It's Trapping Day!

It's trapping day at the PDX pride!  Mama Leopard's disappeared, along with the normal-toed tabby/white kitten.  We hadn't seen the striped kitten for a few days, either, but he came back last night!  The polydactyl tabby/white and the marbled kittens have been eating out of the open traps, as has "Daddy" Tuxie, so we're confident that we can trap at least the three little boys and maybe Tuxie as well.  We'll bring them in tonight and take them to the clinic for fixing/eartipping tomorrow.  Here's some pictures from the past couple days, where everyone was learning how to eat out of the traps.

 Tux keeping watch as the striped kitten eats in the left trap and the other two eat together in the right trap.

 Wait!  How come brother is eating in the box and I can't figure out how to get inside?

 Is this how we're supposed to do this?

 Freya:  Yep, I see them both eating in the same trap!

Hi!  Do you have any more of that yummy canned food?

Wordless Wednesday: Mama Leopard, "Daddy" Tuxie, and baby kittens

Digital scrapbooking design personalized with Smilebox

Mama Leopard & kittens update

Mama Leopard writes:

Yesterday was a busy day for my kittens, Tuxie, and myself.  We spent nearly all of it lounging on the deck or in the freshly-mown and mulched grass in the yard.  I really like this yard.  It supplies many needed things for raising my kittens properly:  food, water, hunting training ground, shelter!  Tux likes it here, too, and that's a plus.  We all slept under the deck or on the deck.

Yesterday afternoon, Tuxie and I took the babies into the grass to teach them how to camouflage themselves.  My little ones were more interested in playing and roughhousing than the lesson, but they did well with reminders to stay down and watch for movement.  The humans didn't even see us until one of my babies popped its head up to look at the house, and then they saw us!

Last night, I was very brave and let the human lady look at my babies from just the other side of the window-door.  She was on one side, touching the glass, and my striped baby was eating on the other side.  I watched, stared at her long enough so that she knew she wasn't supposed to come out of that door, and then proceeded to take a bath!  Tux felt comfortable enough to turn his back on her with the baby there, too!

This morning, we stayed on the deck while she reached out her hand to put food on the deck for us.  She says that's an improvement, and we think so, too.  I was snuggled on the deck with two of my babies, and I got up but didn't disappear underneath.

I am polydactyl, and one of my tabby kids is, too.  I now have shown the lady that I have another kitten!  Previously, she knew about (and filmed) two tabbies and a white & tabby.  The white & tabby that she filmed is a little boy.  Well, when I was sleeping on the deck, I was snuggled with TWO white & tabby kittens!  So, I have four kittens total!

Mama Leopard's kitten presentation day!

Mama Leopard writes:

I'd been considering bringing my kittens to the food place for a few days, but there was a loud machine in their yard.  The machine cut the grass and stirred up the mice, so yesterday (when it was all quiet) I decided to bring my kittens.  I looked around to make sure it was safe, then hopped up on the deck.  My kittens followed, then scurried around on the new surface, testing it out and smelling all the smells.  As I went over to eat from the food pile the lady and man leave for us, my kittens saw the inside cats for the first time.  Were they ever surprised, on both sides of the funny window-door!

I saw one of the inside cats run off, then come back with the human lady.  She was very happy to see my little family and told me what a good mama I am!  Then she got a funny-looking thing and set it up on the floor where the inside kitties have their food bowls.  I knew she wouldn't come outside without letting me know first, so I kept eating and one of my little ones joined me, discovering what kibble was for the first time.  The lady put something on the food container inside, then lay down on the floor!  She said she was going to take a video of us.




Later on last night, Tuxie and I came back with my kittens.  Tuxie's a good dad to my kittens, washing them and playing with them a bit, even though he looks at them like they just landed out of the blue sometimes.

My kittens are now about 8 1/2 weeks old.  I have one who looks like me, one with a classic marbled tabby pattern, and one who is white with tabby patches and reminds me of the inside kitty named Starla.  The little ones are very interested in the inside kitties, and go up to the window-door to look in and play by tapping their little paws on the glass.  Heimdall plays back, and tries to bat at their little tails as they run past the window!

Tuxedo, Leopard, and possible kittens!

 Hi, it's Tux again!  You know, when we ferals talked with you last weekend, we weren't quite honest.  You see, I forgot to mention that Leopard (pictured below) was a girl instead of a boy.  The man and lady didn't know for sure, and she was too scared for them to get close enough to tell.  I also didn't mention that she's my girlfriend, and we're expecting kittens very soon!

Leopard here.  Yep, I'm about to pop with probably my first litter of babies!  Tux is guarding me while I eat from the back porch, so that no one sneaks up to hurt either me or my babies.

