One of my daughters and I had just loaded the 3 cat carriers into the van for their appointment with the vet, when my other daughter came running out.
She had just found the cat food bin in the basement had been knocked off the shelf, spilling kibble all over the floor.
Which means Tissue and Big Rig would have eaten during the night.
I went into town with all three, anyhow. Once parked near the clinic, which wasn’t open yet, but I had a signal. I texted the same person who contacted me the first time we tried this, even though I wasn’t sure she even had a shift today. As I was messaging her, I did see someone unlock the door and go in, though.
I did get a response saying that they would typically reschedule, due to the risk during anesthesia. Potato Beetle was alone in the sun room, though, so he was good to go. Then she asked if I was at the clinic. I told her I was parked outside. Next thing I knew, the woman I saw going in was waving to me at my window! 😄
She took Potato Beetle in with her. We’ve been there often enough, he remembered my daughter’s name – all the cat files are under her name in their system. Her computer wasn’t even up and running, yet, so she wouldn’t be able to check him in. She told me I’d get a phone call from someone else later, and we could do the paperwork over the phone, and the ladies will be rescheduled.
Well, at least Potato is getting done, and we’ll soon be able to let him out of the sun room. He will only need 4 days for recovery. After that, when it’s time to put Tissue and Big Rig for their fast again, we can use the sun room to isolate them.
We had some rain this morning, which made the temperatures much more pleasant outside, though it did start heating up again awfully fast. We dipped to a low of 10C/50F overnight, and are expected to hit 29C/84F by this evening!
When I headed out this morning, there were many, very hungry kitties waiting for me.
Even Ghost Baby was waiting. She was so very wet, and so hungry, she didn’t run away! She jumped onto the roof of the cat house and hissed at me, but stayed close. So I made sure to put some kibble on the roof for her, and she dove right in.
The bitty kitties are no longer in the board pile, so I brought the trays I was using for food and water over to the kibble house. The cats like having a bit more space between them when eating.
I toss a couple of handfuls of kibble into the shelf shelter, and this little tabby was quite happy with that!
This is the black and white that I have not been able to touch. It usually runs off as soon as it sees me, but with the food tray on the ground, it was willing to hide under the kibble house and eat at the same time.
Hungry babies!
Hungry Ghost Baby, still eating, even as I kept moving around her, leaving kibble in the usual spots. She didn’t even run away when I used the hose on the water bowls!
I so want to socialize this one. She looks like she’s having a rough time of things. 😢
Every morning, the mamas gather outside the sun room door, waiting for me to come out with the kibble. Usually, at least one of the bigger kittens are with them, too. This morning, the little kittens were there, too!
I was even able to pick up and cuddle a couple of them, while their mamas stayed well away.
Even the big kittens are coming around in the mornings! These ones are more cat-tens than kittens. 😉 Just look at the size of that tabby! You can see the black and white, under the spirea. The tuxedo was around, too.
The littler ones have been hanging around the kibble house and in front of the sun room, playing enthusiastically. Hopefully, the older kittens will start coming around and staying, too.
Oh! Last night, while crossing the outer yard, I might have, maybe, possibly, seen a kitten following Broccoli into the tall grass. The first possible sign of her litter.
I suspect we’re going to be seeing a lot more new kittens showing up at the kibble house over the next few weeks.
With the groundhogs having completely torn apart and removed most of the old tarp covering the board pile, the old tire rim that was being used to keep it from blowing away isn’t needed anymore.
The kittens love playing in, under and around it, though, so it stays!
It’s also a secure place where they can watch the giant, food bearing creature that sometimes picks them up and does nice scritchy things to their ears.
Heading out this morning, Potato Beetle really wanted out of the sun room – but was content to stay once I refreshed his food bowl and added some treats and catnip. 😉 I really want to get some meat back on those skinny bones of his. It’s going to be hard to keep him in the sun room until after he’s had his vet visit, but we don’t dare let him out, or we might not see him again for weeks.
At least he’s finally started using the litter box. 😄
This guy is one of the other reasons why I don’t want to let Potato Beetle out.
I’ve been trying to get close to The Distinguished Guest and get a better look at his injury, but it’s all I can do to get even this photo. He used to let me near him while he was eating, and even pet him at times, but no more. He’s far more nervous.
