Cat and kittens update

Rusty

Rusty

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
8,911
The kittens were birthed on 4/8/04.

On the morning of Saturday 5/8/04 my wife let the cat out at 5 AM. She'd never left her kittens for more than an hour before. Found no trace of her since.

Had started to wean the kittens to moistened kibble two days before. Had to drop that and feed them with milk from an eyedropper every three hours until they figured out it was pretty much the the same thing as mama only in a bowl.

Warming milk in the microwave - Deja Vu.

Now two out of the three kittens are going for kibbles and the third is starting to get suspicious he's missing something.

Anyway, back to mama, no trace of her in three blocks any direction Saturday afternoon, no cats in the pound ( Animal Control officer is married to another primary teacher ), no known malicious dogs or people in the area. Then today ran into an old friend who told me the coyotes are coming right into town. Two blocks west is desert, two blocks south is desert. Aha - I think.

A varmint gun has suddenly got WAY higher on my priority list. Coyotes are now mincemeat if I get a chance at them just on general principles ( even if there's no corroborative evidence ).

That cat really managed to carve out a place in my heart for herself.
 
thanks for a touch of softness .
this has been a place of disturbing things lately.
i hope mama comes back
 
Forgot to mention:

The first couple of weeks they stayed in a padded laundry basket in the master bedroom's closet.. Next, we moved the basket out of closet to between the closet, the bed, and the nightstand. Since mama went missing, the kittens have succeeded in getting out of the basket and moved onto the bed. I was awakened for the first time yesterday morning by three hungry month-old kittens walking over and around the pillow, including my face.

It's a unique experience to say the least. In case you didn't know or had forgotten month-old kittens have tiny but sharp teeth and claws.
 
Sorry to hear that Rusty...but am glad Mama cat found you to be the adoptive Dad before she found some little child to move in with who really needed a loving and caring pet of her own. Cats work that way sometimes...

You're gonna love watching them stalk each other, wrestle and chase, and give each other dirty looks when one of them farts.
 
Prayers sent for your mama cat's safe return.

I sometimes have guilt for such special hatred, but I sometimes wish for the extinction of coyotes and fisher cats (member of the weasel family).
 
Sorry to hear about Mama, Rusty. Maybe Nasty is right and she moved in with a loving family. Or perhaps she knows what kind of demon seed she has birthed and got the heck outta Dodge;) Thanks for the update though. The way the world is today I find myself taking refuge more and more in the simple pleasures and wonders. I don't care what kind of day you have had. A group of three or four romping kittens will always bring a smile to your face... unless you are deathly allergic. Then it will make your eyes and throat swell shut and send you into anaphylactic shock.


~Jake
 
Steely_Gunz said:
... unless you are deathly allergic. Then it will make your eyes and throat swell shut and send you into anaphylactic shock.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but you'll still smile. At least my dad does.
 
This reminds me of Rattlesnakes. People in cities and univerrsities think Rattlesnakes are wonderful. I guess the Grizzly is wonderful too as long as he's not in Central Park.

It is terrible knowing the reflexive action of an animal not terribly far removed from the intellgence of a plant can take your child's life. And there is no real way to avoid a rattlesnake completely. They are hidden, well camoflaged, and often stay still rather than rattle.

My Dad thinks it was coyotes in his Orange Grove that took a couple of our beloved cats. Coyotes have been known to attack people and kill children.

So coyotes and Rattlesnakes should learn the law of nature- stay away from us.

munk
 
Sometimes momma cats just decide to stop mothering. Our latest adoptee, Max, was born last July in the bushes next to a friend's house. After four weeks, momma left. They have seen her several times since, but she is never seen in the area where she left her four kittens. So now Mad Max is tearing sround the house (esp up/down stairs), driving the old dog nuts chasing paper balls, and generally keeping us young.
 
The other day I was talking to a neighbor four or five houses down the block. The conversation turned to animals and I mentioned, Fluffy, the beautiful buff-colored longhair cat that moved in with us several months ago.

She turned out to be their cat, Dixie. There was no mistaking it as she has a distinctive crook on the very end of her tail. They got her as a kitten and she lived with them for about seven years.

Evidently she became unhappy there and decided to move. For several weeks I would see her come over the back fence from the creek bed to eat the food I left out for the coons. As soon as she saw us she would take off, but it wasn't long before we made friends. After a while, she got bolder and would try to sneak into the house to eat Kitty and Smokey's cat food.

Thinking she was feral and might have diseases my other cats could catch, I tried to run her out, but she wouldn't give up so I took her to the vet for testing. She came back with a clean bill of health so we got her shots, and eventually had her microchipped.

She is now Queen Cat of the household and spends most of her time sleeping on our bed. I don't know exactly what her relationship is with the other two guys, but they all seem to get along most of the time, and she and Smokey, our neutered, spraying, fighting champ of the neighborhood, really seem to like each other. She and Kitty, the other neutered male have some issues, but everyone generally lives in harmony.

When she first came here she didn't like to be touched and would bite hard enough to draw blood if I tried to pick her up. Now, she is the most affectionate cat I have ever seen. She loves to sit on our laps and when my wife or I am working on our computers, she is right there sleeping on the desk or standing beside the keyboard pushing her face into ours to be petted.

We feel so lucky that she chose us to move in with. I don't know if Kitty and Smokey feel the same way, but like I said, they adjusted.
 
We feel so lucky that she chose us to move in with>> Benaroun

She obviously hasn't read some of your controversial posts.


Cats are individuals. I can't see a dog swapping owners.


munk
 
Rusty, sorry to hear about momma kitty. Hopefully she will return. We lost several cats to coyotes when I lived in Manton. Of course, I saw so many dead coyotes strung up on fences that I lost count. I guess it all evens out.
--Josh
 
We lost several cats to coyotes when I lived in Manton. Of course, I saw so many dead coyotes strung up on fences that I lost count. I guess it all evens out.
>>>>>>>josh

unless you're a cat. But we need coyotes. I'm actually impressed they've learned to survive right alongside man. Unlike the Rattler,who can't get it through his prehistoric brain there are no Buffalo to warn away, cars don't listen, and to leave us alone.


munk
 
They eat things we're not willing to.

They're a heck of a lot better bargain for humans in that role than the Wolf.



munk
 
"They eat things we're not willing to"

Those of us who have seen coyote feces can attest to that. They are some of the most malnourished, parasite infested, mangy scavengers around. They have no choice but to be wiley and ruthless to survive. If I was a coyote I would consider a fat domesticated cat (or poodle) a delicacy not to be passed up.

coyote.gif
 
thombrogan said:
If I hand raise more crows, ravens, and skunk, may I kill off the coyote as a species?
Click to expand...

Skunks are great ratters, and crows, ravens and the lovely vultures are the clean-up squad, but I don't know if they take live adult rabbits. If something doesn't thin out the rabbits, the coutryside gets striped bare at lower levels. Now for the deer. (We live in the "Bambi Zone" -- far enough out to have masses of deer and too close in for firearms hunting.)
 
Night before last the kittens were all tuckered out and asleep in 5 minutes.

Last night however, they played no-referee hocky on my head for 15 or 20 minutes. In addition one little guy found out he could get under the covers by burowing in behind my neck, zipping down around my back and feet til he worked hi way up the front above my knees. Then I could catch him and put him back outside the covers. This is because while he's doing this, the two others were still continuing their hocky match on my face. Any other way I moved would have let them in too. Three times he did this.

Of course they awakened me this morning the same way they put me to bed. Some day I may look back on this and laugh. Some day is definitely not today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top