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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
I can’t help it. I just have to share!
Nicco and Turmeric, all snuggled up!
Can they get any cuter?
The Re-Farmer
