Last of the 2007 Summer Vintage

July 29th, 2009
 Just two days before my second Carpal Tunnel Surgery that summer of 2007, I sat in the darkened dining room, despairing that I would not be able to catch the last kitten of Brownie’s litter. It had been several weeks since beginning this task, and I knew that if I did not catch  the kitten before my surgery, we would probably not be able to domesticate it. As I sat there, the kitten came up and began to play, all alone, with the insects flying in the dim light of the deck. It broke my heart as I watched the little gray kitten catch and eat a moth. But it hesitated to enter the cage, just as it had on previous evenings, having escaped a near capture a week or so earlier. With breath held, I watched the baby approach, then enter the cage, then back out before reaching the food dish in the far reaches of the cage. Finally, the little one must have been hungry enough to brave the strange contraption, and came in far enough to start eating. Ever so carefully, I pulled the door shut on the poor, frightened kitten, and brought it inside with its siblings.

With my surgery only two days off, there was little time to work with our new kitten. We tried to think of a proper name , not knowing yet if we had a boy or a girl, and settled on the name of “Button”. After we found out Button was a girl, I used to say we called her that because she was “cute as a button”, but it was actually because she had very big, round eyes, like her mother Brownie.  Within a week or two of acquiring the new baby, the earlier captures were released full-time into the house. We kept Button in the cage by herself until she was given a clean bill of health, then decided to release her before she was fully accustomed to human touch. I called her my “Wild Child” since she would run from me every time I tried to approach her. Eventually, she started to allow petting while sleeping, and eventually became somewhat affectionate.  One day, while still a small kitten, I came home from work and sat down at the computer to work. Was I ever surprised when I looked up to see a little gray tabby kitten curled up around the stapler the shelf of my computer desk. I was so glad she stayed long enough for me to get a picture.

Button and the stapler

Button and the Stapler

Shortly after rescuing the last of Brownie’s kittens, both Brownie and Tortie seemed to disappear from the deck. I don’t know what happened to them. Perhaps they moved on, or met with an unfortunate accident. I believe I spotted Tortie the next spring, once or twice, but I cannot be certain. Regardless, they both left behind a legacy for us to care for. Their spots on the deck were not left empty very long. Early that fall, two more cats started coming up on the deck to eat. Both were brown tabbies. The darker one we call Gabby, and the lighter one was named Abby. Gabby quickly learned to sit just outside the glass sliding door where she could look in at all the cats. We often saw our kittens playing with her through the glass. Ok, the kittens were doing most of the playing. One morning, a third cat appeared with them. It was smaller, but beautiful. I thought that Gabby or Abby may have been its mother, but cannot be certain. It may have been a drop-off. So out came the little cage again for one more 2007 vintage kitten.

While we waited and watched, I started calling the kitten “Snickerdoodle” (one of my favorite Christmas Cookies). Finally one cool Sunday morning, we managed to trap the kitten just before I had to leave for church. Snickerdoodle seemed to be a sweet kitten, and would lay in my arms and purr as I petted him in the basement. We realized that he was a little boy and Barb thought “Snickerdoodle” was a girly-girl name. But I didn’t care, so Snickerdoodle stuck, although we often shorten it to “Snickie”. Thinking that Snickie was coming along nicely, we released him into the herd. Perhaps we didn’t have as much time to spend with him as we did with the other, perhaps he had a bad experience with humans, but Snickie has not become a “people cat”. He interacts with the other cats very well, acting as “protector” to the younger cats as they were introduced. He is a bit of a loner, and likes to sit at the bottom of our stairs. If he is sleeping, somtimes I can pet and even comb him, but generally he will hiss if you try to touch him. Of all the cats, Snickerdoodle is our biggest, weighing in at 14 pounds when only one year old.  For all his size, Snickerdoodle is a true Scaredy-Cat. When strangers visit, or the vacuum cleaner runs, he quickly scampers to the bottom of the stairs and crouches in a dark corner to hide. I used to try to pick him up to provide some comfort, until he decided to pee on me. The poor darling gets so nervous in the carrier that he usually completely soils himself. Guess who doesn’t get out often! Regardless, Snickerdoodle is a beautiful white and brown tabby patchwork cat. His brown tabby stripes cover his head, and brown coloring extends around his eyes, making it look like he has permenant teardrops. How appropriate for such a big baby! Although we can’t hold Snicke, we do take lots of pictures of him that can be viewed in Snickie’s Picture Gallery.

