News from the farm

Having wanted to kick myself 3 hours ago, I'm now self-congratulatory!!

With a heavy heart, I went to put the wet food out at 6pm. As I stood up to go out, I noticed little Bubble - and she really is a dainty thing - in, of all places, the front garden! So I went outside called 'Dinner' and went round to put the food out in the girls' barn. According to my brother, who was watching her through the front room window, she slunk underneath a hedge. Indeed given the way she was grooming herself when I first saw her, I reckon that's where she'd been napping.

About an hour later I checked in on the barn again  and saw Squeak tucking in to the wet food. As I walked up she dashed off into the cage and I realised that, in addition to demolishing both tins, she'd also had some of the dry.

And I've just checked for a third time. This one was the best. This time both B&S were in the barn and I actually heard them 'talking' to one another (not fighting noises....more general chat, of that makes sense). As I walked up (had a pouch of wet loveliness with me), Squeak ran back into the cage and Bubble hid underneath an old plough. So I put the light on, tipped the tin into a tray, put it outside the cage and sat down on a mat on the floor. There was no sign of Squeak - she'd already had her fill, clearly - but Bubble quickly circled me, went to the cage and, after nibbling some of the dry inside the cage, came outside and, less than 5 feet from me (and not 'behind bars') proceeded to eat her evening meal without any obvious nerves. Once she was done, she walked away 5-6 feet into the darkness and as I walked away, I realised she had gone back to the place where I'd been sitting and had sat down!

So - all's good. Seems to me that they are going to be night owls at the start - I reckon they'd both been sleeping all day - and I think that barn might become a really special place for them and me as it's where they associate me with nice things. At the outset, I was told Bubble would never get remotely friendly or trusting, but that the younger Squeak might. I think they have their cats the wrong way around - they'd both been caught separately in May/ June and had been at the shelter for around 3 months. I'm starting to think that Bubble (who is something like 14-15 months old) was once owned, albeit very briefly, strayed, had a litter, got caught and 'turned' feral.

Anyway, time I went to bed. Best to all - apologies for my ongoing wittering. And hurrah for wet cat food.

Oh I LOVE the "ongoing wittering," it takes us through ALL of it with you, and I really appreciate it!

And As I was reading the beginning, I was saying, "just wait for the evening canned!" as the kitties are probably night owls.... and that is IT! Oh I'm just SO HAPPY for ALL of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY for your instincts! They're going to be SO happy there, I just know it! :rub: :bigthumb:

AND? More "wittering" please? How are things going? :cross: :rub:

Others twitter, I witter....

All good here.

Squeak: seen both nights. Yesterday I saw her emerging from (and then retreating to, when she saw me!) the barn where Little Cow used to live.

Bubble: has been seen a-plenty all over the farm both in daylight and at night. Indeed,  I saw her munching on her kibble at lunchtime today and I have the feeling she has explored absolutely everywhere. Very odd - but I guess understandable - how she will let me sit about 4-5 feet away from her while she eats but how she runs a mile when I am walking by 20-30 feet away.

It's clear that they aren't using their cage anymore - when they run away, they run into the barns. So the cage will be disassembled next week and, over time, I'm hopeful that they will start using the straw bales nearby. But I have a feeling that will be their food barn and nothing else - plenty of other good hidey holes round the farm, so I'm not worried. I'm just chuffed that, 3 days in, they are still here!

bests

YES! Oh they are HOME! :heart2: :rub:

And it is the EXACT same pattern with several of our ferals. :nod: I can even pet two of them while they eat. But if it's not food time, in the assigned spot, if we even move toward them - vroooooom, off they go! :dash: Two of them, if they're on our deck, we can pet them, no food required. But anywhere else? We're obviously evil monsters. :lol3: And ONE of them will come running to the deck for pets - but again, approaching and touching are only allowed in that space. Odd little creatures! :lol3:

I AM ABSOLUTELY OVER THE MOON HERE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :high5: AWWWW bless your englishman heart :heart3: You have done good, daddy :lol3: Your babies are truly HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great job, very well done. Seriously, very happy tonight with this news. :happy3:

p.s. Some happy news from my feral kitties. Willow, after EIGHTEEN MONTHS, is now rolling on the ground two feet from me. I am so honored. I think as feral caretakers that we have to have more patience and persistence than most people on the planet. But, the rewards............ are so worth the wait and effort.

thanks, guys. And lovely news re. Willow.

