I finally let them go...

[tru]

Originally Posted by Kazy

5/22/2010

First bunny of the season!
It's been unseasonably cold in Seattle area. That's why kitties didn't bring bunny until now.
I knew right away that they brought bunny because of the sound of bunny hissing.
They are really in to hunting this past few days.
Yesterday, Torako caught a bird. Then, Leo and Torao were chasing mouse up to our cherry tree. Here is the picture of Torao trying to catch his mouse in the tree. Mouse is on the limb at far left.

He looks like Cheshire cat from "Alice in Wonderland". (LOL)

[/url]

I love reading about you and your fur kids adventures.
That picture with Torao and the mouse in the tree is quite amazing. I'm wondering how you managed to get that shot?

 

[kazy]

Thanks, MBTee and Tru.
That picture was through kitchen window. I didn't notice about mouse when I took picture of Torao.
Later on, I ended up catching the mouse in the tree and then realize it was in the picture, too.
I try to have my camera handy to catch moment like this.

 

[kazy]

6/28/2010


We are back home!
We were gone for 2 weeks and our yard is full of flowers. My vegetable garden was over grown.
Also, bunny took residence while we were gone and noticed more birds were hanging around in the yard. I need to work on my yard rest of this week.


We picked up our kitties this morning. They seem to be very happy. I released them in to the cat room, then they went outside. They are quite vocal now. They seem to call each other and when they come back from patrol, they meow to let others know their presence. Leo just kept meowing for our attention, too.


I am wondering about bunny's fate. It's adult bunny and I don't think cats would be able to catch him.

 

[kazy]

6/30/2010

We found bunny nest in our yard.
Day after kitties return, little bunnies left their nest. Bunnies leave their nest in 15 days. Thus mama bunny must have her babies right after kitties were gone. Our yard is perfect for them with plenty of flowers and vegetables growing near by. There is no predators except for crows.




We were alerted by bunnies cry. Kitties were surrounding a little one hidden in the bush. We found 2 more that way. It looked like kitties didn't know what to do at first. They usually bring them from somewhere. But they are abundant in their own yard! I saw a little bunny trying to jump up to the rock wall and kitties were just watching. I showed a baby bunny to Leo's face and he run away. (LOL)



We caught total of 4 bunnies. I noticed crows were really noisy and active on the day when bunnies were around. I am sure some of them were eaten by them.

 

[kazy]

7/12/2010

Leo is missing since Friday night.
We were gone for weekend camping trip. When we got home, Leo was no where. I checked camera footage and Leo was last seen on Friday night.
Through out camping trip, I tried to think of him, but I didn't pick up any major distress.
Somehow, I got the sense that he was OK. When I meditated to send him picture of us looking for him, first thing it came to my mind was somebody saying "I know…".
I wasn't sure if he was stuck somewhere and can't come home. But somehow I was not as worried as other times.

I had Hillary the animal communicator contact him today. Yes, many of you thinks this is hocus pocus. My husband was not happy about this stuff either. He thinks it's OK to spend money on his car toys and modifications but not for this kind of "service". I am a firm believer of this stuff. I have read many books and attended workshop. This does work. This does work especially with your own animals. This time, it was kind of confirmed by Hillary. She told me Leo is OK, but he was bitten by either a spider or a snake (Hillary thinks it's spider) and he was freaked out. Thus he is hiding under the bushes in the neighborhood. He could hear me calling and he knows we are home now. Other kitties seem to know where Leo is. Torao seems to be trying to make him come over to our yard by mewing. Hillary thinks Leo would come back eventually. I hope he would come home soon.

For now, I only can trust my gut feeling and wait. I did little search but didn't want to disturb our neighbors.

 

[tru]

I really hope Leo is ok and returns home soon. I know he has been the glue that kind of kept your other kitties with you and he is such a beautiful good boy.

My prayers go out to you and your fur kids that you will all be reunited quickly.

You are such a wonderful mom to them. Maybe you could just ask the neighbors if you could look around their bushes and such.

Best to you.

 

[kazy]

Leo is home!

Catcam caught him eating early Wednesday morning, but he didn't show until Thursday late afternoon.
We came home around 5PM and he was in the yard! Torao seems very happy and buttering up to him and following him everywhere.
Leo lost little weight, but looked fine. He seems more tense but slowly coming back to himself.
For the first time, I see him kneading when he purrs. He must be feeling very safe at home.

I wonder if he is coming inside or choose to stay outside tonight...

Thanks, everyone!

 

[tru]

Originally Posted by Kazy

Leo is home!

I'm so glad to hear he is home. I bet he was very happy to see you too. Shower that boy with love and kisses from all of us too.

 

[kazy]

8/10/2010

Kitties are in to hunting. I see them bringing something every night. They mostly bring little mouse. One day, we saw a mouse climbing on top of bush to escape kitties. It may have been terrible thing to do, but I had to catch it and give to them. Our house use to have mouse infestation. Thus I have no mercy to them.
Here is the video of them playing. Torako basically plays with live mouse like a toy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0E3yX1XLN0
(is there any way to embed video here? If any of you know how, please let me know.)
After mouse stops moving, they both walk away. Torako still acts like a kitten.

 

[kazy]

8/18/2010

Leo meets Raccoon.



We were gone camping for 4 nights. While we are gone, we left food in the cat house. Then, out of nowhere, raccoon shows up. I wonder they could smell the food inside of cat house? We haven't seen them this summer until now. (I was monitoring this through catcam via internet while I had access to it.)
They were smaller size raccoons and they went in and out of cat house. They were clawing the insulation inside of the house and made a big mess all over the place.
It was difficult to know if there were total of three raccoons. Once I could tell there were 2 together. The other time it looked like there was only one.

