It's Been A While ...

... since I last posted, but I assure you I haven't abandoned this blog. I have just been looking after a farm by myself for three months, doing my own work and also decluttering big time. Will return soon with more feral cat news.

Cat Lap Dance

Check out this little animated video called "Lap Dance" by Jim McNeill who obviously understands cat behaviour and relationships. The cat is a cracker. Love the claw action and the breathing. Thanks to Carol O for the hat tip.

Inter-species Love Connection – Cat and Deer

Saw this and thought you'd love it – I did. I think it's a domestic cat rather than a feral cat but nevertheless, it's quite heart-warming.

Cat Culture

It's interesting how new cats (feral, stray or domestic) fit into the culture of older established cats when they are introduced and integrated into a family. I first became aware of this about ten years ago when I was on the house-sitting circuit in Sydney. I lived like a gypsy for about seven years all around the city – from the beach to the inner city and outlying suburbs. I had regular "clients" (if one could call them that) for whom I would regularly house-sit – especially people with animals. I liked the cats and dogs and they liked me so the house-owner would invariably transition back from a business trip or holiday to happy and relaxed animals. 

One of the families I house-sat for had four cats. Their house backed onto a State forest and had a lovely swimming pool and garden area. Every morning and evening, wild rainbow lorikeets, rosellas, cockatoos and corellas would fly onto the feeding trays on the verandah and eat sunflower seeds. They would walk all over the decking and would often come within inches of the sun-baking sprawled-out cats. What amazed me was that none of the cats would even so much as twitch their whiskers or open a sleepy eyelid to look at the birds, let alone pounce on them as is their nature.

When I expressed my incredulity about this phenomenon to the owner, she told me that the senior cat had never shown any interest in the feathered visitors. When two of the other cats came into the fold they looked to the senior cat for cues on how to handle the situation. The senior cat didn't even bother budging when a parrot walked past his nose and in the end neither did they – the cat culture was well and truly established in the form of ignoring the birds. 

A while later, a fourth cat joined the family. He was a starving stray who came in from the forest desperately seeking food which the house owner would leave out at night. After a while he moved in and became part of the family. He was a great character with a confident affectionate personality and he quickly established himself as the dominant cat – not with any show of threat or territorial competitiveness but with his wonderful character. In the first instance when he was confronted with a veritable feast of bird life, he observed that the other three cats didn't bother moving a muscle in the bird's vicinity and consequently he adopted that response as well. During the many sojourns I had at that house, I found no evidence of dead birds or other fallen animals that had become victim to the cats, although it must be said that these cats were well fed so I'm unsure whether starvation would have changed their behaviour or their established cat cultural practice.

Cat culture can be established by way of routines, eating patterns, inter-species interaction and so on and is invariably led by senior cats rather than humans. I've noticed on the farm that the newer cats look to the older cats for what to do in certain situations where they are unsure of the protocols (for want of a better word). In the end the neophytes just fall in line with what the other cats are doing and integrate into the farm cat culture. That's not to say they lose any aspect of their individual identity and personality, it's just that there must be some kind of modeling behaviour going. The Xmas kittens were perfect examples of this – they bonded with Samson and then started following his lead when it came to vacating their rumpus room home in the morning and coming back at night to eat. In the end if it was good enough for Samson, it was good enough for them.

Share Feral Cat Stories – Canadian Cats 2 (Archie and Otto)

I've covered Archie and Otto in a previous post, but it's good to revisit them to see how wonderful they're doing. Their humans – David and Krista – adopted them from the Meow Foundation in Calgary, Canada. You can read more about them on the 2 July 2009 post on the Meow Foundation website. Archie is the ginger tabby and Otto is the grey tabby.

Cat Herding

This commercial cracked me up. Thanks to David Cataford for the tip.

Feral Family Pics 3

Most of the photos I've posted about the feral cats living on our farm have been cute and somewhat benign. This one is different. I took this photo in February when it was hot and dry and it shows the hunter side of one of our feral cats – Bandit – poised over one of his kills (a rabbit). He looks fierce. When I came across him, it was too late to save the rabbit.

We can't dismiss cats' true nature. They have a hunting instinct. Just the other day I had about five hyped up excited cats running all over the verandah trying to get close to a finch that was perilously balancing on the brick wall. I quickly captured all the cats and put them back into the house in case the finch lost concentration and was snapped up. Luckily she flew into the gum tree and then away. 

Bandit is quite interesting. I've been taking care of the cats for about five years now, and he's tended to keep to himself – he would eat with the other feral cats on the hill but then go off and do his thing for the rest of the day. About two months ago he ventured down towards the major house and to the outside room which we use as the major feeding station. Nows he's planted himself in the vicinity and is integrating to some extent with all the domestic cats. He often lays on the steps to the rumpus room and is comfortable with me stepping over him to go up and down the stairs so I acknowledge his trust and am careful.

He has a hardened look in his eyes but is also exposing his softer side – he actually talks to me and allows me to stroke his back and tail, although he occasionally hisses if I get too presumptuous. 

