....and my 4 1/2 cats:
First, there's Aztec, the patriarch at his grand old age of 18 and counting. He and his brother (Egypt, R.I.P) came from a farm I was working at, a rescue of sorts as most of the barn kittens were destined to become coyote food. Aztec is my life, the cat who changed it all for me. He's had diabetes mellitus for approaching 9 years now, and it was this fateful diagnosis that forced me to reevaluate everything I knew (or thought I did) about cat health and nutrition. While there have certainly been some challenges in dealing with his condition, it's also been incredibly rewarding and enlightening. I've become a better person because of it, so for that I'm forever grateful to Aztec's sacrifice.
Next cat to become a part of my life was Memphis. He accounts for the "half" cat because he doesn't really belong to me. He's the first feral that I TNRed, a big grey bruiser of a cat with searing yellow eyes that can see into your soul. I met him on the day I moved into my house. It was the hottest day of the year and he was stretched out in the grass in the shade under the apple tree like he owned the place. I thought he must have belonged to one of the neighbours but over the next few weeks it gradually dawned on me that he was on his own. Naturally, I started leaving food out for him. That evolved into a protected feeding station for him that my husband helped me build in our back yard. Next on the agenda was getting him neutered, so I contacted a local cat rescue group and they helped me trap him. They were amazing! They neutered him, treated his wounds (from fighting), microchipped/tattooed/vaccinated him, and evaluated his temperament to see if he could enter their adoption program. He was deemed truly feral and better off living as a "community cat", provided I would be his lifelong caregiver. Almost 2 years later and he finally lets me pet him. He follows me around the yard and gives little snort-purr-grunts when I rub his belly. If he's ever ready for the indoor life, I'll welcome him home, but in the meantime he has his own insulated cat house and regular mealtimes and a safe haven from the rest of the world.
Which leads me to my other 3 cats. Having a feeding station in the back yard tends to attract other cats. "Build it and they will come"! I ended up trapping somewhere around 8 or 9 more cats, most of which turned out to be abandoned and not true ferals. They've all since been adopted into loving homes. The last cat that I trapped was a very pregnant flame-point siamese. Being peak kitten season, there was no room for her at any of the rescues so I set up my spare room for her to have her babies. She turned out to be one of the feral ones! She absolutely freaked out once inside and I began to doubt that I'd done the right thing. On the third night of her going ballistic against the door, I entered her room and laid on the floor in my bathrobe, and just started bawling. She huddled in the corner, staring at me. And then the most amazing thing happened. She ever so cautiously walked over and gave me a head-butt, then curled up against my chest. We spooned like that for a couple of hours until she got up to eat the previously ignored food. Such an immense relief! After that, she didn't fight her confinement and we settled into a routine. Exactly a week after capturing her, she had 5 beautiful healthy kittens - 4 orange boys and a torbie girl.
Since this is getting ridiculously long, jump forward to the part where hubby and I decided to keep 2 of the boys (Carrot - one of the 2 polydactyls; and Peppercorn - the whackiest cat ever), as well as Momma (aka Cinnamon Girl). Good friends of ours adopted the torbie and the long-haired orange boy, and one of the employees of the rescue organization that helped me with all this adopted the other polydactyl (extra toes on all 4 feet!). So a very happy ending! Except that Aztec is none too fond of the kittens (now 16 months old and as boisterous as ever). But as long as he gets his "me" time and his favourite treats, it's all good.
Some pics in the gallery to check out: http://www.thecatsite.com/gallery/album/view/id/14469/user_id/45512
And if anyone actually read all that, I'm impressed!!!
First, there's Aztec, the patriarch at his grand old age of 18 and counting. He and his brother (Egypt, R.I.P) came from a farm I was working at, a rescue of sorts as most of the barn kittens were destined to become coyote food. Aztec is my life, the cat who changed it all for me. He's had diabetes mellitus for approaching 9 years now, and it was this fateful diagnosis that forced me to reevaluate everything I knew (or thought I did) about cat health and nutrition. While there have certainly been some challenges in dealing with his condition, it's also been incredibly rewarding and enlightening. I've become a better person because of it, so for that I'm forever grateful to Aztec's sacrifice.
Next cat to become a part of my life was Memphis. He accounts for the "half" cat because he doesn't really belong to me. He's the first feral that I TNRed, a big grey bruiser of a cat with searing yellow eyes that can see into your soul. I met him on the day I moved into my house. It was the hottest day of the year and he was stretched out in the grass in the shade under the apple tree like he owned the place. I thought he must have belonged to one of the neighbours but over the next few weeks it gradually dawned on me that he was on his own. Naturally, I started leaving food out for him. That evolved into a protected feeding station for him that my husband helped me build in our back yard. Next on the agenda was getting him neutered, so I contacted a local cat rescue group and they helped me trap him. They were amazing! They neutered him, treated his wounds (from fighting), microchipped/tattooed/vaccinated him, and evaluated his temperament to see if he could enter their adoption program. He was deemed truly feral and better off living as a "community cat", provided I would be his lifelong caregiver. Almost 2 years later and he finally lets me pet him. He follows me around the yard and gives little snort-purr-grunts when I rub his belly. If he's ever ready for the indoor life, I'll welcome him home, but in the meantime he has his own insulated cat house and regular mealtimes and a safe haven from the rest of the world.
Which leads me to my other 3 cats. Having a feeding station in the back yard tends to attract other cats. "Build it and they will come"! I ended up trapping somewhere around 8 or 9 more cats, most of which turned out to be abandoned and not true ferals. They've all since been adopted into loving homes. The last cat that I trapped was a very pregnant flame-point siamese. Being peak kitten season, there was no room for her at any of the rescues so I set up my spare room for her to have her babies. She turned out to be one of the feral ones! She absolutely freaked out once inside and I began to doubt that I'd done the right thing. On the third night of her going ballistic against the door, I entered her room and laid on the floor in my bathrobe, and just started bawling. She huddled in the corner, staring at me. And then the most amazing thing happened. She ever so cautiously walked over and gave me a head-butt, then curled up against my chest. We spooned like that for a couple of hours until she got up to eat the previously ignored food. Such an immense relief! After that, she didn't fight her confinement and we settled into a routine. Exactly a week after capturing her, she had 5 beautiful healthy kittens - 4 orange boys and a torbie girl.
Since this is getting ridiculously long, jump forward to the part where hubby and I decided to keep 2 of the boys (Carrot - one of the 2 polydactyls; and Peppercorn - the whackiest cat ever), as well as Momma (aka Cinnamon Girl). Good friends of ours adopted the torbie and the long-haired orange boy, and one of the employees of the rescue organization that helped me with all this adopted the other polydactyl (extra toes on all 4 feet!). So a very happy ending! Except that Aztec is none too fond of the kittens (now 16 months old and as boisterous as ever). But as long as he gets his "me" time and his favourite treats, it's all good.
Some pics in the gallery to check out: http://www.thecatsite.com/gallery/album/view/id/14469/user_id/45512
And if anyone actually read all that, I'm impressed!!!
I'm an hour south of there.