Latest from here is that both girls seem fine in their own ways! Almost a week in, Bubble seems to be the 'sociable' one and has been seen a-plenty (and doesn't seem to mind being seen - which seems rather unferal-like). Today she sat on some straw bales in a barn all day and didn't budge as we went by. Squeak is nocturnal only and not a fan of being seen! Both appear to have made the rather delapidated old barn opposite the food barn their main home: there are plenty of lovely old straw bales in there and there's also a loft to it that I had no idea about until 18 months ago when my godkids went exploring.

The only odd behaviour is regarding food. In their cage, they wolfed down anything and everything, usually very quickly. However they seem to be getting fussy - I threw the best part of a can away this morning, and their dry food is getting virtually untouched. (That said, this is also enciuraging in a way - no strays about, obviously!), I assume that they are finding food elsewhere and that, in their hut, they were just so bored that food was their only entertainment! But, all in all, 5 nights in I am thrilled that both girls are still about. They are going to love it here, although the winter ahead is likely to be a brutal one.

SUPER!!!!!!!!! The girls certainly have made your farm their domain! You can sleep well knowing this and that they are going to have a happy life on the farm under your care. They are all so different in their innate personalities, are they not!! :lol3: I love that about feral cats and home raised cats alike. Seems to me that some feral cats do show themselves to their caretakers right off the bat and others are much more reclusive. They must be hunting :nod: and not have a need for that delicious canned food right now! So glad that they have settled into their new life. Keep the updates coming!!!

Oh I'm just SO PLEASED for the girls - and you! And really - why would they want to eat kibbles when there are so many yummy little mice around? :lol3: Sounds like they're really enjoying their new home. Sorry about the canned food, but.... they're busy doing their "job" I think! :lol3:

Wait - so does that mean they don't come running when you call the meal? If so, you might want to consider some of your table scraps, or slicing off a bit of your meat before you cook it to put out for them. That might bring them running!

I don't know what a brutal winter in the UK is like... but at leas they're there in plenty of time to fatten up and put on a thick coat in time. :rub:

All still good here.

I wouldn't say they come running when I shout 'dinner' - so I'll take the scraps advice on board.

A slight change of tack now means that, rather than feeding them in the 'cage barn', I now plop their food down in the barn they have made their home. This is nice as the barn is raised up (about 2ft off the ground) and, whilst it's a barn that seen better days, the cover is good. During the daytime, Bubble invariably wanders over to the bowl within a minute or two of me doing this and lets me stand a few feet away and talk to her. Squeak is only doing this after darkness falls but, even then, she will let me be a few feet away from her when she chows down.

In speaking to the shelter about picking up the cages, I got a bit more info on Bubble which may better explain her nature. When the husband and wife team came originally to drop B&S off, the husband said that Bubble was about 15 months ish and had been found with a litter of kittens on an industrial estate about 3-4 months ago. From talking with the wife on the phone it sounds like they had their cats confused! She told me Bubble belonged to a family of ethnic minority origin who basically paid her no attention at all - no handling, no real socialisation as such, just a roof over her head. Apparently this family had got her as a kitten (along with her brother - apparently very friendly...sounds like the family bothered with him) and then, when she fell pregnant and had kittens, they basically decided they didn't want the cats any more and so turned them over to the shelter. As the brother was friendly, he was easily adopted. Bubble, on the other hand, spent a year in their shelter not really wanting to know people. Sounds as if they had originally thought she might be ok as a domestic/ indoor cat but, after a year of her showing no inclination, they realised that her timidity meant she was essentially semi-feral. So, as such, the shelter are surprised that she has come round so much (she also lets others stand a few feet from her), but have said that she did clearly have (remote) human contact when she was younger, All of which means she's actually more like 2, not 14-15 months old.

bests

Well, poor Bubble and her history with that family. :shame: BUT she has the good life now and I am thinking in time because you are so good with the kitties, that Bubble will be quite friendly and loving towards you. :cross: Poor thing, living amongst people her who life and completely ignored. Good news about Squeak allowing you to see her in the dark. :lol3: So glad that your two girls are completely settled in and love their new territory.

