inside cats

Catching up

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Before I catch up on things, I just had to share this photo.

This is Little Braveheart, now known as Tissue, cuddling with “grandma”.

That is the protective foam insert that came with the new washing machine. Our old mama cat has claimed it as her favorite bed, but she doesn’t mind a kitten joining her for cuddles!

They do like to chew on it, though. :-D

Meanwhile…

Yesterday, I bit the bullet and headed out to do some bigger shopping. It’s really mostly cat food and litter, where the price difference makes it worth the cost of gas to drive so far to get it. That, and supply. Locally, not only are the prices higher, but they just don’t have the space for much inventory or selection. After hearing about what people have gone though in the city, where we usually go, I wasn’t sure it was safe for me, so I went to the smaller city instead. It’s big enough to have a Walmart. :-D It’s a small store, but it carries what I need, and they don’t bat an eye when I walk in with a shield instead of a mask. I did remember to bring our pulse oximeter, and was glad to have it. It still amazes me that even a shield causes my blood oxygen levels to drop like that. The kitties are now well stocked in kibble again, though. :-)

I had a bit of a surprise later on, when looking up the tracking numbers for various orders that we have numbers for. Our new trail cam is supposed to arrive today, along with some other stuff – maybe. Lots of stuff are now coming up as delayed, as Canada Post is overwhelmed. When checking this time, though, I realized the trail cam wasn’t being sent by mail. It’s being shipped by UPS! So now I’ve got the garage security camera aimed at the gate, with the sound on, to keep an eye out for the delivery. Assuming they even find our place. We don’t exactly show up on GPS. :-/ The first time we tried to have something delivered by UPS, they had the hardest time finding us. The last time, they left the parcel at the general store/post office for us to pick up. So I’m not sure what will happen.

I don’t like ordering things online, and this is another reason why. It’s just that much harder to actually physically get things out here! I’d much rather get things locally, but so many things just aren’t available here.

I look forward to getting to a point of self-sufficiency, where we don’t have to depend on questionable delivery services, supply chains and such. It’ll take quite a few years to accomplish, but with all the stuff going on right now, it’s really been hitting home, how necessary that goal is for us, out here in the boonies. It’s hard enough to get things we need at the best of times, and these are not the best of times!

The Re-Farmer

Foiled?

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Every year, before we are ready to decorate our artificial Christmas tree, we dig it out of storage and set it up. The idea is to get the cats used to it being there, and we get a chance to remind the older cats, and train the newer cats, that this is NOT a thing they are allowed to go into.

It usually works fairly well, but it’s hard to train the cats to stay out, when there’s no one in the room to catch them in the act.

We have several Christmas trees. One 6 ft “family” tree, and the girls have their own smaller trees for their rooms. Now that they have the second floor as their own “apartment”, they’ve been setting both up in the same room.

With so many rambunctious “teen aged” kittens in the house, my older daughter suggested we use her 4 ft Ikea tree. If we could find a way to raise it up, perhaps we could keep the cats out of it?

Well, we’ve had that tree up in the dining room for a few days now. I went into the storage shed and dug out a couple of tall plant stands to see if one of them would work as a stand.

On the first attempt, the girls set it on one of the stands and used Bungee cords to hold the tree stand in place.

That got knocked over pretty quickly, even though it was on the more stable of the two stands.

We set the tree directly on the floor, and hoped the cats would just investigate it and leave it alone.

Which is generally what they did, when we were around.

Then we could come into the room and find it knocked over.

I even tried putting it on the dining table, which they are not allowed on. Of course, tiny paw prints on the table in the morning shows they still go on it while we are asleep.

Today, I think I found a solution.

I flipped a plant stand upside down.

This might actually work.

We might still have to find a way to attach it to the wall to keep it from being knocked over, but so far, so good!

After a while, we’ll put the lights on and leave it for a day or two. If all goes well, we’ll get it decorated, then hide the stand with something pretty.

Big Rig, at least, appears to have been foiled by the stand! :-)

The Re-Farmer

A blustery day!

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High winds are sweeping across the prairies right now! There has been snow, now and again, as well. As I write this, I can see the live feed on our security camera, which has switched to its night setting. That means the snowflakes are being lit by the infrared flash, looking like white lights. I don’t know where the wind is supposed to be coming from right now, and those flakes are being blown in all directions – sometimes at the same time! I am quite happy to be indoors and warm right now!

