The summer we began our adventure in herding, I was also set to undergo carpal tunnel surgery on both of my hands. I chose this time frame because my choirs go on vacation over the summer, and my church responsibilities become less for awhile. But that summer, between surgery & recovery, kitty catching & domesticating, and vet visits, by the end of 2007, I felt that I had fallen way behind on my stack of magazines and other commitments. I worked as much as possible to make a dent in the pile of recipes I wanted to process, but made limited progress. I still had all my choir/church responsibilities to take care of, and had just started taking piano lessons that fall. Then it happened again the following summer, no not surgery, just the cat thing! By the time all the vet trips were completed, summer was over, and choirs were resuming. For awhile, I was actually struggling to keep up. I dared to wonder how my life had become so complicated. Then one look at the sea of upturned furry faces, and I knew.
I guess I never really thought about how long it takes to keep after kitties. Of course, I never personally had more than two cats myself, and we had a maximum of 4 (older cats) when we moved into the house. A few minutes to feed, pet, and clean litter boxes. After all, cats are pretty self contained pets. You don’t have to walk them several times a day like a dog, and if there are two of them, they can entertain each other right??? Don’t you believe it!
Especially when they were young, we had to not only feed them, and scoop litter boxes, but there was the socialization necessary to turn these wild kittens into loving, social creatures that will not bite and scratch every time you try to pet them. That required time to sit by the cage and talk softly so the terrified kitten can grow accustomed to human voices. Then carefully reach in to let that quivering nose take a tentative sniff of an outstretched hand. Eventually, to be allowed that careful pet, or even a head scratch, is a wonderful reward for patience I thought I did not have. We found that playing with the kittens by waving a kitty-play wand outside the cage was a good way to engage the kitten’s attention. Finally, that first time when the kitten trusts you enough to hold it, carefully, outside the cage, is just too wonderful for words. All this took a lot of time and effort. I guess after two summers, it was worth it, as of the 15 cats we rescued, only two are not fully socialized to humans. Both were the last kitten rescued in the summer, when we were already partitioning out less individual time per kitten, and after my fall responsibilities kicked in again. Even these two have their moments! I still hope that over time, we may make some progress.
Snickerdoodle seems almost comfortable to be in the same room with me. But he doesn’t like to be picked up and will draw back and hiss if he feels threatened. He really is a big baby, who runs and hides whenever the vacuum runs or doorbell rings. When he does have to visit the veterinarian, after a heart pumping chase around the house, I can usually manage to throw a towel over him and heft his 15+ pounds into a carrier. Invariably, he either pees or poops in the carrier. I usually don’t have to worry about collecting a stool sample for him!
Belle is very skittish, and will typically hide whenever we are around. At best, she stays under the chairs, or in one of the enclosed cat beds, where she thinks we cannot see her. The only time I get some interaction with her, is at meal times. She follows me to her special plate, and actually allows me to give her a couple of strokes as she chows down.
Since we were able to have our feral females spayed in the Spring of 2009, we made it through an entire mating season with no new additions to our herd. And since all the cats have been as domesticated as we can get them, you would think I should have more time available for other activities. And this is somewhat true. I have been able to catch up on many of the cooking magazines that I subscribe to, but there is a huge stack of special issue publications I picked up along the way. I try to get work done, even this blog is done in sections, because the cats all must have their time. Sometimes, I swear they take numbers, because my desk is like a revolving door. One leaves, another takes its place. Now, I know why I get nothing done.
