After reading so many of the posts, I realize now the correct term for our new kitty is feral, not stray. We live in rural Georgia on a 180 acre farm with 3 cats named Dixie, Noel, and now, Casey, a great pyrenees we call Storm, a rabbit named Hugs, guinea pig named Gitchie, five hermit crabs (I forget all their names), 3 mares named Jesse, Sugar, Honey and gelding named Desperado and about 100 head of cattle. In late October of this year, a gray female cat showed up near our home (my husband insisted she was dumped) with what I assume was her litter of three solid black, long-haired kittens. The mother was (and still is) extremely illusive but the kittens were somewhat curious and most likely, just extremely hungry.
At first they were all like little ghosts peeping out of the woods at us, but as we continued to set out food for them at the edge of the woods, they became more and more visible. When the weather turned bitter in December, they took to the barn and in the meantime, two of the kittens struck up friendships with the horses. One remained in the shadows. The male of the three became friendly and playful and took to attending all the riding lessons with the girls. Before long, he was named Black Jack and my daughter's riding teacher took him home with her. He LOVES her horses and is an absolute lover boy, now.
His companion and sister began to follow him into our presence before his departure and bloomed under the extra attention she received my daughters once he was gone. I rushed this a bit at one point and received a panacked bite from her when I tried to carry her to the house. (I have to admit it was extremely painful and I spent the next two weeks being treated for a nasty infection.) However, as the days went by she became more trusting and she developed an extremely affectionate and nutty personality.
In December, I found a home for her with my adult nephew and she has since settled in beautifully as queen of the castle. In the meantime, we made very little progress with the third kitten, and the mother had disappeared all together. She hovered nervously in the dark corners of the barn and bolted if we tried to make any contact with her. She was horrified by our Great Pyrenees in spite of the fact that he made several extremely gentle efforts to befriend her. As Christmas approached, we had moved a retired show horse, named
Sugar, into our barn for our youngest daughter. She is old and
gentle and absolutely precious. A true baby-sitter that should be dipped in gold as far as I'm concerned (but that's another story)
Apparently, there was something about her that lured the little cat in. My Pyrenees adored the new horse two, and when cold weather set in, I would arrive in the barn to find all three animals resting together in companionable silence. I guess it was then that the little cat began tolerate our presence and then to follow us out to the arena when we were riding and linger at the horses' feet and allow herself to be petted....
We were delighted with the unlikelyhood of the whole situation, and her beauty... She is black as ink, with shiny, long hair and deep, green eyes. Petite, and very feminine in a way, with a tiny little,
unassuming chirp of a voice. She was still a ghost in the barn however, until late January - I suppose, now in retrospect, she was in heat - because she initiated contact and wanted to be petted and meowed at us for the first time. Then, the girls were able to coax her into the house and after a week or so, she never left. We talked briefly about finding her home, but no one was very serious. She seemed to BELONG here more than the others....
Its all really pretty amazing now that I'm writing it down...I have taken the sweetness of the situation for granted until now, I think. Its kind-of hard to remember that we had to work at it since she's sort-of taken over the entire upstairs of the house.
I'm so glad she's here so we can take care of her and her little family too....
Well, that's our story.
At first they were all like little ghosts peeping out of the woods at us, but as we continued to set out food for them at the edge of the woods, they became more and more visible. When the weather turned bitter in December, they took to the barn and in the meantime, two of the kittens struck up friendships with the horses. One remained in the shadows. The male of the three became friendly and playful and took to attending all the riding lessons with the girls. Before long, he was named Black Jack and my daughter's riding teacher took him home with her. He LOVES her horses and is an absolute lover boy, now.
His companion and sister began to follow him into our presence before his departure and bloomed under the extra attention she received my daughters once he was gone. I rushed this a bit at one point and received a panacked bite from her when I tried to carry her to the house. (I have to admit it was extremely painful and I spent the next two weeks being treated for a nasty infection.) However, as the days went by she became more trusting and she developed an extremely affectionate and nutty personality.
In December, I found a home for her with my adult nephew and she has since settled in beautifully as queen of the castle. In the meantime, we made very little progress with the third kitten, and the mother had disappeared all together. She hovered nervously in the dark corners of the barn and bolted if we tried to make any contact with her. She was horrified by our Great Pyrenees in spite of the fact that he made several extremely gentle efforts to befriend her. As Christmas approached, we had moved a retired show horse, named
Sugar, into our barn for our youngest daughter. She is old and
gentle and absolutely precious. A true baby-sitter that should be dipped in gold as far as I'm concerned (but that's another story)
Apparently, there was something about her that lured the little cat in. My Pyrenees adored the new horse two, and when cold weather set in, I would arrive in the barn to find all three animals resting together in companionable silence. I guess it was then that the little cat began tolerate our presence and then to follow us out to the arena when we were riding and linger at the horses' feet and allow herself to be petted....
We were delighted with the unlikelyhood of the whole situation, and her beauty... She is black as ink, with shiny, long hair and deep, green eyes. Petite, and very feminine in a way, with a tiny little,
unassuming chirp of a voice. She was still a ghost in the barn however, until late January - I suppose, now in retrospect, she was in heat - because she initiated contact and wanted to be petted and meowed at us for the first time. Then, the girls were able to coax her into the house and after a week or so, she never left. We talked briefly about finding her home, but no one was very serious. She seemed to BELONG here more than the others....
Its all really pretty amazing now that I'm writing it down...I have taken the sweetness of the situation for granted until now, I think. Its kind-of hard to remember that we had to work at it since she's sort-of taken over the entire upstairs of the house.
I'm so glad she's here so we can take care of her and her little family too....
Well, that's our story.