Rural and outback Australia has lots of rabbits (they are introduced and not indigenous species). About 20 years ago we had several rabbit warrens on the farm including one on the hill where the cattery is now. When the feral cats moved in, the rabbits moved out and we rarely see them now. We also don't appear to have rats or mice so some people would argue that the cats (domestic and feral) are earning their keep. For the record, I try to save any animal that is hurt – rodent or other mammal, reptile, bird, or insect – but I have to admit that the farm is quite clean because of the cats. What I mean by that is that there are no plagues or infestations that could compromise the health of the farm stock or do any major damage. One could say ... if you look after feral cats, they will also look after you.

Vale Felicity and Hissy Fit

I've not talked about her before on this blog, but I want to bring your attention to Felicity (pictured) – a creamy pebbly feral cat who I had to put to sleep about a week ago. I think Felicity has lived on the farm for a number of years but I don't know how long for because she kept herself hidden. On various occasions I had caught a glimpse of her at night when I had entered one of the outdoor rooms used as a feeding station – I had put on the light and then had seen a creamy cat streak off the food bench onto the floor and then jump up onto the windowsill and through the open window to disappear into the darkness of the night. 

The first time she came into prominence was winter last year. when I noticed our two dogs had parked themselves near a shed door. When I peered around the side I saw her curled up looking dirty, straggly and miserable. She was obviously very ill and didn't want to move for fear of the dogs and me and also because she was weak. I started bringing meals and fresh water to her hiding spot and kept the dogs out of her vicinity. She was always ravenous and responded well to my ministrations. After she recovered, she emerged and joined the rest of the feral cat colony living on the hill in the cattery and became quite comfortable about being in the open in the full light of day When you constantly feed a cat, they begin to trust you and will invariably come out of hiding and adopt you.

She was an eccentric little thing with a funny manner about her but she was quite delightful and would always come running when I brought breakfast or dinner. She didn't care about fitting into the social system within the feral cat colony – she just imposed herself. 

About eight months ago I noticed some blood on her ear and thought she had got into a fight. A short time later, I noticed her belly swelling and not long after she gave birth to two kittens in the nest occupied by previous tenants mentioned in an older blog post. I left her some food. A day or two later there was no sound from the kittens and when I investigated, I found they were both dead. Felicity moved out and got on with her life again. I didn't get her desexed because I knew she probably wouldn't fall pregnant again.

As time went on, I noticed that the bloody spot on her ear was not improving – rather it was growing. Then one day when I managed to get close to her I noticed it was because her ear was actually being eaten away by skin cancer. It was invariably going to be fatal because I knew I could not catch her and get her to a vet to operate. I had also lost a white cat called Casper who I loved about 15 years ago to skin cancer. Part of his nose and ear had been surgically removed to halt the spread of the cancer but it hadn't helped. The condition came back fiercely and he eventually had to be euthanised. There was no chance I was going to catch Felicity so I knew the the progression of the cancer was inevitable.

Felicity's ear went from bad to worse until half of it was missing and part of her face was eaten away by it. One of the reasons it looked really bad was that she spread the blood from the open wound over her face when she groomed or scratched that area. Despite the fact that it looked horrible she wasn't in any pain or suffering.

Then a funny thing happened about two months ago ... she walked down from the hill towards the human house and domestic cat end of the farm whereupon she stayed.

I was quite amazed at her confidence, especially when the other cats would take one look at the mangled side of her face and flee in horror. I in turn fed her and fussed over her and before long she let me stroke her. She turned out to be an extremely affectionate purry cat and I wondered whether in fact she had been dumped a long time ago because older feral cats don't traditionally behave this way. I set up a soft bed for her which she took to with great enthusiasm. She was also a ravenous eater, she was quite confident in herself, and she groomed herself after every meal. I in turn began to use baby wipes or small towels dipped in warm water to wash the blood and dead tissue from her face and ear. I also dressed the wound with a thick vaseline-like ointment used for animals and then brushed her coat. She looked healthy and gorgeous except for the ear.

During these two months when she officially adopted us, I spoke to the vet on two occasions to prepare myself for the inevitable. I knew there would be a point when I would have to make the decision and put her to sleep – I just didn't want to do it too soon and short-change her. Felicity had a wonderful life-force about her and a strong survival instinct – she also had a vibrant spirit. The vet said that it would be time when she stopped grooming herself and when she had an odour about her.

About two weeks ago I found her sleeping in my sheep pen in the straw so I set her up in her own straw bed in a huge basin. She loved it. She had room service morning and night and when she wanted to stretch her legs and go to the toilet she just ventured out. But she was slowly declining and sleeping more and more. The day I made the decision she didn't touch her food and she slept for about 90 percent of the day.

The next day I called the vet and asked that a woman vet come out to the farm – we paid extra for the house call but we have a policy that if any of our animals need to be put to sleep then it would happen on the farm with the minimum of stress on them.

