The kittens in particular seem to really like the isolation shelter.
When I did my rounds this morning, all the clear plastic was fogged up and there were no cats inside at the time. It would be interesting to put a thermometer inside the shelter, and another on the outside, to see what a difference the passive solar makes, with the sliding panels closed, as they are now. Once the heat lamp is set up and running, we’d be able to see what a different that’s making, too. I’ll have to remember to pick up a couple of cheap dollar store dial thermometers.
I’m quite with how this shelter turned out! The biggest expense was the roof panels, and that was enough to cover two shelters, so we got twice the mileage for the price.
Not bad for something made almost entirely out of whatever I could salvage around the property!
We are supposed to get rain this afternoon, which would be great, considering it is fire season right now, so I made sure to get some work done outside. As I was putting things away, I noticed Broccoli by the house, so I dashed around to check the garden shed.
Yes, the babies are still there! Which means there is still hope of socializing them. Broccoli seems to be content with her nest, though lately she won’t let me anywhere near her. Not even at feeding time. It is, however, normal for the yard cat mamas to move their kittens several times, before they get big enough that they start bringing them along to the kibble houses for solid food.
I was thinking of sticking to the brassica theme for naming the calicos. We started with Cabbages, then Broccoli. We’ve got Brussel and Sprout, who are even more feral than their mother. What should we name the two calicos here?
Boc and Choy?
Kohl and Rabi?
One of the calicos is quite a bit larger than her siblings. You can’t really see it in the photo, but her head is huge compared to the other two!
They are so flippin’ adorable. Broccoli makes beautiful babies!
I couldn’t even see the other two, wrapped up in Decimus. She now leaves the cave more often and wanders around the room, much to Snarly Marlee’s dismay! Poor Marlee. She’ll be sitting on her stool next to her own cat cave, snarling away; Decimus just ignores her and keeps coming up to her, curiously.
Usually, this happens around 2 or 3am.
I finally took the time to look up Decimus. Turns out it’s a very old name, going back to ancient Rome, and means “tenth” or “tenth born”, so the tenth son born into a family would be named Decimus. It’s also a character in Warhammer, and the name of a famous Victorian architect, Decimus Burton. I should remember to ask my daughters where they got the name from. I don’t think they’ve ever played Warhammer, but they probably know about Decimus Burton.
Along with the adorable kitties inside, we’ve been seeing the outside kitties around the house! They hide under the cat house when we come out, but after my daughters watered the garden yesterday, my younger daughter was actually able to touch one before it hissed and ran off. As I was getting the kibble ready this morning, I could see three of them playing in the water bowl shelter. After I put kibble out and put away the container, I turned around to see one of the mostly white kitten eating at the tray under the water bowl shelter, with Brussel. I saw another little head pop out from under the cat house, only to back off when it saw me, so I delayed refreshing the water bowls under after I finished my morning rounds.
I’m really glad they are starting to come close to the house. They are much safer here, and the chances of socializing them increases as well.
We’re starting to run low on kibble, so I’ve decided that I’ll head to Walmart today to pick up more, as well as Canadian Tire to get more litter pellets. Work outside is going to be delayed a bit, though. I found out last night from my brother that an assessor will be coming out next week. She’ll be going through and measuring every room in the house (with a laser measurer, so it’ll be fast). We’ll, we’re not exactly good at that “housekeeping” thing, so this is an excuse to finally do some major cleaning over the next 4 days. Which is not easy to do with so many cats! The girls are going to focus on the upstairs and the basement, while I start on the main floor. Hmm. This would be a good time to rearrange my husband’s bedroom. That room is so small, it would involve moving half the furniture out completely. Mostly, I want to make it so that, when we finally get the plumber in to work on our bath tub faucet and taps, he can access it from the other side, if necessary. We should have had him in long ago, but getting ear mite medication for 16 cats took up the budget, and then some, even with my daughter helping pay for the vet bill.
Well, we’ll figure it out.
Meanwhile, it’s time for me to go stock up on some more cat food. Mamas and babies need to be fed!
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! :-(
Before I head out to visit my mother (outsider her window… :-/ ) for Mother’s Day, here are some adorable, furry worms to make you smile!
I’m glad Beep Beep used this cardboard nest we set up to have her kittens in. The box is the base from a case of cat food tins. Not only did it turn out to be the prefect size, but it makes it easy to slide in and out of the crate (which is on its side) to check on the babies.
The concrete floor is pretty saturated this spring. Under the crate, there is a puddle of moisture. A bit like condensation created by the warmth of cat bodies above. The crate keeps the cardboard from contacting the floor, so it stays nice and dry.
As I was petting the babies, this little mini-Beep Beep (right down to the orange spot on her forehead!) grabbed my hand…
… and started licking my fingers!!!
Yeah, I melted into a puddle of goo over the adorableness of it.
Then it was time to tend to the outside cats, and we had quite the crowd this morning!
At the top left is Rosencrantz! She stared showing up again very recently. I wonder where she goes, when we don’t see her for weeks at a time?
In front of her is Pump Shack cat and in the top middle is Junk Pile cat. While I was able to pet Rosencrantz this morning, these two just won’t let us near. :-(
Butterscotch and Creamsicle are eating on the right of the photo, and Potato Beetle was with them, but he found me more interesting than food!
Why?
This is why.
He just HAD to fling himself bodily across my feet and start rolling! He eventually slithered his way across my feet, around my legs, to eventually end up sitting at my other foot, looking up at me, as if to say “why haven’t you picked me up yet?”
He did it one time while I was looking at something else, and I did end up stepping on his tail a bit. At some point, this guy is going to have to learn that moving feet are not a place to drop in front of! :-D
The Re-Farmer 