Cat-nabbing adventures.

[bjjones37]

One of my children recently came home from Walmart with a very small orange and white kitten. It has subsequently been dubbed Pharoah.  They just found it abandoned in a parking lot.  Common occurrence here.  It was a lost cause as far as not keeping it went, but I had already given some thought to getting a cat to help keep mice out of the yard.  So it worked out rather nicely.  Of course wifey had other ideas.  She feels that the kitten is lonely and must have a playmate.  So we organized an expedition.  Between the Zoo and the Japanese Sunken Gardens is an undeveloped plot of land with a trail and about three colonies of cats.  These are cats that have been dumped off or offspring raised feral.  So I decided to go and try to adopt one of them, if I found one I thought suitable.  So I got our pet carrier and a sheet and some milk and cat food and took off with my family down the trail.  Once the milk and food was out, the cats started coming around.  About a dozen or so altogether.  Mixture of feral kittens and friendly but nervous full grown cats. As we were watching them two women came up on the verge of being Very angry.   They saw the pet carrier and assumed the obvious - that we were abandoning a cat.  Once we explained that we were trying to adopt a cat, they completely turned around.  Unfortunately none of the cats were really suitable, but it was an interesting experience feeding them and being around semi-wild cats.  The two women were part of a volunteer organization which feeds the cat colonies. So their feelings were understandable.  The kittens were black and my neighbor is allergic to black cats so that was out.  And we an adult might drive away our current kitten.  I was tempted by one however, it was quite attractively brown and grey striped with a golden background tinge about the head and neck.  We were unsuccessful in acquiring though.

If I ever do buy a cat, it will probably be a Bengal cat.  I consider it to be the most beautiful strain of domestic cat there is.  It looks sort of like an ocelot.

@ Cymric

I have often wondered about your screen name and avatar. Do you have a Cymric cat?

[bjjones37]

odin wrote:
That's a very brave thing to do, take a semi-feral cat and trying to turn it into a nice family pet. My parents live on (in?) the countryside and over the years there have been several cats that just walked up to the house and they've become a part of the family :-).

@bj:

Is anyone sterilizing the cats in the colonies? Or are those cats just left to their devices apart from the people from the organisation you mentioned feeding them? Here when cats come into the local animal shelters it's standard procedure to sterilize them to prevent further breeding and spreading of feral cats.

Cats rule! :kitty:

The cats were abandoned so I imagine most of them were probably not fixed.  They do not recieve any care other than what those volunteers provide. One of them did provide boxes stuffed with hay for them to nest in when it was cold.  That same volunteer adopted EIGHTEEN of the cats herself! I like cats, but not THAT much. :-D

[bjjones37]

KennyR wrote:
Cats like to live alone and have the run of their territory - that's what kind of animals they are. Another cat doesn't keep a cat company, it often stresses it out. Eventually you may even find that one wanders away and finds some other owner. Territorial predators are like that. You wouldn't be doing it any favours getting it a friend - it just doesn't need or want one.

Thanks for the information. :-)  Now if I can just convince my wife... :-D

[bjjones37]

PMC wrote:

bjjones37 wrote:

Thanks for the information. :-)  Now if I can just convince my wife... :-D

What?  That to predatory carnivores need their personal space?

:-)

This may require a little explaining.  To my wife they are little warm fuzzy creatures, more along the lines of a tribble than a carnivore.  Check this out. We have a box with a blanket in a cabinet outside under a covered patio against the house.  And what is under that box plugged into an extension cord?  A heating pad! :-D

[bjjones37]

It happened. We now have a second kitten to keep the first one company. They appear to be about the same age. And I am pleased to say that they are playing together nicely.  Pharaoh (the first one) is even more inclined to remain within the back yard now, a definite plus. Hopefully they will remain friends as they get older.