I know this is a strange thing to say but her death was one of the most beautiful and peaceful I have ever come across. She slept for the entire day and then the young vet and her offsider (also a woman) came in beside me. I woke Felicity up by stroking and combing her and she stirred out of her sleep state and began purring. I gave her a good cuddle and then just stepped away. Two minutes later the vet came to me and said it was done – she had given her a sedative first and then the anaesthesia. Felicity was still purring when she died. I cried for the next few days. She is buried close to my office.

Felicity was a tragic cat insofar as she lived in the shadows for a long time and didn't make our acquaintance till the last year of her life. But I know one thing – during the the last two months she had an exemplary quality of life full of good food, lots of affection, a warm place to sleep and lots of love. You were a great cat, Felicity, and we're going to miss you.

On another note, Hissy Fit (also pictured), one of our feral females disappeared from the colony about a month ago. I didn't know her terribly well but she's been here for a long time. When I moved back to the farm about five years ago and started looking after all the cats, I named them all. Hissy Fit stood out because firstly she would hiss if you got too close and also because she had these two vampire looking teeth. She was black with a white patch on her chest. Her temperament softened after a while when she got to know me and became part of the greater animal family on the farm. We didn't have to desex her (or another one called Diamond) because they had not had kittens for a long time.

Anyway, she disappeared and it was unlike her to go more than 200 metres radius from the cattery where she lived. I went looking for her body but couldn't find it. I don't know whether she died from old age somewhere or whether it was death by misadventure but she's gone and the place sort of feels empty without her. She had a particular kind of energy and it has vanished as she did. Rest in peace, Hissy Fit, wherever you are.

Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 18

Good news, readers. My masterplan worked and I caught Sorrento last week. 

I went into the rumpus room to feed the cats and deposited some food into the open cat cage, which I had placed on the ping pong table some weeks ago. This was her particular feeding station and the objective was to make her feel comfortable around the cage so she thought it was a harmless object. Feral cats are notoriously clever in recognising when somebody wants to catch them and usually avoid confined spaces such as cat traps and cages unless they're starving.

I just had a feeling this was going to be the day so I kept watch on her out of the corner of my eye while I did other things such as clean out the kitty litter. Sure enough she calmly walked inside the cage and I just quickly and quietly moved across the room to shut the door on her. She was completely taken by surprise. I covered the sides of the cage with a towel and then carried her to the car and strapped her into the seat beside me.

I had to take my dog into the vet at the same time to get some stitches and it took me about ten minutes to drive there. This was the first time I actually heard Sorrento meow. She had a quiet scared meow and I just talked gently to her, reassuring her that it would be all right. And indeed it was. I got her chipped, vaccinated, desexed and put on post-operative pain medication.

That night I picked her and my dog up. When I returned home, I walked into the rumpus room and slowly opened the cage door and stood back. She tottered out – still wobbly from the anaesthesia – and then she ran and hid behind some filing cabinets. I left her some food and checked again on her about two hours later. She was doing okay.

For the next few days she avoided me and gave me the evil eye if I came near her. After that she started to relax.

Yesterday I decided she was ready for the big wide world again so I let the door open to the rumpus room. It was a beautiful warm day and about ten of the farm cats were lounging in and around the base of the stairs in about a 10 metre radius. The dogs were there too. We watched Sorrento tentatively come out onto the landing and look around – sniffing the air and the area. Then she slowly came down the stairs and looked around. I let her continue in this way for about 15 minutes – the dogs' eyes and some of the other cats and mine upon her. I knew the rumpus room was her safe-place so I kept the door open, although I was conscious of the fact that I didn't want Lulu (our little blind cat) trying to get out. I slowly moved towards Sorrento to see what she would do and as predicted she turned around and ran back into the rumpus room.

A couple of hours later I repeated the same process and then again a few hours after that. Each time she expanded her territory and interacted with great excitement with some of our other cats she had not met yet. Desexed males are usually the kindest and most patient with new cats – in this case, Boston, Saffron and Snow – and of course, Sorrento's best friend Samson. I don't have a current photo of Sorrento unfortunately as the camera I usually use is on holidays with my parents – the one you're looking at is about three months old. But I can tell you she's a pretty girl.

Today I let her out again. This time there were no cats in sight and I was standing some distance away watching her. And then she called me with her meow – wanting me there to reassure her so I came to her side and she stopped meowing and came down the stairs. I then brought Aspen and Mambo (her brothers) to her side so she could relax even more. Sorrento began rolling around on the gravel, exposing her belly and being completely in the moment. I've never seen her eyes as soft as they were in those moments. Even though I haven't stroked her as yet, there seemed to be a real communication breakthrough today that really touched me. 

Tomorrow I'll leave her out for longer and let her explore the area and make some new friends.

Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 17

It's been three months since I last posted on the Xmas kittens. At that stage I was putting up flyers all over the local area for people who might have wanted to adopt our four young cats. I didn't get many enquiries – I put it down to the the state of the economy (people are less inclined to take on animals when there is a sense of impending doom and they have to watch their money carefully) and the fact that the cats were a little older than the normal kittens being put up for adoption (although the pet shop at our local mall had similar aged cats up for sale). The people who did enquire were very nice but were cat beginners and as such probably wouldn't have understood the behavioural complexities that could accompany ex-feral cats. In the end all four cats stayed and I now have about 22 cats on the farm.