The high winds had started the night before, but the outside cats were well sheltered. The three large kibble containers were all knocked on the ground, probably by skunks. The water containers along the side of the cat house were completely filled with leaves blown into them. The heated water, bowl, was disgusting.

A cat had somehow managed to crap in it!!!

So that took some time to clean up. :-(

Over the next week, it’s supposed to be warmer – even as high as 12C/53F! So we are making plans for what we want to quickly get done before it gets too cold again. Until then, we’ve got plenty to do inside. Our last fish has died, and I’ve decided not to get more. I’m hoping to salvage the live (barely) plants in a smaller, gallon tank. I have just not had success with live plants, and there are too many other things to focus on right now. So the 20 gallon tank is being cleaned out, while the entire living room is being shifted around. The camera and tripod are being set up again at the window. I don’t know that I’ll be up to starting my photo of the day again, but at least it’ll be available once I start putting deer feed out again.

The inside kitties are living a life of luxury right now, and even let me take a few pictures! :-)

I’m happy to say that Cabbages is well settled in, if not quite fully socialized. She will sometimes let us pick her up and does enjoy pets and cuddles, but if we try to walk up to her, she still runs off and won’t let us touch her. She still goes into hiding during the day, but not as long as she used to.

Among the other cats, even Fenrir is finally accepting her, and not growling and hissing like she used to. She has even put up with Cabbages snuggling up to her butt for a nap. Mostly, I think, because when she does hiss at Cabbages, Cabbages just ignores her. :-D

Tissue (aka Little Braveheart) is fully socialized, not only with people, but the other cats, as well. Unfortunately, she, Turmeric, Cabbage and Leyendecker ALL keep trying to nurse on “grandma”!

Turmeric just looks innocent in this photo.

Actually… she doesn’t look at innocent at all, does she? :-D

We are such sucks, when it comes to the cats! ;-)

The Re-Farmer

Cabbages’ Patch

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The good news: more progress on Cabbages’ socialization!

She has been going around us more often, and the other cats are tolerating her more. Those that don’t, she typically just ignores. It’s rather funny when Fenrir hisses and growls at her, and Cabbages just looks at her with this “gives no f***s” expression!

The bad news is, she has joined the group of older kittens that keep trying to nurse on Grandma.

Also, that picture?

That’s my side of the bed.

At almost 3 am.

She claimed my spot as her very own Cabbages patch! :-D

Normally, I have no problem shoving aside any cats that are in the way of my going to bed, but Cabbages is still learning to trust humans, and I didn’t want to chase her off.

I needn’t have worried. She ended up spending most of the night with me. Or, more accurately, Grandma! That did mean I was repeatedly awakened by loud slurping noises, after Grandma slithered out of her belly band. I kept having to pull her off, and block access to nip. She did not like that, but eventually curled up next to me and went to sleep! I do wish our old mama wouldn’t encourage the kittens so much!

I finally did some looking, and it turns out that yes, like humans, cats can start lactating with the stimulation of nursing. It’s entirely possible “grandma” is actually producing milk again.

With the older kittens, they were well mothered. I’m tempted to let Cabbages nurse. Butterscotch mothered them well when they were small, from what we could see, but I think she forcibly weaned them pretty early, and stopped being the least bit maternal with them, not much longer.

It would be hard to allow one kitten to nurse, but not the others!

The Re-Farmer

Accepted

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The cuteness! It’s overwhelming! :-D

Cabbage let me pick her up and cuddle her for a while. When I put her down on my bed, she let me snuggle her some more.

Then Grandma came over and started grooming her. Before I knew it, she was snuggled in with Cheddar, who took over the grooming, and cuddling ensued!

Even Turmeric didn’t hiss or bat at her.

Progress, indeed!

Also, now that our washing machine is working again, I think I need to wash all the cat hair off my blanket… ;-)

The Re-Farmer

Settling in

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The little calico has been settling in surprisingly well since I abducted her from outside.

She has been quicker to explore and be around the other cats than Tissue did.

Fenrir doesn’t take to the new additions well in general and, of all the cats, Turmeric has been the most aggressive towards her. For the most part, the little calico has been ignoring their hisses but, when necessary, she stands her ground rather than getting intimidated.