They stopped coming back after coming face to face with Leo.

Yes, they look cute, but they do a lot of mischief. There was posting in the camp ground saying they even know how to open the cooler!

I was hoping they were gone for good, but I encounter them face to face last night. I chased them and threw a rock at them. There was no food out there anymore. They should know better...

 

[ziggy'smom]

Please, don't throw rocks at the racoons. You could hurt them. They're just doing what comes natural to them and what they have to do to survive, just like cats do.

Also, please don't catch wild rabbits to keep them as pets. Wild animals are best off left in the wild and they don't make good pets. They can also carry diseases and parasites that can spread to your cats inside.
These baby rabbits are old enough to make it on their own and don't need human help. The best thing for the rabbits would be to be released asap. If you don't want them in your yard you can release them somewhere else. But please don't keep them. It's not kind to the rabbits.

Good luck!

 

[kazy]

Thanks for your advice, Ziggy'smom.

Yes, I do regret throwing a rock at them. I should not have done it.
In fact, it sounded like rock landed on my husband's car which happened to be parked in the drive way that night. I was worried if my rock cracked the windshield. (it didn't though.)
Hissing to show them I am mad at them won't hurt.

I don't keep bunnies as pet. Rule of our house is to leave what's wild be in wild. I usually keep bunnies until dusk or early morning to release them. Sometimes they only survive for few hours anyway. In that case, I burry it in my yard.

 

[kazzy]

Wow, what an amazing story!! Can't wait for the next update.

As for the wild critters, I agree about not trying to hurt them. They are just trying to survive, but I do understand that you don't want them in your yard

Hiss away at them! lol

The last pic of the coon looks like a young one, so probably a sibling pair. I'd get a hold of the local wildlife rescue/relocation society and see if they can help you trap and relocate the coons. Good luck!

 

[kazy]

9/16/2020

Seattle is having winter like weather already. Our summer was really short this year.
As soon as season has changed, kitties changed their life style.
First of all, they are eating much more. During the summer, they all lost weight and became thinner. They were not interested in food as much either.
Now, they are eating twice as much and all come inside every night.
They seem to be more sleepier than before. (actually, me, too! LOL)

I don't leave food out much after dark, but raccoons keep visiting few times a week. I wonder what entices them to visit…. They should know there is no food here by now. I do have pear on my tree, though. I wonder that's attracting them?

 

[kazy]

10/12/2010

Torako came home little later than usual tonight.
Then I have notice her left arm and paw is 1.5 times fatter than her right.
She is not limping, but she seems to be little tender there.
She was able to jump up the cat tree. I examined her arm but she was not in pain.
I wonder she was stung by bee or something? I need to see how she would be tomorrow.

 

[kazy]

Torako's paw is back to normal.
I wonder what it was...

 

[kazy]

10/20/2010

Tribute to Jule the cat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-6ad-MHhQM

When my kitties showed up in my yard, I searched internet like crazy to find out everything about feral cat. While doing so, I stumbled on one of Japanese blog site "Jule's tail".
A couple lived near a parking lot where neighborhood ferals gather. Among them was Jule. She had chronic sinus infection and always laying on top of old mattress. When typhoon was approaching, she was still at the parking lot soaking wet. That prompted this couple to shelter her right away. After discovering Jule being FIV positive, they decided to adopt her. Jule recovered very well, but suffered with various health conditions from FIV.
Owner of the blog, Hana*-san took care of her, and Jule also gave this couple so much joy and happiness. Blog was full of warmth and gave every reader soothing comfort.

Hana*-san couple also started to collect signature for the reform of Japanese shelter. Currently, 99% of animals in shelters are killed within 48 hours and their method is not the best one for animals.

Jule went quietly this week. She lived little more than 8 years.
I never knew her in person, but I couldn't stop crying.

The blog site is http://blog.goo.ne.jp/jule2856. It is written in Japanese but with full of pictures.
Jule's last resting picture looks just like she is still sleeping with flowers.

 

[kazy]

11/11/10

Winter is here! Kitties are fattening up for the season.



Torako and Leo spend more time inside but Torao seems more comfortable out side during the day.
But he stays in the yard most of the time and peeks inside whenever food dish is empty.
He is still scardy kitty but getting much better than last year.
Weather man is predicting Seattle area to have a cold winter with snow. I wonder kitties would enjoy it this time around?
I remember Torako was diving in to the snow 2 years ago. Even though temperature was way below freezing, kitties chose to go out side to have fun in the snow. I think they enjoyed watching birds come by the feeder...

 

[kazy]

11/17/10

Today, I just realized heating pad in the cat house has not been working. (like this one. http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/index.php?page=shop-flypage-10202)
When I cleaned up the Raccoon mess, I noticed part of it has been melted. It looked like pad over heated on top of carpet + insulation. I thought about replacing with soft one, but decided to stay with same hard one.
We may have first snow this weekend. I have ordered the pad already, but it won't get here until next week.

 

[kazy]

11/22/10

It's snowing for the first time in the season.
Outdoor temp has been below freezing past few days and it will stay that way for few more days.


Hopefully, I am getting the heated mat delivered tomorrow.
Torako usually sleeps in until late, but she was very anxious to go out side today.
She like snow. I thought cat don't like cold but she is different. She was so excited I saw her running around in the yard. I remember her diving in to the snow when we had snow storm few years agao…
Leo, on the other hand, doesn't like being cold. He comes inside often and stays longer. All kitties come inside early evening.