Once the decision was made to keep them, I named them. The red and white male is Aspen, the black female is Lulu, the black male is Mambo, and the tortie is Sorrento. (In the near future I'll do another post on naming cats).

A couple of months ago I moved them out of the gym and into the rumpus room which is larger, has a lot more light and is warmer in the winter. Three of the cats have since become lap-cats – they are purrers and cuddlers and exceptionally curious. The two males are now allowed outdoors and they follow me around as if I were the Pied Piper of cats. They must have an explorer gene to them because they are the boldest cats I have ever seen. Ordinarily, when I begin reintroducing feral cats to the outdoors again I take them to a small fenced off territory where they can enjoy the lawn and climbing up a big fig tree and jump up on an elevated platform full of pot plants. They slowly explore the area in ever increasing circles. It usually takes about three to five days before they climb through or over the barriers into the wider area. Well, Aspen and Mambo didn't hesitate. They checked out the area and were through the gaps in the fence within about 20 minutes – making friends with the other cats, eyeing off our two dogs, strolling happily onto the verandah of the house, and following me into my office. Aspen (pictured) has even gone on a morning walk to the dam with the dogs and my sheep.Quite extraordinary.

I also had three of the four desexed. Aspen and Mambo sailed through but Lulu wasn't so lucky. When she woke up from the operation, she was blind. This is one of the reasons I haven't written for so long on this blog – I was extremely upset and pretty much maintained a vigil by her side for the first two weeks. As you can imagine, she was extremely traumatised. I'll do a separate blog post on Lulu and how I'm dealing with a blind cat. Needless to say I have not let her out of doors. 

In the meantime, Sorrento is the final cat to get desexed. She's content in the rumpus room but looks through the window to the farm sprawled out below her and I know she'd like to venture out. Feral cats are predominantly outdoor cats and I'm sure she'd like to get back to the land so to speak. I dare not let her out until she's desexed and has recuperated because I don't know whether I'll be able to catch her again and because we have a huge sexed-up stray male tabby roaming around who jumps on any females he sees. I declare outright and out loud – THERE WILL BE NO MORE KITTENS HERE ON THE FARM! THE BREEDING LINES ARE (NEARLY) CLOSED!

More pics to come in the next couple of days.

Socializing Feral Kittens Videos

"Not to plug but Gerber Chicken and Gravy No. 2 is the crack cocaine for kittens!"

Great line from a great set of videos. 

The Urban Cat League in the USA has put together a series of three educational videos that will help you socialize feral kittens. Some of the tactics employed are slightly different to what I've used in the past (I would never have thought to have used baby food, for example), however, it's always good to add new strategies to your repertoire. The over-riding lesson in here is that you need to be flexible in the way you work with individual kittens and cats, as they all have different responses and pathways to socialization. The vet in the series is a real hero!

US Feral Cat Welfare Groups

Here's a list of US-based Feral Cat Welfare groups that I've discovered:

Shadow Cats (Texas) – Dedicated to Trap, Neuter, Return and strongly advocates non lethal measures to reduce outdoor cat populations.

Colony Cats (Ohio) – Their primary mission is to address cat overpopulation in central Ohio through public awareness and spay/neuter efforts.

Urban Cat League (New York) – Committed to improving the lives of New York City's homeless cats.

New York City Feral Cat Initiative (New York) – Helping New York City's feral and stray cats.

Alley Cat Allies (Maryland) – Dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of US cats.

I'll add these links to the right hand margin of this blog. I'd also like to add feral cat welfare groups from other countries so please send me any appropriate links if you come across them. 

Mimsy - the Houdini of Cats

Good news, everyone. Last week I finally captured shy Mimsy, the last fertile feral female living on the farm. This has been an 18-month endeavour and I'm mighty pleased with myself. I've mentioned her before on this blog – she and the other mature feral cats have just been too smart to step into cat traps so I've had to think outside the box so to speak. I worked out a strategy similar to that used on Sweetie a few months ago, although this time I actually used two cat cages instead of one in order to increase my odds of catching her, especially when there were other cats eating at that particular feeding station. 

I set the cat cages down inside the cattery (see previous post) where I fed them breakfast and just left them there with their doors open 24/7 so the cats thought of them as benign objects. In the mornings I would put a little pile of food on the outside of the door, in the interior of the cage at the entry point with a little trail leading to the back of the cage. I then sat behind the cage while the cats ate so they all got used to me. What happened was that the other less cautious cats would walk inside the cages and eat the food. I in turn would just ignore them. Mimsy, of course, witnessed this and began gradually letting down her guard.