The older part of the injury looks like it has fur trying to grow back. It seems he’s been injured at least twice, possibly three times, in the same area, with the wound extending further across his shoulders each time. This is Sad Face’s doing, and the few times I’ve been around to break up the fights, I can see how this one spot keeps getting hurt again. Sad Face managed to latch on to there and hang on, even as they roll across the yard as they fight.
What Sad Face is doing to TDG, TDG has been trying to do to Potato Beetle, and I would really like to prevent that!
Of course, once the kibble started hitting the trays, all manner or cats came running, including some little ones. 😊
The kittens love dashing into here. They are still small enough to be able to turn around inside it. At the other end, they can get under the entry way of the cat’s house.
Later on, I saw a mama nursing this fuzzy one, and the fourth, darker tabby that is even harder to catch glimpses of. The other two of this bunch were in the board pile, with the bitty kitties. 😊
I’ve taken to leaving small amounts of kibble by the grape vines regularly now, instead of at the pump shack, and here you can see two of the oldest kittens had come out. Later on, I just caught a glimpse of the tabby, disappearing under the spirea. Once in a while, I’ll spot them at the kibble house, too, but they get startled off very easily.
I don’t know why, but all of the outside cats seem to be acting super nervous lately. I’m used to them moving away when I get close. Every now and then, though, I’d be able to touch Broccoli while she was eating in the kibble house, or give Rosencrantz some pets. These days, not even Rosencrantz will let me near her. They all are acting like big balls of anxiety. The only exceptions have been Rolando Moon, who likes to follow me around while I do my morning rounds, and Potato Beetle, who just loves attention. Not sure what’s going on!
While I was working outside, my husband worked his magic, and fixed our internet problems. Now let’s see if I can catch up before another thunderstorm hits!
First, we gotta have the kitties!
The calico that hands out with the bitty kitties must have been really hungry, because she came over to join her brother (sister?) in the kibble house! they’re over on the left, and you can just barely see her behind her sibling.
I left a bit of food by the grape vines, and the black and white kitten from the oldest litter showed up for breakfast. :-)
The fourth kitten ran off before I could get my phone out. Throughout the morning, I was able to pick up and hold the two on the right a couple of times, but not the fuzzy one. The other black and white kitten disappears so fast, I barely see it, never mind try to touch it!
As for the adult cats, Potato Beetle is still in the sun room – and he really wants to leave! Unfortunately, he doesn’t like to use the litter box, so I did have a mess to clean up. I’ve been making sure his water was a frozen water bottle in it, and have even left the door open into the old kitchen, in case he wants to go somewhere cooler. It’s difficult to keep him in, when I have to go in and out of the sun room with tools so often.
I have noticed one thing, though. He is still limping! The last time we took him to the vet, it was for his limp, and they found some puncture wounds, but not much more. They figured the tooth or claw that caused the punctures caught on a tendon, too. Still, I would not have expected him to still be limping after all this time!
Oh, the thunderstorm is almost on us! Glad I finished up outside when I did. :-)
While working on breaking down the largest of the branches pruned from the ornamental apples, I heard a cat starting to “talk” loudly. This is something we’ve learned about The Distinguished Guest. He makes noises that sound like he’s talking!
The problem is, the only time he makes those noises is when he’s being aggressive towards another cat.
For the last while, Sad Face has been going after him – and winning. TDG has a nasty scar across his shoulder to show for it. If Sad Face were around, I wouldn’t have been hearing TDG talking. I would have heard an all-out cat fight.
There’s only one cat that is now lower on the pecking order than both of the visiting toms.
Making my way around to the pump shack, I spotted TDG with his fur sticking out like a bottle brush. He ran off as I came close. It took a bit longer to spot Potato Beetle, flattened in the tall grass. He was more than happy for some pets, that’s for sure!
He was also looking very skinny. I knew TDG would go after him again if Potato went for the kibble trays. Thankfully, Potato actually likes being picked up and carried, so I took him to the sun room, where his own personal food and water bowls await him.
He was very, very hungry!!
After topping up the food and refreshing the water, I left him be. When I headed into town to get the mail, I sent a picture of him to the Cat Lady. She has us booked for 2 females for spays and shots on Aug 3, but she had space available for 1 male, too.