Here's a pretty dark picture of the two of us together tonight.  I'm looking at the lady with the flashy box, but Tux is eating, so I took my cue from him.  He was mostly concerned with possible danger from the yard instead of the flashy box or those other cats inside.  I was a bit scared to be this close to the house for this long, especially with that flashy box going off and the inside cats trying to investigate me, but Tux calmed me down by posturing and letting me know he didn't think we were in any danger from any of them.  I ate my fill while he stood guard about a foot away, then the lady put more food out and we both came back and ate together.  I'm standing up in this picture, and my boyfriend is lying down eating.  If you enlarge the picture, you might be able to see how my stomach is hanging down, a good indication that I'm almost due!

After we ate, since it's raining here, we both disappeared into Tux's hidey-hole under the left side of the deck.  He's got a hollowed-out spot under there that some of us cats (and sometimes other animals) like to use for naps.

Hoppy Easter!

Hoppy Easter from Peter Cottontail down the road!

He lives about three blocks from us, near Mommy's bus stop, so she sees him sometimes.

Tux says:

Hi!  Happy Easter to all our friends!  It's a rainy Easter morning here, but yesterday was beautiful:  70-degree weather, sunshining, everything a feral guy needs.  Yesterday, the man and lady were out in my yard, clearing away brush and trimming rosebushes.  They called it "Spring Cleaning"!  There were also kids next door having a birthday party, so I hid and watched everyone.  Then, all of a sudden, this big machine came into my yard.  I've seen them in other yards and in the field, but never in this yard before.  I tucked myself under the shrubbery some more, glad that there was a fence separating me from that monster!

It screeched and ate the grass, chewed it up, spit it into a bag, and rolled on to repeat the process.  The fat field mice scurried out of its way, and I pounced on a couple that ran toward me.  *licks lips*  After the machine was gone, the grass was only as high as my paws instead of over my head!  I walked out into the middle of it, rolled a few times, then walked back to my watching spot.  Later on, I came and ate my dinner on the porch.

As you may be able to tell from this picture, even though it was taken on a telephoto setting, I am almost not afraid of the lady anymore!  My eyes don't have that haunted, scared look when I see her, although I still run or at least am wary.  If she comes toward the door, I leave, but if she stays a reasonable distance away then I know I'm safe on the porch.  Same if it's the man instead of the lady.  I watch, careful that they're keeping their distance, but I trust that they will stay inside if they see me out there.

Feral Friday: Introductions

Tuxedo writes:

Hi, friends!  I'd like to introduce three other ferals who have been coming to eat at the deck, too.  Their names are Leopard, Snow, and Laura.  All of us have been coming for a little over a year now, at least, and we're not telling if we came before the new people moved in here and food started appearing.

Leopard writes:


Hello, I'm Leopard.  I don't really like the humans to see me, so the she-human had to take this picture from very far away.  That's why it's blurry!  I'm a male tabby with stripes and spots, with medium fur.  I don't like the inside kitties jumping at the window, but I'll hang around if they're behaving themselves.

Snow writes:

The people don't have a picture of me yet.  I'm a male Siamese with a ringed tail, cream-colored for the most part, with some light tan.  Last year, I was hurting with an infected bite, so I let the lady clean my wound and touch me.  When I got better, I shied away from her touch.  The humans are sure that I had a home at one time, because of that, but now I want to be outside instead of around humans in a house.  I don't mind them coming up to the window and looking at me, but I'd just prefer not to be petted right now.  Tuxedo and I get into fights sometimes, but he always wins.  We don't roll around fighting, just scream, hiss, and growl at each other until I back down.  When that happens, the humans put some food out on the front porch as well as the back porch so we can each have our dinners in peace.

Laura writes:

Hi, I'm Laura kitty.  I'm a female, black, medium-furred kitty.  I have been coming at least three times every day for the last couple of weeks, now that it's starting to warm up.  The male human gave me my name.  I don't mind them, but don't like when they move quickly.  There's a black kitty inside who loves to watch me and gets all excited when I come to eat!  He twitches his tail, which I at first thought was a sign he was going to come out and fight me, but now I know that he can't come out because of the window.  He watches me very intently, especially when I'm eating and then also when I go to hunt in the yard, as I'm doing in the picture.

Feral Friday: Peek-a-boo Tuxedo

Little Bit's watching Tuxedo watching us.  Can you see him?  He's by his hidey-hole under the deck.

Could you find him????

Peek-a-boo, Tuxedo!

Thankful Thursday: Kittens!

Welcome to your forever home, Heimdall and Freya!!!

We are proud to announce the arrival of our two newest family members!  These two littermates are 2 1/2 weeks old, born on (approximately) March 24, 2010.  Heimdall is a little boykit, named after the Norse god who is the gatekeeper to the Rainbow Bridge.  Freya is a little girlkit, named after the Norse goddess of love, beauty, wisdom, and the leader of the Valkyries (warrior maidens who ferried the souls of the dead), whose sacred symbol is the cat.