Hello All....just over two weeks into their 'freedom', thought I'd update on progress.

Squeak - still basically nocturnal, but, most importantly, still around. Have only seen her once in daylight (about 4-5 days ago, in the lean-to, sunning herself in very much the same way as Little Cow used to) and then didn't see her for a few days until I spied her hunting in the front garden the other evening. She shot off really fast and I was fearful she was going to run into the road but, bless her, she stuck to the pavement. My greatest fear remains the road at the front of the property: even though the girls' food barn is at the back of the farm about 100m from the road (30 mph limit, busy-ish during the day) and they technically have 35 acres to run around in, they do seem rather too fond of heading towards the front of the property. I couldn't face another Rudi situation.

Bubble - definitely under-socialised, not unsocialised. She's here, there and everywhere on the farm. Most of the day she lies on the straw bales in the rickety old barn (where I now feed them) and just looks at you when you peer through the broken slats. Saw her catching a little mouse in one of the side gardens the other day, which was joyous. Her friendliness towards me has eased off just a little over the last few days. At the back end of last week she was having her wet food and I think I got too close (about 2-3 feet away) and that spooked her a little. Since then she's been a fraction more distant, but still shows up for her yummy wet food when it comes out (accompanied by cries of 'DINNER!'). Over the next few months as the short days set in and England gets chillier - the winter forecast is nasty, though compared to much of Europe and the States, England is balmy, just bloody wet and windy, really - it'll be difficult to spend much time with the girls but with the help of my trusty night vision scope I can hopefully make sure they are alright.

'Others' - I am pretty sure that a couple of other strays are still around and that I am feeding the neighbourhood! The HUGE tabby showed up the other night and am fairly sure he/ she (although am convinced it's a he) is having a little meal every night. Short of bringing in the food bowls, not sure I can do much about this as the girls, in particular Squeaky, are generally evening scoffers (although Bubs likes a treat or two during the day). I'm probably putting out about 80-100g of dry food in the morning for the girls plus they are getting 2-3 pouches of wet between them and the odd treat. It all seems to be gone come the morning, and I'm guessing I may need to up quantities a little over the next few weeks as the temperatures drop. To be honest, really not the end of the world if other kitties are getting a bit of food, too, as long as B&S are getting enough and they aren't fighting.

best to all

Hi All....3 and a half weeks into 'freedom' and good news on all fronts:

* both girls come for their supper about 30 minutes ish before sundown. Even Squeak! They both let me stand no more than 2-3 feet from them while they tuck in. The power of tasty wet food, eh? The rickety old barn where they are based has two halves: one is quite exposed but has a few handy bales of straw (where is where Squeak hides prior to mealtimes, though I think she's upstairs in the little loft during the day) and one that is better protected but more visible through slats where Bubbsy hangs out. I must upload a photo.

* Bubble ('Bubbsy') has started meowing to me. Only 2-3 times so far, but very cute

* they are earning their keep - couple of dead rats been found and Bubbsy seen chomping on mice a few times

* I am now their official owner - signed over papers with the shelter on Tuesday when they came to get the cages

* and I now DEFINITELY know more about Bubbsy's back story. Appears both stories I'd heard were wrong (the shelter admitted they rehome so many cats, particularly little black female ones, that they had confused her). Her actual background is that she was found in a gentleman's greenhouse with a litter of tiny kittens about 5-6 months ago. Rather bizarrely, this gent did one kind thing (fed her) and one odd thing (left it to her to raise the kittens), so that when he wife called in to ask for help, the kittens were about 2-3 months old and feral. But it is very clear that Bubbsy has been owned at one point, although she still has a way to go before petting, I suspect. But she is so cute: tonight I went to feed them 30 minutes before sundown and rather than waiting in the rickety old barn, she jumped down and ran towards where I was preparing their food, circling around me about 4-5 feet away as if to say 'hey, I'm here you know....bring the good stuff over'.