If we can keep Potato Beetle in the sun room until then, we can get him to the vet to be neutered at the same time.
That’s just over a week, though. It will not be easy to keep in there for that long. Plus, he’ll need to stay another 4 days for recovery. We’ll also have to keep a close eye on the temperature in there. We aren’t expecting excessive heat for the next while, but it does get quite hot in there. If necessary, we’ll bring out some ice packs or frozen water bottles to help him keep cool.
For now, at least, he’s quite enjoying his own personal sanctuary!
As for the other cats, the girls took care of feeding them again this morning. I had been leaving food by the pump shack for the oldest litter of kittens that’s in there (and possibly a baby skunk…), but they forget that. Which is okay. The kittens are used to eating kibble by now. They’ll be looking for it. Which meant that, when I came out not long after, I spotted an unfamiliar black and white kitty butt, at the tray on the ground beside the kibble house. It ran off when it heard me, which is when I saw the tabby and the tuxedo, hiding in the spirea by the storage house. I did try to get pictures, with no success.
I did, however, get a different kitty!
A very thirsty little kitty!
He seems a bit more skittish around me right now. My managing to pet him and briefly pick him up seems to be something he does not want to happen again – at least for now! Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to try playing with him again, and convince him to let me touch him again.
The Cat Lady has a bead on someone on a farm that is looking for a cat. She was talking about possibly trapping one of the kittens and getting it fixed. I wonder if they’d be okay with an adult cat, instead? Potato Beetle really deserves a better situation than what we can give him, with the visiting toms beating on him.
Not only did I see the little kittens this morning, I got to have HUGE progress with them!
First progress was with this one. This one kept right on eating as I came closer, then reached out to pet it. That’s when I spotted a wood tick on its ear. It took some doing to reach over the water tray, hold on to the ear with one hand and pull the tick with the other (getting a wet boob in the process. 😂), but it never stopped eating! It just let me do my thing and ignored me.
The others had moved away, but this little fuzzy one likes to just sit there, posing so adorably, to watch me. After a while, its sibling came out – the less fuzzy one that I’ve been able to handle more often. I did manage to pick up the fuzzy one last night, but it wasn’t happy about that, so I didn’t hang on to it for long.
The calico and the other black and white started to come closer, too. They wanted that food, but not quite enough to go to the tray while I was there.
When these three were in the tray, I was able to pet ALL of them! Yes, even the fuzzy one! They just kept on eating.
Eventually, they all came out, though the other black and white one didn’t want to be too close to me. Still, I was able to pick up the container I use to carry the kibble, without them all running away. Even the calico just froze in place and watched me, then went back to eating after I picked up the container and moved away.
For the past while, I’ve been rather confused about these kittens. While they were in the branch pile, I counted 6 small kittens, and even saw the mama nursing all of them. Then there were the 4 larger kittens, including that calico, and they all played together. I just went back to some older photos to confirm, and that calico is definitely one of the kittens we would see under the cats’ house last month. The one that, when we first saw it, had leaky eyes that were almost glued shut. That dark patch on its forehead is quite distinctive.
So the calico has simply moved in with this younger litter. The other three older kittens still frequent the area by the sun room, playing in the old kitchen garden or on the laundry platform, and eating from the food there.
That accounts for 8 kittens.
So I went looking at older photos.
This is the very first photo I got of this litter, when I discovered they were in the entry into the cats’ house. There are 5 kittens. You can see the two black and white kittens on top of each other. In the foreground is the fuzzy one, and beside the mama is the other one that I’ve been able to pick up every now and then.
The dark kitten next to the fuzzy one is missing.
Also… where did the 6th kitten I saw among them in the branch pile come from? I suppose it’s possible it was in the cats’ house with the 5 pictured above, just out of sight.
Whether it was originally part of this litter or not, where did it go when the mama moved her kittens to the board pile?
I found some video I took of the kittens in the branch pile. The quality sucks, because I had to zoom in so much, but I can still figure out which two kittens are now missing.
So are these two actually gone gone? Was there three, rather than two, litters in the pile at the time? Are the two unaccounted for kittens hidden away somewhere else? The mamas don’t seem to care all that much about which kittens are their own or which are part of another litter.
The Re-Farmer 