Button was always curious, and I believe she was the instigator of the April 2008 escape plot. It was a very warm spring evening, and we had the deck door open. All was peaceful, until Barb yelled, “The cats are out!” Unfortunately the sliding screen door must not have been latched properly, and while playing at the door, the cats had manged to slide it open enough to step out onto the deck and beyond. Trying not to panic, I went to the door and called to those on the deck, browsing the planter boxes. Petunia and Snickerdoodle immediately came inside. Sticking my head out the door, I saw Pepper-Ann sitting on the bottom step, just above the grass. She seemed to be considering wether she wanted to get her feet wet in the dew of the evening. I went downstairs and slipped out the back door to approach her from the yard. Seeing me, she decided it was time to adjorn to the house and trotted back up the stairs where Barb left her in. During that time, Waldo, who must have been behind a pot out sight, came up and banged against the screen for Barb to let him in. Not seeing any more outside, Barb did a head count, and we found we were still missing one inmate, Button. I walked the yard with a flashlight, calling for her, to no avail. While Button had come a long way from our Wild Child, I’m not sure she would have come to me with all the world to explore. I spent the next day searching the vacinity of the house and calling for her, again with no luck. We made up fliers and passed them around in the neighborhood, and alerted the SPCA of her loss, but we have never seen baby Button again. Even though it’s been more than a year, I still miss her big round eyes saying “Thanks Mom, I love you too.” Since I do not have a page for Button, here are a few more pictures of her.

Button Napping

Napping Button

One of my last photos of Button before she broke out.

One of my last photos of Button, before she broke out.

Posted in Snickerdoodle | 1 Comment »

Two “P”’s in a Cage

July 25th, 2009

Once we got started trapping, we kept at it, determined to rescue all the kittens. One constant worry for me was little “Pedro”, Bianca’s sibling which had escaped during her capture. The second kitten stopped coming up to eat on the deck, even in the company of mother Tortie. The best look we could get of the little tyke was at the far back of our yard, where it liked to roll in a bare patch of yard. Brownie continued bringing her remaining two babies up after dark to eat and play. I continued to sit patiently by my trap cage hoping to collect another kitten. One evening, it looked like there was an extra kitten playing with Brownie’s litter. We could clearly see the flash of white socks as the kitten rolled over the petunias in the deck planter, as it played with Brownie’s two babies. Eventually, the kitten with white socks entered the cage, and was captured. We looked at the little gray kitten and wondered where it had come from, but when we got it placed into the big cage next to Bianca, it was obvious to me that this was the lost “Pedro”. He was slightly larger than Waldo and Odessa, and his coloring was very similar to Bianca. Eventually, we discovered that “Pedro” was indeed a little girl as well, so we had to rethink a name. Since she had been observed frolicking over the petunias on the deck, we decided to call our new kitten Petunia, or more often just “Toonie”.

As the cage was getting full, Petunia was not confined as long as Bianca, and being a little older when we got her, was slower to come around to accepting human attention.  She was released before being fully domesticated, but eventually accepted and even asked for cuddles. Petunia has a very gentle soul, and lovely green eyes. She always waits patiently for approval before jumping up to my desk, where she will lay down for a lovely head scratching session. She loves to have her head, neck and chin scratched, especially her lower neck, just above her front paws. However, she does not ask to share my chair. Even if I get up for a few minutes, when I come back to sit down again, I have to oust a cat, often Petunia. Like her sister, Petunia is a dilute (or muted) tortoise shell. You can see pictures of gentle Petunia at her Picture Gallery.

Barb was anxiously awaiting the capture of the little black and white kitten we were calling “Bouncer”. I was becoming concerned that I would run out of time. My second surgery for Carpal Tunnel was fast approaching, so I persevered later and later into the evenings. Finally, late one evening, the black and white kitten bounced into my cage. I waited, hoping for a “two-fer” again, as the little gray kitten was also up. Finally the gray kitten entered the cage, but in my excitement, I pulled the rope too soon, and the little gray kitten escaped. But we did have the black and white one, who was trundled off to the basement cage with it’s siblings and cousins.

