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.
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