inside cats

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

Morning kitties!

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Beep Beep seems to enjoy her retirement to indoor life. This is how I found her this morning.

She just loves this corner of the couch, so my husband has been making nests for her.

Because we’re not sucks when it comes to the cats. Not at all!

/sarcasm…

The kittens were out and about this morning, so I made sure to get some photos. These are for you, Silk! A bit of virtual kitten therapy. :-)

Rosencrantz sharing breakfast with a grandbaby!

I was going through some old photos last night and found photos of a cat I had forgotten about completely. They were taken last October. We were getting sudden visits from a white and grey tom. He didn’t hang around long, but I think he must still be around somewhere. He and Little Braveheart look very much alike!

Rosencratnz with… another grandbaby (or baby?)

I wasn’t able to get good pictures of Rosencrantz’s baby with the orange spots, but she was out this morning, too. :-)

I had to zoom in to take this photo, with the cherry tree between us, so as not to startle Butterscotch’s babies away from the food.

Seeing Susan watching them from the window is just too funny!

Gosh, these guys look so small compared to the other kittens!

Little balls of fluff is all they are! I was eventually able to sit on a step near them, without them running away, but the calico and and the orange and white one stayed hidden in the mock orange beside me.

This little guy seems very suspicious of me!

What a cutie!

I’m curious abut Tabby’s mark on her nose. I thought it was a scar, but there is no sign of an actual wound. It’s an unbroken line of white fur.

I just love the patterns or grey in her fur.

Kittens are always a great way to start the day. :-)

The Re-Farmer

Guess what we’re doing this weekend!

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A package I was expecting next week, came in today! Our first shipments of bulbs for fall planting.

Which the cats found very, very interesting…

That’s better!

Mostly. :-D

We’ve got 2 packages of Muscari (grape hyacinth) of 100 bulbs each. There are 5 bags of crocuses. I believe we were planning to mix these all together and plant them randomly. There are also an iris and tulips. We still have some on back order, including a fall garlic mix. The long term weather forecasts show no temperatures dipping low enough for frost over the next too weeks. Hopefully, the rest of the order will come in before things start to cool down that much again.

The Re-Farmer

Cat pile!

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I dumped my laundry on the bed for folding, and it immediately got catted! :-D

Our mama cat and Leyendecker had formed a Nicco sandwich on my clean sheets. Turmeric had been asleep in my arms when I had to get up, so I was going to gently put her on the bed. Instead, she jumped right on top of the Nicco sandwich.

Then promptly squirmed into the pile. Which mama cat took advantage of and began grooming them enthusiastically. Turmeric and Leyendecker, meanwhile, started hunting for nip. !!! Their own mom won’t let them anymore, but “grandma” doesn’t seem to care. LOL

The Re-Farmer

So many kitties!

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While I was outside this evening, I found Junk Pile and all three of her kittens, playing in front of the storage house.

When I had the chance, I tried to see if I could get one of them to come close.

It almost worked.

Almost, but not quite! This was as close as little Braveheart would get!

It’s hard to see, but there’s a kitten behind the grapevines in the background. :-)

They love playing on those stairs!

I’ve been keeping that insulator on the steps filled with water lately. Junk Pile and her kittens seem to prefer drinking out of that, over the wider, shallower container by the food dish.

I would love to have stayed longer to try and play with them, but I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes!

Meanwhile, I had this on my bed…

At first, it was David, Cheddar and Big Rig, but then Keith pushed his way in between and settled in, too!

Gosh, they’re funny.

The Re-Farmer

Fur baby progress!

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It had been a while since I’d seen the outside kittens, so I was happy when they showed up this evening. Little Braveheart had follow Junk Pile to the food bowls by the house, but ran off when I came out. They hung out by the steps into the storage house, before hiding in the grape vines, so I decided to sit on the steps and see if I could tempt them to play.

Braveheart was immediately curious!

Just look at that intense gaze! :-)

And who’s that back there?

Another baby, chewing on a grape vine! :-D

Junk Pile, meanwhile, came over and lay on the mulch, growling at me the whole time! That seems to be her default attitude these days. :-D

I broke off the spent flowers of a spirea growing under the stairs to wiggle around on the step. It worked a bit!

Braveheart pounced at it! :-)

Her sibling even came a bit closer.

I saw no sign of the third kitten, though. I hope it’s all right.

After this, they ran off with Junk Pile into the spirea, so I let them be.

Once indoors, I got entertained by more kittens.

The cats love the base of the washing machine packaging so much, we don’t have the heart to get rid of it, yet! :-D

Layendecker had been napping on it when Turmeric crawled on and woke him up. :-D

They are so sweet. :-)

The Re-Farmer