By this time, the earlier acquisitions had been to the vet for initial check-ups, and to make caring for the kittens easier for me following surgery, we brought the big cage upstairs for the first time. This also allowed us to let the “older” kittens out for more exercise in the newly “kitten proofed” living/dining/kitchen area of the house. After a visit to the vet, “Bouncer” was pronounced a girl. Barb thought that “Bouncer” was a horrid name for a little girl, and named her Pepper-Ann, a name that suggests her black and white coloring.

Pepper-Ann does not like to be held or confined. She is quite happy just having her head scratched and back stroked. We used to call her our “bathroom” kitty, as she would come to us in that room (especially Barb) for attention. As you petted her, she would crawl under the toe space of the vanity, rubbing her chin all the way along, until she was out of reach. Then she would trot back for more. There are several pictures of her in this position in Pepper-Ann’s Picture Gallery. When she was a year old, and we had added the next summer’s kittens to the herd, Pepper-Ann self-isolated herself for awhile in my bedroom. Some of the younger boys decided she was fair game, and terrorized her, even treeing her on the scratching tree several times. Once they were neutered, things calmed down a bit, and Pepper-Ann began to join us again. In turn, she became somewhat aggressive to the last three kittens brought in. As they got older, everyone learned their places in the herd, and peace reigned once again….most of the time.

Posted in Pepper-Ann, Petunia, The Herd | 7 Comments »

Hey Mom, It’s a Two-fer!

July 23rd, 2009

While Tortie’s kittens were both similar colors, Brownie’s kittens were certainly a Heinz-57 variety mixture. There was a black and white bi-color, an orange tabby short-hair, a gray tabby short-hair, and a gray tabby long hair fluff-ball. I admit to having a real love for orange tabbies, and this one was so tiny and cute. But the show really was stolen by the long-hair kitten. As I sat inside the dining room that first Saturday morning, the kittens readily came up to the glass to play. But that fuzzy ball of fluff came right up to the door and looked inside, right at me! I was absolutely convinced this had to be a little boy, and I named him Otto. The only other kitten we “sort of” named before capture, was the black and white bi-color. During a romp and tussle with a sibling, the bi-color rolled off our second-floor deck to the flower bed below. We were concerned, but Brownie didn’t seem to notice. After a few minutes, the little tyke re-appeared on the deck and resumed the same rough-and-tumble play. So we started to call that one Bouncer. The other two kittens were just referenced by their colors, like Little Red, and Little Gray.

Our next capture was quite eventful, an evening two-fer trapping. As I waited patiently, first one, then a second kitten wandered into the cage to eat. I could see we had Little Red and Otto in the cage. I tried to wait to see if any of the other kittens playing on the deck would enter the cage, but none did. When it looked like one of the inside kittens was about to leave, I decided to pull the rope. This time the door closed perfectly, and the two kittens came inside. We were still fairly new at this trapping thing, and for some reason we thought we could take the kitten out of the little cage upstairs and carry it downstairs to the lower level wrapped in a towel. Boy, were we WRONG! The little red kitten scratched, bit, and squirmed as we tried to wrap it in a towel, and eventually managed to escape our grasping arms. It ran behind me, so I could not see where it ran, but from the sounds of skittering claws on linoleum, and bumping against wallboard, we surmised it had found the stairs leading to the lower level. Unfortunately, we had left the door open, and the kitten had taken refuge in our box filled basement. Now what to do??? It was already quite late, so we carried the cage downstairs with Otto in it (a much better way to proceed) and transferred him to the big cage with Bianca. We put a small dish of dry food next to the cage for Little Red, closed the door, and went to bed. The next morning, there was no sign that the food had been disturbed. I stopped by the SPCA after work and rented a humane capture cage and baited it with smelly cat food that evening, hoping to catch the kitten overnight. While the kitten did not try to enter the cage, it did start to cry that second night. I went down very early in the morning and was able to identify where in the the large room the kitten was hiding. Next day, I called in a personal day to my office and set about clearing the boxes and stuff stored in that area. The kitten was behind several pieces of dry-wall propped against the back wall. This was an ideal location, as I could block off one end and hopefully force the kitten out the only open end, into the cage. This ruse worked on the second try, and the little red kitten was relocated to the big cage with “Otto” and Bianca. As the kitten was handled and domesticated, we discovered that it was a little male kitten, so we decided to name him Waldo, for his adventures in the basement. (Where’s Waldo, of course.)