Our family was looking for one, possibly two, kittens to adopt, before Skylar got so sick.  Then, we all got too busy taking care of him, and our purrents thought it would be too much strain on the household to have kittens during that time as well.  So, they asked Skylar if, when he crossed to the Bridge, he would pick out a kitten to send to our family.

On Sunday, Mommy was looking at Petfinder.com at kittens in our area.  She and Daddy already knew they wanted a tuxedo kitten, in memory of Skylar, and probably a boykit would fit best with our family.  She narrowed down the choices, then saw the picture below:

Doesn't he look sooooo much like Skylar???  She just knew this was the kitten that we were supposed to adopt!  She told Daddy to look at the picture, and he agreed.  He looked at the other kittens at the shelter, and saw the following one:

Guess what???  She is the other kitten's littermate sister!  Just like Skylar and Lydia were littermate brother and sister!  Mommy and Daddy went down to Salem, OR, on Monday (the next day) to meet them.  The shelter is named Salem Friends of Felines, and we highly recommend it to everyone.  The kittens were in one room, free to play and jump, and the adult cats were in another room, also free to go wherever they wanted in their room.  The only ones who had cages were the sick ones or others needing veterinary care (one was recovering from a leg amputation).

Our purrents gave them their new names on the way home, and Freya proceeded to lick Mommy's hands through the carrier door.  Heimdall wanted in on the attention, too, so he pressed up against the door to get petted.  This, of course, started a wrestling match in the carrier!

When they got home, we all came out to investigate the new beings who were going to live with us.  Even Carbon likes them, and he usually doesn't consider kittens to be cats until they pass a year old!

Of course, Carbon also though the carrier was interesting!

Heimdall on the left and Freya on the right

Little kittens, big hallway!

PhotoHunt: Free

Free, and loving it!

Tuxedo is our feral friend, shown here hunting mice in our backyard.

PhotoHunt

Feral Friday: More New Visitors

Spooky:  That's not a kitty!  What is it?
Little Bit:  It's called an opossum.
Spooky:  Is it friendly?
Little Bit:  I'm not sure.  I think so, or it wouldn't let us be this close without growling!  The ones at the old house were friendly.

We've had some new visitors come by!  Not only this possum, and of course Tuxedo Kitty and the small black kitty, but a tabby-striped cat.  The raccoon also brought its mate by last night!  It's all been very exciting to watch!

Feral Friday

Hi, my name is Tuxedo!  Sorry this post is a day late, but better late than never, right?  Speaking of which, I finally have let the lady take something called a picture with a funny flashy box that she holds up in front of her.  Usually I come at night, but I was out hunting and thought I'd stop by during the daytime to see if they had any food for me.  Guess what?  They did!  I ate a bit, then I spotted something in the tall grass just off the deck.  I crouched low...edged my back paws into position...and POUNCED!!!  I flew high in the air, twice as high as the grass, and landed on my prey!  I proceeded to eat whatever it was, so the humans couldn't see what I'd caught from where they were inside at the glass door.  It was very yummy, though!  I could tell that the inside tuxedo cat, the one they call Skylar, was jealous that I was hunting and caught something.  The others just looked interested, but he had a faraway look in his eyes like he was remembering a time when he used to do the same thing.  He also ran over to the door to look out as soon as he saw me pounce.  I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and my head whipped around to look that way as soon as I'd safely caught my prey.  But I knew he couldn't come take it away, because they can't go through that funny window/door.

Window Views: the Nighttime Version! Part 2

We have another nighttime video for our Window Views on Thursday submission this week. The tuxedo cat is coming every night to eat, and Mommy tried to get a video of him. It's dark & a little bit shaky, but if you make it full-screen you can see his white leg and side out the sliding glass door.

Feral Friday

Carbon writes:

We have a feral at our new house! No pictures of him yet, but he came last night to eat. I was at the back sliding glass door (aka large window), the same one in the raccoon video from yesterday's post, watching the grass blow in the wind, when all of a sudden I saw someone! My tail started twitching like mad, so Daddy came over to see who it was that I saw. This black & white cat, the same one that Daddy had seen a few days ago, and that had come to eat but ran off, was out there. He/she came up and ate some food, while I watched excitedly through the window. I thought maybe he would stay to talk, so I was chirping at him, but he got kind of scared by my tail wagging. I think he thought maybe Daddy would let me out to meet him, but what could've scared him about that? All I would do would be sniff and try to make friends! Anyway, he ran off, then came back and finished eating. It was all very exciting! I spent the rest of the night at the window, waiting for him to come back. He's not a classic tuxedo, but looks very much like our feral Tux from the old house, so we're naming him "Tuxedo" for lack of a better name at this time.