Midnight’s Story
In late November of 2007, I opened the door to put some food out for my cats on the big deck where a couple of the cat houses are. I looked down and there was Bug, my long haired black cat who was one of the feral kitties of 2005. But then I looked over at the big cat house and there was Bug inside. I looked back down and realized that this was a new arrival. She seemed in very good condition and got along with the other cats just fine. Long story short, within two days she was sleeping on my lap as I typed on the computer. She is probably the best most affectionate lap cat that I’ve ever had with no bad habits that I know of.
This is Midnight
Now I really told you about Midnight so that I could tell you this story, as she has a part in it.
A little over three weeks ago, I was talking to my neighbor to the south and he said he had some kittens running around and asked if I wanted them. I told him no thanks, I’ve already got more cats than I know what to do with. I didn’t sleep well that night and the next day I said I’d take them on the condition that I could catch all of his cats and get them fixed. He agreed and that’s been my project ever since. This is the same neighbor who had the feral kittens and their mom living in one of his sheds. I figured it was time to put a stop to this kitty factory.
I call them his cats but he and his wife couldn’t care less about them. They are basically just yard cats that live off of the dog’s food.
At least three of his cats were eating over at my barn where I have a feeding station, and a small cat house. I had already had the feral kitty’s momma, Patches fixed back in 2005. That left one male, two females, and three kittens.
The first to get caught was the male who I call Bandy. I think he’s the uncle of the kittens. I had been feeding him and the kittens and their momma for about a week so he was a little used to me. I had brought a big pet carrier just in case and when he was eating his dinner a couple of feet away from me, I just grabbed him. And he grabbed me! I managed to stuff him in the carrier but I took some pretty good damage to my left arm. It’s been two weeks and it’s still healing up. Anyway, I got him fixed, wormed and all his shots.
This is Bandy, the first time I saw him.
A few days latter I managed to trap two of the kittens in a live trap.
I named the little female Bright Eyes and for now the little male is named Spit Kitty.
Bright Eyes is absolutely wonderful. She’s full of energy, not afraid of anything and very affectionate. Spit Kitty has been much slower to come around, but he’s going to be just fine. He just doesn’t like to be picked up, hence his name. When they get to be about 6 months old I’ll have them fixed, but they will be going in for their first shots next week.
Here’s some pictures of my new babies.
This is Bright Eyes
This is Spit Kitty
By the second or third day that I had been feeding the momma cat and all the others, she was perfectly fine with me picking her up and even combing out stickers and tangles in her fur. That’s amazing for never having been handled before. I put her in a carrier and brought her in a couple of time to see her babies and she was just fine riding in the carrier. She didn’t want to stay in the house though so I let her back out. I didn’t want to bring her in until I catch the last kitten, who is been totally uncatchable.
This is a picture of the momma, who I call Little Sweety, and the last kitty, who I call Ranger. I should name him Wild child.
In the mean time, I managed to trap the other female, who I’ve named Tigle. I just brought her home from the Vet today and will release her on Monday. Right now she is very upset with me. I hope she gets over it.
This is Tigle
After another week or so of feeding Little Sweetie and Ranger at their place, I managed to reach down and grab Ranger and stuff him in the pet carrier that I had with me. I put him in the room I had set up for the first two kitties.
Oh, and Midnight’s part in the story …
She seems to have adopted the two kittens that I brought in. She’s very protective of them and chases and play fights with them. Most of the other cats are just freaked out by them. I latter found out that Midnight was actually a male so it was even more interesting the way he took to the kittens.
Finally the summer kitty catching campaign was over.
I took Little Sweety, the momma cat, to the vets on Friday to have her operation.
I brought her home the same day and today, I let her outside.
She was happy to be back with brother, Bandy, and they both were at my barn that night to eat dinner.
So all total I caught the grandma, the momma, the uncle, and the three kittens, and they’ve all had all their shots and the three adults have been fixed. Everyone except the grandma are very friendly and the kittens are a joy to have around the house.
This is Tigle, the Grandmother
This is Bandy, the Uncle
This is Little Sweety, the Mother.
This is Bright Eyes
And Ranger
And Spit Kitty
