I guess you would say are a multi-species household!
We raise (and milk) Miniature Jersey cows and Nubian goats, and currently have 28 chickens.
For several years we lived in the country on 2 acres and had 2 dogs and 7 cats, all of which are rescues except for Delilah, who came from a "free to good home" ad to be a companion to our first rescued kitty, Sonora. Little did we know that they were only the beginning! We've taken in so many litters of feral barn cats, that I lost count long ago. We'd find the litters of kittens, raise them, vet them, find them homes, and at the same time trap, spay, and release the mama. Over time certain ones didn't find homes, or we became overly attached to them and they became part of the "pack". We have 1 that (according to the vet) was born 2 weeks premature, she'll be 8 years old in December.
For several years our "permanent count" stayed at
Brandy (pitbull/boxer cross)
Starla (pibull/eskimo cross)
Sonora - calico & white (rescued from the mouth of a Rottweiler determined to eat her)
Delilah - longhaired grey tabby (free to good home ad)
Bobbi - agouti calico & white (premie - mother was feral, spayed after Bobbi's litter)
Tabby - grey tabby (Bobbi's older sister from the same feral mama)
Jake - grey tabby & white (mama was rescued from true "kitten mill", pregnant with his litter, poor cat was destined to live out her life in a garage in a rabbit cage. She passed away last winter, we had her for 6 years and the vet placed her at 10+ when he spayed her after weaning the litter)
and the babies, Bart & Agnes - longhaired black (found in a trash dumpster when approximately 2 weeks old, along with 2 siblings that didn't survive)
Our "permanent count" had stayed the same since Bart & Agnes came long 6 years ago, and the number of kittens we were raising drastically declined after we got that last feral female caught and spayed. We haven't had a kitten in the house for a year now, the last one was rescued last summer from the shoulder of Interstate 80, and she wasn't over 3 weeks old.
Then last fall we moved to 65 acres.
Since then we've rescued a very matted, very neurotic Bichon from the side of the road and a couple of weeks ago somebody dumped a gorgeous, very friendly, orange tabby tom, both of which are about a year old.
We've named the Bichon Guy, I pretty much fell for him, so he's staying.
And the new kitty, Buddy, will be staying too since DH has fallen for him.
This seems like a great community!
I sure wish I'd had something like this all those years ago, when I was struggling to keep that premature kitten alive.
Ann B
SE Nebraska
We raise (and milk) Miniature Jersey cows and Nubian goats, and currently have 28 chickens.
For several years we lived in the country on 2 acres and had 2 dogs and 7 cats, all of which are rescues except for Delilah, who came from a "free to good home" ad to be a companion to our first rescued kitty, Sonora. Little did we know that they were only the beginning! We've taken in so many litters of feral barn cats, that I lost count long ago. We'd find the litters of kittens, raise them, vet them, find them homes, and at the same time trap, spay, and release the mama. Over time certain ones didn't find homes, or we became overly attached to them and they became part of the "pack". We have 1 that (according to the vet) was born 2 weeks premature, she'll be 8 years old in December.
For several years our "permanent count" stayed at
Brandy (pitbull/boxer cross)
Starla (pibull/eskimo cross)
Sonora - calico & white (rescued from the mouth of a Rottweiler determined to eat her)
Delilah - longhaired grey tabby (free to good home ad)
Bobbi - agouti calico & white (premie - mother was feral, spayed after Bobbi's litter)
Tabby - grey tabby (Bobbi's older sister from the same feral mama)
Jake - grey tabby & white (mama was rescued from true "kitten mill", pregnant with his litter, poor cat was destined to live out her life in a garage in a rabbit cage. She passed away last winter, we had her for 6 years and the vet placed her at 10+ when he spayed her after weaning the litter)
and the babies, Bart & Agnes - longhaired black (found in a trash dumpster when approximately 2 weeks old, along with 2 siblings that didn't survive)
Our "permanent count" had stayed the same since Bart & Agnes came long 6 years ago, and the number of kittens we were raising drastically declined after we got that last feral female caught and spayed. We haven't had a kitten in the house for a year now, the last one was rescued last summer from the shoulder of Interstate 80, and she wasn't over 3 weeks old.
Then last fall we moved to 65 acres.
Since then we've rescued a very matted, very neurotic Bichon from the side of the road and a couple of weeks ago somebody dumped a gorgeous, very friendly, orange tabby tom, both of which are about a year old.
We've named the Bichon Guy, I pretty much fell for him, so he's staying.
And the new kitty, Buddy, will be staying too since DH has fallen for him.
This seems like a great community!
I sure wish I'd had something like this all those years ago, when I was struggling to keep that premature kitten alive.
Ann B
SE Nebraska