Waldo is my best buddy, now. He sleeps with me most nights, and loves to tunnel under the blankets. It’s not unusual to find a hump under the blanket in the middle of the day. All I have to do is touch it gently, and it will grunt, so I know Waldo is taking a nap. Of all the cats from this summer, Waldo is the only one who asks to be held, and will crawl into my arms to be scratched to sleep. At 2-years and 14 pounds, this behavior getting a bit challenging, but I still love it. Waldo greets me every evening when I come home from work, and will do a head-roll down my foot, landing on his back, but don’t try to tickle his belly! Just scratch that head, neck, and chin, and he will be your best friend, at least for awhile. See his pictures at Waldo’s Picture Gallery.

The second kitten, Otto, managed to arrive safely in the big cage. Over the next few days, I spent time with all three kittens, talking, petting, and providing for their needs. One way we tried to work with them, and give them some activity while keeping them away from Pagos, was to release them in the upstairs bathroom. The room is fairly small, but open, and we can close the door. During one of these sessions, I was able to “check” Otto, and told my sister that I thought we had a little girl. This was confirmed a bit later by my vet at her first visit. So “Otto” was changed to “Odessa”. Dessie (as she is usually called, or OH!! Dessa) was a very bashful kitten. When all were finally released upstairs, she was the last to start feeling comfortable in the area, preferring to hide most of the time. After having such success with Waldo, it was a little disappointing that Odessa was so difficult. She made me chase her all over the house every time we had a vet appointment. But I noticed that she seemed to enjoy the game. Every time I finally caught and touched her, she would begin to purr. So I decided to make Odessa my special project. Every evening, I made a point to seek her out, pick her up, and pet her, usually rewarding her good behavior with a treat. This worked so well, that Odessa is now a certified keyboard replacement. She is not happy sitting off to the side of the keyboard, or between the keyboard and monitor. No, she has to lay at the front edge of the desk, right where the keyboard sits. This is the perfect position for petting and scratching. She will easily fall asleep, making me either work from my lap, or by reaching over her. It’s fortunate that I have a wireless keyboard, as well as a furry one. (Everyone should have two.) Odessa has grown into a beautiful silver tabby with long hair and green eyes. Her tail is very fluffy, and she has the most adorable tufts of fur between her toes. It was so funny to watch her tip-toe across the tacky mat I got for under the litter box You can see how lovely she is by viewing her pictures at Odessa’s Picture Gallery.

Posted in Odessa, The Herd, Waldo | 2 Comments »

Hello World from “The Herd”

July 22nd, 2009

In programming, the first true program written is often to print “Hello World” to screen or printer. Since this is my very first blog entry, I thought it appropriate to do a hello world introduction.

Until 2 years ago, my life was pretty boring, and I would never have considered letting the world in on it like this. Then the cats started showing up, and life got interesting….and busy. So when I reworked my website this summer, I decided to start my own blog, about my life with 15 cats. The first several entries will introduce the furry players to everyone. Then I hope to continue entries describing their antics, trials and tribulations.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

In the spring of 2007, my sister began to feed a couple of stray cats on our deck. At the time, my old cat Pagos was 22, and we had decided to wait until she passed on, then replace the carpeting. Barb had insisted several times “no more cats“, to which I said, bet me! So when she began to feed the strays, I warned her she was playing with fire. Of course, I eventually fell in line and helped out. We started calling them Tortie and Brownie. That June, I had the first of two surgeries for carpal tunnel syndrome. The Saturday before my surgery, I noticed what I thought was a small cat standing with one of the strays on our deck. With care, I looked closer, and in the twilight I could make out not only one, but two kittens standing with Tortie, a tortoise shell stray. Although we live on a reasonably quiet street with limited traffic, we are very close to a busy highway and interstate. So Barb and I decided we had to rescue the two little kittens. But how?  Since I was due to have surgery in just a few days, we had to wait until I had regained some use of my hand before I would be able to physically start the trapping, but my convalescence gave me time to plan how to accomplish the deed. The kittens came up several evenings during this time and we were able to get a better look at them. Both were primarily gray, with patches of white and tan.

