Wednesday, October 7, 2009

All Cats, All the Time


This is what the little black kittens in our back yard look like. There are four of them, and they look identical, black with gold eyes. They are adorable, but they are feral cats. I found a place in Cincinnati where they can be spay/neutered for a low price. If I can catch them, I will take them there. While I have them, I will see how amenable they are to being around humans. We have been feeding them for a few weeks now. At first they would turn and run the minute they saw us. Now they sit and wait while we bring the food to them. They still run when we get too close, but they are doing better.

My next door neighbor would like to adopt one if it can be socialized. That remains to be seen. Today I borrowed a Havahart trap from my local animal shelter. We are going to try catching them, then we will see how they act. I want to have them neutered in either case so the feral cat population won't keep growing in our neighborhood. It's so much fun watching them outside, playing, rolling around, and sunning themselves... I almost feel guilty catching them in a trap. But I know they can't remain little kittens much longer, before they begin to reproduce themselves.

It's not always easy being a "cat person". They tug on your heart and make you spend lots of money. Speaking of that, Tiger is due to come home tomorrow after his surgery. For what it cost I could have bought a purebred cat (or maybe two or three!). But he, who started out his life as a little stray, has my heart. I know all cat lovers will understand. (The rest of you will probably think I'm crazy.)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh Judy, you haven't changed a bit. I remember years ago you taking care of the cats in Fort Washington. Miss you

Anonymous said...

That cat is adorable. We have a lot of Feral cats around my neighborhood too. So far 3 of them have gottan pregnant and had kittens, and were taken in by neighbors.

judy in ky said...

John, I miss you too. Wish I were back in Fort Washington... the best place in the world!

judy in ky said...

Nikki, I found that photo on google, but it's exactly what our little feral kittens look like. See why they are irresistible?

Susan said...

Judy, bless your heart, I would do the same thing. There were 3 or 4 kittens at the edge of the woods on the road near us where we take our walks. At first, I thought they belonged to Frankie, my new cat, because we saw them in the same area, but obviously that isn't the case, since he is a male. Someone must have dropped them.

I don't know what happened to them. I went back later to try and lure them with food, but never saw them again. I'm hoping that one of the people who live on that road took them in and not what I suspect, which is that coyotes found them.