very cold snap coming this weekend - in the minuses apparently. Am guessing that it'll make sense to up their food levels by 30% ish with this in mind

best to all

Oh I'm SO glad things are going so well with the girls! It sounds like they're really enjoying life on the farm. :heart2: :rub:



Have they fluffed up for the winter on all that yummy food? Our kitties are eating twice as much as they were with the cold weather - and their fur is soooooo thick now.

ME GLAD TOO!!!!!!!! :lol3: Great update on the girls. I am glad to hear that they are coming for dinner just before sundown. That way you can stuff them full and not have to leave out so much food during the night. Although, it sounds like more trapping to come in your future!! The stray/feral cats seem to find their way to our feeding stations. I have my trap out today again. Another black tomcat. Definitely male!!!! I am glad that Willow is still around and not getting chased off by this newbie. I am also upping the food amounts too. The cats all have their fluffy winter coats coming in. ANYHOO!!! Sounds like the girls are doing their job too - catching mice and Lord knows what else. CONGRATULATIONS on you being the OFFICIAL daddy :heart3: I bet that soon, Bubbles, will be your best friend. :cross: :lovegrin:

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

6 weeks in, the girls are doing fantastically. Bubble is gorgeous and I think I'll be petting her soon. She is taking treats from my hand (you know the stick-type ones) and starting to follow me around when I'm getting ready to feed: for example, she was up near the front of the farm the other day when I came out to feed them, and she followed me all the way around to the rickety barn for her food. Huge bushy tail this girl has (way too big for her little body), and her winter coat is definitely coming in. I think she'll let me know when she's ready for a bit of loving - am not going to force the issue. Squeak is also a delight. Rather amusingly, she does occasionally emit a very high-pitched squeak at dinner time, and whilst she's much more timid than her big sister, she is coming out of her shell. She does the happy tail thing wonderfully well but she doesn't seem to have got the big fluffy coat just yet - this may be because she spends her days in the hay loft above the rickety barn! 

Aside from earning their keep (couple more dead rats last week, which is great), I'm probably most chuffed by the fact that they get along. I don't seem them grooming one another or anything like that, but they will happily eat side-by-side and there are no signs of aggression. I think both are very well-balanced cats: not too territorial (like Rudi was), not too hyper (like Paddy) and not too easily subjugated (like LC). So all is good here and I hope the same with you guys.

Oh that is GREAT! Really makes me smile!!!!!

Our new addition, Smokey, is really a sweetheart - but doesn't let Baloo bully him too much (he'll run if Baloo gets aggressive, but runs RIGHT back! :lol3: ). We still have to trap Tommy - the red tabby - he's just not on ANY kind of schedule, and leaving the trap out isn't working, as we keep trapping the existing cats (silly kitties!!!! Spooked the heck out of Smokey, which is why we no longer leave the trap out. ).

We rescued an 8 week old little gray kitty - turned out to be a girl - RIGHT before the hurricane. We got her to the vet and were in quite the quandry about what to do about her. Can't release a little baby into a feral colony right before winter! We left her in boarding during the storm, and THANKFULLY the foster network agreed to take her. The vet staff were playing with her, and while she's nervous still, she's a real sweetheart and her purr motor is working just fine. :rub:

I have six feeding stations set up to manage the dynamics of the 11 active feral cats. The girls that Baloo chased away are back, now that I'm feeding them in an ENTIRELY different location. They didn't use our shelters last year or the year before anyway, so I'm not going to fret about that. Crazy Khol is around pretty much all the time now, but they've all realized she's all hiss, and no one takes her seriously and they try to ignore her. :lol3: If she gets in their faces, they just bop her, and she backs off (while hissing LOL). But they pretty much just try to ignore her. :lol3:

The lovely thing about current dynamics is that not only does everyone eat, everyone that wants pets as well as food gets them.