The timing had to be absolutely right and I had to keep refining my technique from morning to morning. For example, I had initially lined the interior of the cat cages with towels but found that it got under the cats' paws or would block their view of the food at the back. The cats also sometimes dragged out the towel when they snatched the food from the inside. I also found that if I slightly elevated the cage on a thin plank of wood it would aid in the swing-action of the doors. Furthermore, because it is getting colder over here in Australia (it's Autumn) I had to use a smellier bait (odour is suppressed in cold weather) – tinned fish did the trick. On top of that I had to position myself so that I could shift quickly and not give myself away with any sounds or extraneous movements. I also had to hold back on the milk and the dried food which I traditionally left out for the cats to get them completely focused on the food I wanted them to eat inside the cat cage. 

On the morning in question it all went swimmingly. It so happened that Mimsy was the only cat who came into the cattery. I had left two piles of food on the outside of the two cages to increase my chances of catching her and she ate the first lot then did a snatch and grab from the interior (that is, she would poke her head inside the cage, grab the food and then eat it on the outside of the cage). Then ... miracle of miracles ... she slowly walked into the cage. I had to wait until two thirds of her body was inside. I knew I would only have one opportunity and I had to make it count, otherwise she would be on to me and I'd never catch her again. But there she was – eating away with just her rump and tail on the outside. I just lurched over the top and swung the cage door closed on her backside and secured it. She panicked a little but then settled down more quickly then I had thought. I then walked the cage to my car and strapped it into the back seat with a seat belt then drove immediately to the vet (they open at 7.30 on weekdays). She did not meow once.

That night, I picked her up at about 6pm and again she was completely quiet. She was sitting up and seemed calm. I've never had an experience like this – most cats who are frightened will be very vocal. I had prepared the gym at home (where I had previously kept the Xmas kittens) and walked inside and put the cage onto the carpet. Then I just slowly eased open the cage door. Before I even had time to step back, she was out like a bullet and hiding under the mini trampoline. I left her some food and water and then quietly withdrew.

The next morning I made my way back to the gym to give Mimsy her breakfast and to check on her progress. She had eaten her dinner and I expected her to be hungry. I could not find her. I looked everywhere – behind  and on top of fridges, under exercise equipment, in boxes – nothing. I thought she may have been hiding in plain sight and then came back with a torch in daylight like a CSI investigator to see if I had missed her. Nothing. I then sent somebody else in to look for her. Nothing. I couldn't understand it. The window was closed except for about an inch and the screen door was completely shut and I knew nobody else had gone in to see her during the night. What's more, I had wedged a container against the door and it was still in place.

I was quite perplexed but thought that if she had escaped she would head straight home so I was up the hill and looked around the perimeter of the cattery. She was there – interacting with her friends Hissy Fit and Diamond. I was gob-smacked. Mimsy was obviously a Houdini and smart and supple enough to escape. My only theory was that somehow she had wedged open the screen door and squeezed through a gap either on the top or bottom.

The upshot is that she appears to be her normal self and that the entire episode didn't seem to stress her out too much. She just wanted to get back to business and for her that means reuniting with her companions and getting back to normal life on the hill.

Mimsy was an excellent mother – we have kept six of her babies who are beautiful healthy cats in their own right with wonderful temperaments – but her days of reproducing are over. Now it's her time, and if Sweetie is anything to go by (Sweetie has put on healthy weight and is having a wonderful single life) then Mimsy will do just fine.

Apologies

Apologies for taking so long between blog posts but we've had a series of animal tragedies and deaths in the family and I'm too upset to blog about it at the moment. I'll be back soon to recount the stories, which could potentially help others in similar situations.

Motherly Love Beyond Cats

This is just too beautiful to resist – it SO brought tears to my eyes.

Sweetie's Recovery

I mentioned in a previous post that I had finally managed to catch and desex Sweetie, one of the fertile females on the farm. What I haven't had a chance to do yet is tell you about her recuperation, which has given me some amazing insights into animal behaviour and has spun my perceptions around.

I ended up letting Sweetie stay for about a week in the rumpus room. She slept, ate a lot and talked to me. She appeared to be quite comfortable and relaxed during that time and the scar on her abdomen looked to be healing nicely.

On the appointed release date I opened the door and just stood back thinking she'd give me the evil eye, do a mad dash for the door and then disappear for a few days. I was SO totally wrong. She didn't move for several hours. I think she liked the room service. She finally decided it was time to vacate the premises in the late afternoon, although it wasn't without some emotional complications. 

She immediately sought out her best feral friend Boots (a desexed black male with white socks) who, after sniffing her, turned his back and walked away. She meowed plaintively and rubbed herself against him again. He just gave her the cold shoulder and moved on. She appeared to be very confused. It was like she wanted to reconnect again after a separation, but he had snubbed her. This was very unlike his previous observed behaviour. Even if she went off to have kittens and then returned after a long stay away, these two have always reunited with great affection. I suspect he smelled the trace odours of the veterinary clinic on her and that he sensed she was still not fully recovered and that was why he turned his back and walked away. I've noticed that many of our cats give their sick companions a wide berth and want little or nothing to do with them until they're better. Watching this particular interlude was actually quite heartbreaking because on some level I sensed her pain and her confusion. Cats obviously don't process thoughts like humans do but they (like most creatures) do feel and have an emotional life. 

