during the 1960s there were no after-hour vets available so we couldn't get any emergency care for him. By morning he was dead and I was absolutely devastated. My father later told me after he had buried the entire cat family that he thought they were victim of a dog attack.

I have always had an instinctive understanding of cats. It was me that found all the strays and won them over. For some reason I innately knew what they needed and how to communicate with them, but I found that there was a distinct behavioural differences between dumped or stray animals that were frightened but had been socialised, and those second or third generation cats born into wild feral cat families. After all – the latter group see us as predators.

I lived in the city for a number of years and came back to the country in 2003 to find the farm populated by many feral cats. My family had been exceedingly kind and had fed them daily, but they didn't know how to manage them outside of that.

The memory of that little dead kitten and his short life has stayed with me a long time, and during the last few years I decided to learn how to take care of feral cats. It was actually sort of thrust upon me but that is another story for another time.

I now have 20 cats I look after – three of them are strays, eight of them are socialised feral cats, and the rest are still feral but friendly and a definite part of our extended family. I would like to bring you their stories in this blog (and an upcoming website) and much of the information I have learned through trial and error to find out what works in caring for them and managing their numbers.

I have implemented an active strategy on how to feed, take care of them, socialise them and find good homes for them. I will be sharing my tips with you on how to economise on food, how to trap them to get them desexed (or spayed as it is known in other countries around the world), how to build relationships with your vet or animal welfare agency, and how to find like-minded people who will love and adore them as much as I do and I know you do.

So g'day from Australia, and please come and visit this blog regularly and interact with others if you want to save these wonderful wonderful creatures from starvation, being terrorised and abused because ultimately they just want what we want – food, warmth and shelter, safety and to be loved.