I can't wait for Bubble to want those pets - it's going to happen! And it's SO NICE that they get along the way they do. What a relief, really! :rub:

11 active ferals and six feeding stations? Wow, that is a huge amount of work. Are they all on your property? How many take petting? I want a roll call!

B&S still fine - they make me laugh loads. When I prepare their food, I do it by perching my bowls on an old bit ofyfarm machiner about 10-15 feet from their rickety barn. This enables me to watch the girls. Squeak has started joining her big sister in coming across to say hello while I'm preparing. While she's doing this, she quite often rolls around on the floor. I am assuming this is some kind of happy dance?! Whatever it is (and I think it's partly for me, but mainly for her big sis - Squealy is less than a year, Bubble is maybe 2), it's lovely to watch. And I think they now know 2 words: as well as 'Bubbsy', which is the word for 'food's coming' (and Bubble's nickname), they also know 'Come on', as this is what I say once their food is prepared. At the words 'come on', they run away from me, tails in the air, and jump into the barn to wait for the goodies.

Still not petting, but both will let me have my hand on their bowls while they eat so I'm guessing it'll be sooner rather than later. The one good thing about this cold weather (and it's very chilly here at the moment) is that I'm feeding them little and often - just after sun-up, just before sunset and then, if I'm available, at least once during the evening. They must be eating at least 30% more than the boxes advise, but my theory is that, at this time of year, if they want it then its because they need it

Oh I love it - they sound delightful - and so happy! And yes, I think the rolling around is a happy dance.

So have the many meals and the month seen any changes in your ability to approach them? (I'm willing to bet that by next year they're welcome inside at night to lie beside the fire... ).

Actually, things have calmed down quite a bit here, thank goodness. I guess the cold weather has altered things. Baloo is still aggessive... but not as nasty about it. And I guess the others are more tolerant.

We live in an RV, actually, in an RV park that is on a working farm on 200+ acres. So yes, they're all here, and the feeding stations are all within a very short walk. :lol3: We're down to just two now.

The colony kitties are

The Males

Baloo
Smokey
Tommy
Cool Kitty
PBT

The Females

Dot
Babygirl
Tabby
Khol
Fog
Peanutbutter

Dot, Babygirl and Tabby are sisters
Khol and Fog are sisters
PBT, Cool Kitty, and Peanutbutter are brothers and sisters, and probably the children of our now-inside-only Chumley.

With the help of a the vet staff and a local foster group, we've found homes for ... 15 kittens and 3 (5?) adults over the past four years. I'd have to count. I'd also have to go back and check records on how many kitties we've TNR'd since moving back into the RV in July 2008, but there are a number we TNR'd and we've not seen them again after releasing them. And there are far too many that were here regularly for 2 or 3 years, and we haven't seen for at least a year now.

It was a bit nutty this summer, because Baloo is so very territorial - and then Tommy showed up, and he was very aggressive for a few months there. He's calmed down quite a bit. Seems the only kitty scared of him now is Baloo. :lol3:

So at the peak of the craziness, the feeding stations were the deck, up in the woods behind the RV, in the woods across (the internal RV park "road") from us, under the RV, under a neighbor's trailer, and in the woods up at the end of the internal road we're on. Now we're down to just the deck, under the RV (which at this point I consider "one" feeding "station," because all I'm doing is putting food dishes out where the kitties are waiting for them, :lol3: and under the last trailer up the road.

Smokey and Baloo eat on top of the deck. Fog ("Froggie") and Tabby eat under the deck. Tommy eats under the front of the RV; crazy Khol eats under the back of the RV. The rest eat under the trailer up at the end of the road. Little Dot, Babygirl, and Peanutbutter are there waiting for me at every meal now.


Baloo is very friendly, and loves pets. He's friendly to everyone. He wasn't feral - don't know what his story was.
Smokey demands pets and has the most incredible purr motor. :lol3:
Froggie loves having her cheeks rubbed.
Khol... rubs all over our legs, but we can't pet her, we just let her pet herself on us.
Little Dot really loves me (in her own way)... and she loves being petted, and will flop over on her side in bliss. :heart2:
Tabby has just recently started rubbing all over my legs while I get the food ready, but I can't pet her yet.