The good news is that the next day they were fine together and since then they've been acting like a young couple in love – they curl up and sleep with each other all day, clean each other and go for strolls with each other. The affection has returned and the bond has been strengthened. Sweetie, contrary to expectation, has embraced her new life and is looking healthy (you can no longer see the scar) and has a new aura of confidence and relaxation about her. She stays close to the house and only ventured away for the first time a couple of days ago.

Off the Blog Radar

Apologies to my regular readers for my temporary disappearance of the Tame Feral Cats blog, but I've been up at the Gold Coast doing Internet marketing training and (irony of ironys) didn't have access to a computer. I don't like travelling with my laptop as it's my foremost business tool and I'd rather keep it safe at home. It turns out that the Internet service provider who had been contracted to the hotel to establish lines in and out for the 100 or so participants, got it all wrong and they could barely use the Internet for the duration without going through a three hour upload process for something that would ordinarily take 10 minutes. The organiser was not impressed to say the least. The people I was staying with had an old PC and although they had Broadband (DSL) they were restricted in their upload/download capabilities and asked me merely to check my email an nothing else. In the meantime, I've had major deadlines and am going up to Brisbane to attend the Supanova pop culture convention in a "non-feral cat" but writing capacity so you may not get very much more until next week when I resume my normal routine. So just a couple more posts between now and then ...

Adventures of Mimsy's Kittens – Journal Entry 3

Thought I'd better hunt for Mimsy's kittens after she moved them a couple of weeks ago. I had a pretty good idea where she'd taken them – the old dilapidated shed we have right near the cattery. It's falling apart and a bit of a safety hazard so I spent Saturday morning removing iron sheets, fallen wooden doors and lots of scrap metal from the vicinity so that the kittens could move around in relative safety. They'll also be exposed to the elements because the shed has no roof and we a HUGE downpour the other day so I'll do what I can to make them comfortable without actually touching them and freaking out their mother. 

I also sadly found the body of the white and ginger kitten that had died – or should I say what remained of it. Only the dried out skin and hair from its back was left. I quickly buried the nameless kitten in some freshly sprung lush grass.

The other three kittens were under the broken floorboards as I suspected. They're very tiny and possibly malnourished. Their eyes are half-open but their faces haven't softened yet from that just born baby look to the traditional cutesy kitten archetype. I'd say it will take another two weeks for that to happen. The first time I saw them, the remaining white and ginger one was sleeping with its head on the side of one of the black ones who in turn was sleeping with its head on the white and ginger one. They looked like the ying and yang symbol. Pity I didn't have my camera on me. 

They're too little to be scared at this stage, although I did hear a little hiss this morning. They move around slowly and topple a bit. I had one question answered when I observed them – although they're only about four weeks old, one of them actively cleaning her- or himself so that was interesting information to file away in the memory banks.

I've been leaving low-lactose kitty milk in a shallow dish for them in the morning – shallow so they can crawl up to it and drink over the lip but not fall in and drown. The milk is gone when I return but I'm unsure whether it's been drunk by them or their mother. I also tried some soft kitten food but again I'm unsure of whether they're eating it or not, as I've not had the time to actually sit down for an extended period and just watch them.

I poked my camera through the floorboards this morning and here is the result. I'm going to push a bit of straw inside so it's a little bit more insulated but my master plan is to catch them in about two weeks.

The reason I'm visiting every day is so they get used to me and make the connection that I'm a food source for them. This is my pre-socialisation training. It usually doesn't take long to rehabilitate kittens that have had this kind of preparation. Mimsy's kittens have always been good that way. After that I'll need to focus on catching Mimsy and getting her desexed. I've already set the cat cage up near the cattery so she and all the other cats get used to it. I'll start putting food in there too so they (and she obviously) think of it as a benign object, get a false sense of security and actually walk inside to eat the food while the door is open. And then sometime in the near future when I just so happen to be sitting nearby, I can just close the cage door on Mimsy and whisk her down to the vet.

Ohio Cats

One of my blog readers, Cat (appropriate name!) from Ohio, USA, kindly sent me these pics of some of the feral cats she's taken in over the years. Only Lucky (the long haired calico) is still with her. Baby (the tortoiseshell) had five kittens in Cat's closet and her first born still lives with Cat. Prince (the white cat) was found while Cat was still in college and they enjoyed a good 14 years together. Apparently, Cat's mother's now tends to a colony that lives nearby and some of the kittens born into the colony have been adopted and rehomed now.

Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 16

I've separated the three bold kittens (two blacks and bi-colour one) into the rumpus room and left Miss Tortie-and-White by herself with the occasional visitor – Samson. The three of them have made it well beyond the seventh stage of stroking a feral cat which I identified in a previous blog post – they're now lap cats, I can pick them up for a cuddle while I'm standing up and they perform spontaneous roll overs accompanied by loud purrs whenever I enter into their vicinity. Miss Tortie-and-White on the other hand has always held back. I have to admit I gave the other three rambunctious ones more attention, simply because they always jumped into the fray in whatever game I was playing with them and never really gave Miss Tortie-and-White the chance to participate. She's been a fringe dweller during the time she's been living here but hopefully that will change now that she'll get some one-on-one attention.