I took this picture last night, as she claimed the middle of my bed. When she lay down for a nap, she actually used Fenrir’s butt as a pillow! When Fenrir finally noticed, she hissed and ran off, but the little calico didn’t even flinch!

This morning, I was awakened by a tiny body pouncing on my feet. :-D

She still isn’t very comfortable with us humans. Aside from the foot pouncing, that is. ;-) Once in a while, we’ll manage to pet her, or just hold our hands out for her to sniff and gently bat at our fingers. She doesn’t seem scared or nervous at all; just stand offish.

Meanwhile, I discovered the girls had already named her.

She’s called Cabbages.

Because she has so many patches…

LOL!!

The Re-Farmer

I am such a suck

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I had a very enthusiastic crowd when I gave the outside cats warm water and kibble. :-)

The one potential down side of the kibble house I’m building is that there will not be as much room for the cats themselves to spread out. The very shy one in the back, for example, is not just shy of humans, but some of the other cats, too. Then you get Butterscotch, who has been getting more ornery in her old age, and will randomly start hissing and batting at the other cats – including her own kittens!

No Rolando Moon this morning, but she’s another one that has been hissing at the other cats, though the other cats have been going after her, as well.

However, they do tend to tone it down when the weather gets cold. At that point, I think they’ll take the extra body heat over their usual aggressiveness.

I was able to pet Butterscotch’s kittens this morning. Creamsicle Jr. wasn’t too keen on it, but I was actually able to pick up the little calico and hold her. She stayed in my arms, looking at me like I was crazy, but purring. I didn’t want to keep her from food for too long, though, so I put her down and finished my rounds.

Before going inside, I visited the cats again.

I was able to pick up the little calico again.

She was willing to settle in my arms, purring away.

I took blatant advantage of the situation.

She’s now in the basement.

One of the girls very noisily scattered cat treats upstairs to lure the other cats away and close the door. Keith and Cheddar wouldn’t leave, though, being far more curious about the new addition. They’re pretty safe around the newbies, though, so that was okay.

Then I opened a tin of wet cat food, and Turmeric magically appeared from somewhere under my work table! :-D

I spread out blobs of wet cat food in the kibble platter to get the other cats interested, then brought the rest of the can near the calico and lured her over with the spoon.

It’s her first time eating wet cat food, and she was quite enthusiastic about it!

Turmeric, unfortunately, kept wanting to chase her around. I think it was more playful than aggressive, but it’s just too much for the little one. I was eventually able to escape the basement, bringing Turmeric out with me and managing to NOT let any other cats down. There was a whole crowd of them at the door, wanting to see what was going on!

She ignored Cheddar sniffing her while she ate, and he seemed pretty laid back while checking her out. Then he very slowly, casually, batted at her!

So today, we’ll be taking turns going to the basement, bringing the “safe” cats for introductions, and paying lots of attention to the new addition. That will mostly be on the girls, since I need to get outside to work on the kibble house. Not until late afternoon, though, when the temperature is expected to finally get above freezing.

I am such a suck. I have been so adamant about not bringing more cats into the house, and now we’re up to 16!! The problem is, bringing the females inside is the only way we can keep the yard cat population down. It costs about $260 to get a female fixed out here, and we’d have to bring them inside anyhow, since we’d have to make sure they don’t eat at least 8 hours before surgery, then give them 2 weeks to heal. Males cost half as much, so we were able to get the few males inside fixed. I have to admit, though, I would have loved to see David kittens! :-D Anyhow. No chance of more kittens if the females are inside.

Now that Tissue is socialized, we have 9 cats available for adoption, but so far, no takers!

Well, what can we do but keep taking care of them as best we can?

The Re-Farmer

A little Tissue

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It’s been a while since I updated on the status of Little Braveheart, aka Tissue, now that she has been brought indoors.

For the first while, she hid out in the basement. She began to emerge more often when the cats were given their evening treat of wet cat food. My daughters would, whenever possible, spend time down there, coaxing her out and getting her used to company.

As she started going upstairs more often, the other cats were true to their own personalities! Some took to her, some didn’t. For some reason, the spice girls in particular would start hissing and chasing her.

Cheddar and David were the most relaxed with her, but it has been our old mama cat, that moved out here with us, that has been both a help – and a problem!

She has always been good with the kittens, and when Beep Beep resoundingly weaned them, they discovered that “grandma” would let them suckle. It’s been a battle to get them to stop.