The others aren't approachable. Babygirl will run right up to me and start eating the second the food goes down.

Peanutbutter will always meow to let me know she's there, but keeps her distance.

The others... I may or may not even see.

Hi all - Laurie, that's a lovely update, great to hear about your set-up and various kitties. I can recognise my two in there; squeaky is most like babygirl, bubble is most like peanutbutter, as she does talk to me sometimes! Must cost you a fortune but I guess it's worth it - I find looking after my two to be therapeutic and wonderfully distracting.

Anyway, lots to update on from this end:

Bubble and Squeak - the pattern is very much set; go out with food, call for them ('Bubbsy!!'), they come running from the rickety barn (or wherever else they are) with their tails up and play together and roll around on the floor (weather permitting) a few feet away from me while i prepare their food. Once I shout 'come on then!' they run back to their rickety barn, hop up to 'the eating ledge' (about knee high for me) and wait for me to put the bowls in. The moment the bowls go down they start devouring - I can have my hand on the bowl, they won't care! I can't, however, pet them at all; I have tried a couple of times to give them a little stroke while they are feeding and they just back off. No aggression at all, though - just backing away. Interestingly, if I see them at other places around the farm they will only tolerate me if I'm 15-20 feet away but if I walk towards them they will scarper. It's pretty obvious that Bubble is the more adventurous of the two and I see her around the farm a lot more, while I don't think Squeaky goes much further than the rickety barn. They are lovely girls and maybe one day they'll allow petting - that said, if you've never been petted, how will you know how nice it is? I suspect Bubble was once loved, but got lost as a kitten and hence can't remember what it's like while Squeaky has never been petted - althoughj I think she has the kind of temperament that means she'd have been a wonderful indoor kitty.

Other news - sadly, we are going to have to move away from the farm early in 2013. We have always known that this was going to happen, as the farm is earmarked for development of 400 ish houses and the destruction of England's green and pleasant land must continue! While development won't be starting till June/ July, the owner - a nice chap - has decided to put the cottages up for sale as well and so we need to be out by the end of March. Not wanting to have this hanging over us, we've already found somewhere new and, all being well with checks etc, should be moving in late Janaury. Finding anywhere as spacious as the farm is not feasible, unfortunately, so we've settled on a nice house in a quietish village about 4-5 miles away. It has a lovely big back garden which overlooks a big field and the local woods. Splendidly, the landlords have agreed to let us have the outdoor cats and, even better, there is a good sized shed/ outbuilding where we can house them securely and that they can make their base. The plan is to move the humans first and then, in the two week period where we will be essentially renting two properties, catch the girls and bring them across and get them acclimatised. Catching the girls ought to be fairly straightforward. I can always resort to the traditional trap if necessary (although that'll obviously mean only getting one at a time), but my instinct is to start feeding them in a big cat cage over the next few weeks. Once they've acclimatised to this (and once I've set their new home up - straw bales, cat houses etc), I hope to catch them together by simply closing the door behind them. Fingers crossed. Suspect it will be a bit hairy, but they'll acclimatise, I'm sure.

It'll be very sad to leave the farm. However all good things come to an end and with 2012 having been a fairly ghastly year for us a family, a change will be a good thing. Moreover the cottages are very tired and in need of repair; wonderful in Spring and Summer, hard work in Autumn and Winter. For example, we've just recently realised that the mice are back again in the house (fret not, haven't chastised the girls too much - they live at the back of the farm) and this is quite wearisome to deal with. Worse stil, looks like they are making their home in our expensive recliner sofa (over £1000 and less than a year old) as they are ripping the fabric off in small patches. Little buggers - the damage they have done in the course of 2-3 days is horrific! So I have declared jihad on the mice; I won't do poison, but the nipper traps have been set and I shall be spending this afternoon stuffing wire wool into external crevice. Worked a treat two years ago, clearly needs replenishing.

bests