If this morning is anything to go by, she'll progress nicely. I used a piece of cloth with a knot tied on the end and dragged it all over the floor. She surrendered completely. I've never seen her so relaxed or indeed so animated in play. She pulled out all her best cat moves; she was pouncing and tumbling, twisting in the air and wrestling. She came within about six inches of me, which is the closest she's ever been before. She still pulls back if she thinks I'm going to man-handle her but the good thing is that her eyes are no longer filled with suspicious and are telling a new story. She's asleep in the old gym at the moment so I'll have another play session with her tonight and hopefully encourage her to eat from my hand.

Never Say Never Feral Cat Video

I found this video on YouTube, which deals with the feral cats crisis in America (according to the video there are 60 million feral cats there), exposes the myths and advocates the humane TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) strategy at the same time. Looks and sounds like this is a universal problem with the same practical and sensible solutions if people started looking after the feral colonies living on their plot of land or in their local area.

Recommended Cat Books 4

This recommendation came in via Cat (appropriate name!) – one of the Tame Feral Cats blog readers. I haven't read it but completely trust Cat's opinion and will get it in my next Amazon order. It's called Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook. Check it out here. In the meantime, thanks for your input, Cat.

Feral Female Farm Cat Caught

Good news on the homefront. Many of you may have read about the ongoing saga of Sweetie – one of the fertile feral females on the farm and how I've been trying to catch her on and off for about a year. Well, I caught her two evenings ago and she's now back home desexed and recuperating in our rumpus room, which overlooks her territory on the outside. The vet did a splendid job and she has dissolving stitches in her abdomen which means she doesn't have to make a return visit.

The entire experience has been traumatic for both the cat and myself because she trusted me and I felt as though I was betraying that trust when I caged her up and took her offsite for the operation. She's doing well now and is communicating with me again with her soft meow whenever I visit her. I paid extra for pain relief so I hope it's holding. I'll release her in the next 48 hours or so once I'm content there are no complications from the surgery. The best signal for me is that she appears to be relaxed and has eaten a lot since her return last night. This is a great relief. Her last litter was the Xmas kittens, which I've written about in the Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens series – two of which are sitting on a cushion right next to me in the office as I write this blog post. The emotional stress was a temporary discomfort to the long term stress of having the cats constantly reproducing when I'm trying to curtail the cat population on the farm, and then having to socialise and find loving homes for the kittens. I don't indiscriminately give kittens or cats away without checking out the character of the human companion who will be taking them. The quest is on now to find good homes for Sweetie's offspring.

At a later time I'll write a dedicated post on the subject of how to and how not to catch feral cats based on all the tricks I've learned during the last 12 months.

More Feral Cat Cattery Pics

These pics are related to today's previous two blog posts. Here we have the feral farm cats utilising the space on the outside and on the inside of the cattery we built. The black cat sitting on the 44-gallon drum is called Diamond; the black and white cat peeking under the plastic curtain is called Patches.

Feral Cat Cattery Pics

Here are some photos related to my previous blog post. Pic 1 is the sleeping quarters on top of the wooden palettes. Pic 2 is of the feeding station and the straw-lined interior.

Building a Feral Cat Cattery

We used to have four old square sheds at the top of a hill on our farm in a kind of oblong formation. They were enclosed on three sides by walls and had a gate on the fourth side. The sheds were used to store various materials, and in the middle was a weed garden. This is where the feral cat commune lived for many years. Then the sheds started to break down in the elements – the doors fell off their hinges, the roofs started to flap in the wind and the floorboards to crack. We decided to pull two of the sheds down last year for safety reasons and will be doing the same to the other two next month. But that would have left the cats without shelter so what to do?

The back wall also had sort of an undercover parking area attached to it where we used to park our tractor. It was basically two corrugated iron sheets attached to some thick wooden posts with more sheeting on top for a roof. You could drive the tractor in and then straight out again. What we did is convert this little section into a cattery for the feral cats. We added a third wall of sheeting (it sort of looks like an old garage now), making sure that there was a gap near the ground which the cats could use a an escape route (see pic 2). We also put a gate at the other end so the cats could have easy access but any medium or large dogs or other roaming animals would find it difficult to get inside (see pic 1). It's important to note that if you're building a cattery you must have at least three exit routes for them to use if they're cornered and escape is necessary. This will make them feel safe and secure to adopt the cattery as their home.

We then scrounged for other bits and pieces around the farm that could be utilised on the interior. We found some thick plastic sheeting that we hung up like a curtain on the gate end of the cattery. In summer this can be moved aside to let in the fresh air, and in winter or in the rain, it can be pulled completely over the entry to keep it dry on the inside. We also found these wooden plank constructions, which we stacked on top of each other along one wall (I'm not a builder so I have no idea what these things are used for in the world of construction). We lined the top of them with various cat beds and old towels and blankets. There are also two levels in which the cats can hide away in these wooden pallets – on the ground or in the middle. Unless you're deliberately searching for them or have a good nose then you wouldn't even know they could be hiding in there.