Then Tissue discovered this.

Several times now, we’ve caught her and one of the spice girls, trying to nurse on “grandma” – and being very much encouraged to do it!

On the one hand, this is not good. I don’t think cats can be stimulated to lactate without having kittens, but the attempt to nurse on her has left her looking like her nips are about to bleed.

On the other hand, since they’ve become nursing sisters, Tissue and the spice girls have become affectionate with each other!

I’ve made a belly band for grandma that I put on her when we can’t stop them from trying to nurse. It’s loose and she can get out of it easily, but it’s usually enough for them to stop trying.

Tissue had been aggressively trying to nurse, so I put the band on. Grandma then lay down to cuddle with Cheddar. Tissue clambered on, trying to find a nip. Much to my surprise, Cheddar reached out and arm to block her!

So Tissue just curled up in a ball on top of both of them!

I think she is now socialized enough to put up for adoption! :-D

Not that anyone seems to be interested in adopting cats at all right now. We haven’t had a single person interested in any of the kittens this time. Not a single contact! :-(

The Re-Farmer

Things I saw today

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Just a collection of pictures I took today.

The inside orange babies watching an outside orange baby!

This little buggers snuck into the sun room behind my back and got closed up in it! It wasn’t until I came out to give the cats some treats that I heard her plaintive meowing. She had jumped into a tall box we use to hold long-handled tools. She wasn’t too happy with my trying to help her out and went into an absolute panic. She did let me give her treats, and later on, I was even able to pet her while she was eating, so I think I am forgiven. :-D

I don’t know what’s more remarkable. The fascinatingly symmetrical pattern of holes on this leaf – or the fact that, of the thousands of leaves surrounding me at the time, I spotted this one immediately!

It’s the time of year for tree ‘shrooms!

Aside from having to cut the part that was around the one cable, I was able to remove this abandoned wasp nest completely intact. It’s now sealed in a bucket in the sun room. There is no sign of any wasps in it. Where the cable went through, I could see empty egg cases. Even the dead wasp I’d seen in the opening seems to be gone; likely fallen in between layers of paper below the opening. In fact, the only living thing I saw while taking it down was the big !#%$! spider the crawled out the top when I cut it loose from the box!

I’m not bothered by spiders, but I admit, that did make me jump a bit! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Inside kitties, and a bit of a problem

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The indoor cats were adorable today, too!

Keith and “grandma” – the mama cat that moved out here with us – cuddling together for a nap.

Keith, again, dropping back to sleep, even as he reached out to grab my phone while I took the picture!

Our old mama cat is turning out to be an unexpected problem with the kittens.

When it was time to wean them, Beep Beep was pretty blunt about it. They’d come hunting for nip, and she’d bat them upside the head. They got discouraged pretty quickly.

When Two Face was first introduced to the kittens, she was aggressively affectionate, hunting them down to groom then, and would allow them to try to nurse. We chalked this up to our discovery that she was pregnant at the time she was taken in to get fixed. She somehow understood that she should have had a bunch of her own furry little worms. That did eventually stop, thankfully. It was rather heartbreaking to watch her.

Then there’s our old mama cat. She and her boy moved out here with us. She has largely been pretty good about the new cats being introduced. When Cheddar came in after having surgery to remove the stick he’d somehow impaled himself with, she flat out adopted him. With the kittens, she was motherly, but not like she was with Cheddar.

Except now.

Once Beep Beep weaned her babies, “grandma” decided she would take over. Not only does she allow the kittens to try and nurse on her, she actively encourages it. Mostly, it’s Turmeric, but Saffron and Leyendecker also give it ago. We discourage it as much as possible, but she’s got two nips that no longer have fur around them, and one of them is looking very red – I can’t imagine how it doesn’t hurt her! Yet she still encourages it. Today, much to my surprise, not only did I find both Turmeric and Saffron trying to nurse on her, but even Cheddar – Cheddar!!! – was snuffling about, hunting for nip.

I’ve tried making a belly band for her, but she gets out of it easily. We’d need to make something that is more like a sweater, but I really would prefer not to force her to wear clothes. I’d rather the whole thing stop! We could rub something on her to make it taste bad, but with how raw one of them is looking, I don’t want to cause more irritation.

Has anyone ever encountered something like this before? Any suggestions?

The Re-Farmer