I returned to work a few days later with my hand and wrist all wrapped up. Part of my morning routine was feeding the strays. One morning, I stepped out on the deck and filled the food dish. As I turned back to enter the house, I glanced to the bottom of the stairs to see Brownie, the second stray, sitting on the bottom step. As I watched, a tiny orange head briefly appeared from under the step, and just as quickly disappeared. It happened so quickly, I thought for a moment I was seeing things. This was not one of the two kittens we had already spotted! “Oh, no!”, I thought, “Not another kitten.” No it was not just another kitten, but four more, as we found when Brownie brought them up to the deck the following Saturday. Boy did we have our work cut out for us!

I purchased (what I thought at the time) a good sized cage, with a door that swung open from the side. I was able to rig it using rope so I could pull the door closed from inside our sliding door. This became my trap. I baited it with the food dish that normally sat under the deck table. The question now was how to hide myself from the kittens. I solved that by blocking the glass doors with a couple of flattened cardboard boxes. Then, I could sit behind the cardboard in the darkened dining room, until the kitten entered the cage to eat from the food dish inside. Sounded simple to me. HA!

BIANCA: OUR FIRST ACQUISITION

After a couple of evenings with no results, my patience was rewarded. Tortie and her two kittens came up to eat as I sat quietly in the darkened room, clenching the pull rope. By this time, Tortie had pretty well weaned the kittens, and was starting to push them away from her. The one we called Pedro (not knowing if it was a male or female) was pretty independent. But the other kitten with the pure white throat and belly seemed to be having a problem with mom’s rejection. Tortie entered my trap cage, but did not allow the kittens to join her. They waited patiently outside, playing with each other, until she had finished and left the cage. After a bit one of the kittens entered. And I waited, aching to pull on the rope, but my patience was rewarded when the second kitten entered the cage to eat. Quickly, I pulled on the rope, but between the door bouncing, and the kittens panicking, little “Pedro” slipped out of the cage and fled the yard. This left the little gray and white kitten to my mercies. Up to this time, we were referring to our little captive as “Bianca” due to the large areas of white on her coat. I carried the cage into our basement area, provided food, water and a litter box, and said goodnight. Almost immediately, we realized this cage was not going to work. We had more kittens to capture, but nowhere to put Bianca in the meantime. So we purchased a big multi-level cage at Petco. (They had the wrong price marked on it, and we got a great deal!) Bianca went into the big cage and we continued on our efforts to trap the remaining kittens. Over the next few days, I spent as much time as possible with Bianca, holding her wrapped in a towel while petting her, until she calmed down enough to be handled without it.

Bianca is a beautiful dilute (or muted) tortoise shell. (Bianca’s Gallery) Her fur is very soft and silky. Considering she was probably 8-10 weeks old when we trapped her, she domesticated fairly easily. When working with her, I would come home over my lunch break to pet and talk to her, so she could get used to humans. By the time we had trapped all the kittens that summer, Bianca no longer wanted to spend time in the cage. When I opened the door, she would instantly climb out onto my shoulder and back, and it was difficult to get her back inside. Besides being domesticated, we also wanted to keep the kittens isolated from Pagos until they had been tested for feline leukemia, and started on their vaccination shots. Once they were given a clean bill of health, the kittens were promoted to “upstairs”, and eventually released into the house. Now, at 2-years old, Bianca is fully grown, and just as soft and beautiful as she was as a kitten. She likes to stretch out to her full length, front and back legs stretched out ahead and behind her. I swear she is double-jointed. She also likes to sleep on my computer table, where she takes up half of my workspace. She can be a bit of a bully, smacking around some of the other cats especially at mealtimes. But on the whole, she is a sweetheart.

Posted in Bianca, The Herd | Comments Off

Newer Entries »