We also positioned two 44-gallon drums on the interior to add some height elements – cats like being high and surveying the landscape. However, this also serves as another safety feature in case any other larger animals get inside. I also have a third 44-gallon drum on the outside so the cats can make a quick get away by climbing on the roof. 

I lined the ground with straw, which stays dry and warm. I rarely have to change it or add to it. The cats use the outside as their toilet and so the straw is remarkably clean. I then added a big plank of wood as a feeding station and put in a large container of fresh water plus several dishes for their food. I leave them breakfast in here but feed them wet food  on the outside unless it's raining, as I want to avoid attracting cockroaches, ants or other insects. I wash the dishes and replace the water every few days.

We didn't spend any money in setting this up – we just used our imagination and resources we had laying around on the farm. You can also build a cattery on a budget if you improvise like we did. 

To summarise, the key elements to have when constructing a cattery similar to this one are:

(1) shelter from the elements (warm and dry)

(2) at least three exit routes

(3) height elements on the inside and outside

(4) sleeping stations (old towels, blankets, cat beds etc), and

(5) feeding station (two water containers and several food dishes).

Adventures of Mimsy's Kittens – Journal Entry 2

I'm sorry to say that this will be a sad journal entry. Last night when I went to feed the commune of feral cats, I went into the cattery while they were eating to check up on the little ones and found a ginger and white one dead. It was lying slightly apart from its three siblings – it wasn't breathing, its belly was distended and its body was cold to the touch. I reached out and picked it up and was holding it in my hand when the black nanny/auntie cat "Hissy Fit" who looks after kittens with Mimsy, came charging inside. She instantly went to check out the kittens. I returned the little dead one to the nest so she could see what had happened. She tried to revive it by licking it but obviously didn't succeed. My scent was on the little kitten too, which didn't help. I don't know how cats process information but on some level these ones may equate my being there with the baby's death. On another level, Hissy Fit showed no hostility towards me, possibly because I have a long term record of feeding them and looking after them so they recognise me as a carer. 

This morning I returned to remove the dead kitten and found all of them gone. This has happened once in the past when my very kind auntie came and fussed over a previous litter and returned one that had crawled away. Within hours the mother had moved the lot of them. It's my observation that the moment humans touch the babies and get there scent over them, then the mothers will move the kittens to another nest.

After finding them gone this morning, I began searching for them. I believe they've been moved under the broken floorboards of a dilapidated shed which stands next to the cattery. There are lots of pipes and crawl spaces there, and Mimsy has brought previous kittens up in this spot. Belle, my cross border collie with the amazing nose for finding kittens, also started sniffing in the vicinity. 

Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 15

Finished putting up the flyer around the vicinity, although I missed the deadline with some shopping centres and it won't go up on the community bulletin board until Monday next week. 

I tested the white and red kitten at a next door neighbour's place the other day. They have a Siamese female who lives in the house at night and in a huge custom built cat cage (which she loves) during the day. They're wanting to get a companion cat for her and, although they're exceptionally kind to their animal family, I'm a little reluctant to let the male go for several reasons – (1) feral cats do better in pairs with their siblings; (2) the neighbour has a small yappy dog that chases everything she comes across; (3) no formal inter-species introductions have been made yet to introduce the cat and dog; (4) the cats were separated into two parts of the cage and watched each other through the mesh – I don't know yet how territorial the female will be when they come together as she gave mixed signals in the first stage; and (5) the little one is better off transitioning from the inside of the house to the outside cage and hopefully into the garden so he can roam free. One of the reasons the neighbours have the cage is because there are poisonous snakes in the vicinity and also a mean dog on the property next door that would have no hesitation in attacking any animal (dog or cat and in fact has done so in the past) should they wander close to each other. This is a dilemma.

I brought the white and red one and the black kitten 1 (the female) into my office yesterday. They loved it. They climbed over and sniffed everything out. Samson came in too and the black one curled up with him on the bed. I also brought Jake our kelpie in, and the white and red kitten sneaked up on him and played with his tail. They later had a bit of a face off – Jake just stood there in fascination and wonder, the cat went into protective mode with an arched back, hair standing up on end on the neck and back, and a tail twice the size of the norm. I have pics but still need to upload them to my computer. 

I'll bring in all three of them today and then spend a little one on one time with Miss Tortie-and-White. The trick with transitioning her will be to bring her into my office either by herself or with one other in the future when I can catch her again. I will then ignore her and let her wander around by herself. I've done this on a previous occasion where three of the five kittens were socialised in 48 hours and found a good home about a week later, and the two remaining kittens completely avoided me for nigh on three weeks. Once I brought them into my office so they were with me for a good part of the day, they relaxed and were purring in my lap before long.