just a cat

So update on the Foundling:

He has the makings of being an awesome cat.  Went to the vet and leukemia was negative. The vet gave OK for him to socialize with the rest of the posse.

He's very busy and playful, and VERY social.  He can't understand why Jackson the blind Jedi gets upset when he gets too close. "He's lookin' right at me, he must want to play" followed by hissing.  Jackie did tolerate his tail being used as a toy for a minute or so, which is impressive.

Kirby the six million dollar cat was once a foundling as well; he loves kittens and keeps trying to build his own minion army:

Elvis

In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :

Elvis is leaving the building! Temporarily...

In reply to secretariata (Forum Supporter) :

Har! He was on the top step until I started getting closer to take a pic. He's spooling up and getting ready to blast off into the woods. That's as close as I got so he ended up staying a while.

This is Weasley, our most recent adoption (got him late July at 8 weeks old). He's decided he's a plant.

In reply to P5Racer :

And he is the cutest plant in the world. 

Every once in a while, the algorithm nails it

Thomas often rubs on my ankle and wants his head and neck scratched. He's the only one of the 'not my cats' that I regularly treat with Revolution flea and tick medicine because it's easy with him. This morning in the dark I felt a lot of fresh scabs on his head. With a light, I saw that he's torn up from a fight.

He's also one of the few cats that I can put a dose of medicine on food and know that he will eat it and not other cats. I'm going to see if Mrs AAZCD pick up some Amoxicillin for him this week before infection gets bad. He has lived for years without it, but he's in my care now.

It's forecast to be the coldest night of the season so far. Thomas and Bobbie have penetrated the fenced perimeter and neutralized the guard dogs. They have established defensive positions on the back patio and are taking turns reconning the interior.

I will not let them in. They are friendly to me, but they are wild animals. They have no knowledge of indoor protocols. I just put a cardboard box with padding out there for them and left the back garage door cracked open.

NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:

We have been feeding Elvis in the Have A Heart trap for a week or so with the trap door disabled. He's still super wary after a couple of months. Do you think it will be possible to tame him? Any tricks that you know of? I've had cats all my life but this is the first obviously wild grown cat I've dealt with.

Now that I have 'feral' cats sitting outside my door when I go to bed and in the morning when I get up, I've realized a general trend in their behavior.

• First they are fearful, but will eat food cautiously.
• With consistent feeding, they come to expect food and will watch for me and approach closer.
• After months they will eat within a few feet of me, but startle and run if there's a quick movement or sound.
• The bold (hungriest) of the regulars greet me with their tail straight up and eat while I fill the bowl.
• Many months to a year, they will rub on my ankle. I can usually touch them at this point without startling them.
• Over a year, they run towards me when I bring food and greet me with a meow. I can pet many of them, but they will still run away at any fast movement or unexpected noise.

This is where I'm at with Thomas, Bobbie and Tanya. They would come in my house if I let them, but they are not 'tame'. From here it would probably not be difficult to make progress with them to be an indoor-outdoor cat. They are basically at 'Barn Cat' level now.

Elvis will eat out of our hands. We stopped that because he gets a little carried away. He'll bolt like you said at the slightest sudden movement. I have a heating pad under a folded towel set up on a high place in the side shed of the shop. His usual M.O. is to show up, eat, sleep, and generally re-charge for 2 or 3 days, then take off for 2 or 3. He's been gone 4 days now and I'm getting worried.

saved this little guy that was running around in traffic on I-85. Put him in a rock auto box I had in the back seat and took him home. Trying decide between Rocky and Frogger 

In reply to gixxeropa :

Wow, on the interstate! Awesome grab and save.

A reminder to check your car in the morning for stowaways trying to keep warm.

Wife unit rescued a couple abandoned kittens from under a neighbor's porch. 

Mom hadn't been around for days, neighbor's dogs were trying to get at the kittens and it's been hitting-20c at night.

Say hello to Fiesty and Bandit, the new basement kitties.

In reply to ShawnG :

Those are some adorable floofs!

Finally home during daylight. I walked down to the spring and only saw Minnie.

As I was taking pictures of Minnie, Allie came down.

Then I saw Rita, Patrick, and Dawn.

Even closer to me, but not coming out I eventually saw Lina and Little Kim.

In reply to gixxeropa :

he warmed up to us incredibly fast. from hissing and hiding to purring and sitting on my shoulder in 24 hours. Clean bill of health at his first vet visit, so now to just introduce him to our other cat. We decided to call him Frogger 

I have two kitties. This is Kyoshi aka Yoshi bear and she is 4 years old. When I adopted her I was told she was abused and almost lost her eye. So if you look one her eyes is crossed and doesn't open all the way. 

This is Zuko and I rescued him from my upstairs neighbors after they locked him outside on their balcony during a heat wave without water, during a hurricane and multiple other occasions and then eventually threw him outside (like physically threw him). He was all skin and bones but he is now a plump tabby.

Wow Paris those look like clones of a couple of our cats!  And yes, humans suck.

Our new foundling is apparently staying... my wife has been carrying around in a papoose while she's working 🙄.  I think his name is now Rico; some family members were struggling with Grogu.  He gets along with 4/5th of the posse; Minou the manatee doesn't like him but Rico has been obsessed with him all afternoon:

He is progressing well in his minion training:

(Yes I found out at 4am that I didnt need to go to work today, so I spent it hanging out with animals and watching Micha Choudarain flog other people's cars at the 'Ring)

Wet morning cellphone shots.

Smokey waiting for me to move away from his food.

Gathering at the bowl by the pole.

I'm off for a couple days, so I'm making a big effort to trap the cats that have never made the trip to the vet. The remaining ones are difficult. When I put the small traps out Anita is happy to go right in and eat the bait and wait for me to let her out. In the future I'm going to grab her and put her in a pet carrier before I bait the trap. This morning I used the big drop trap. After catching and releasing Handsome Dan and Dawn, I managed to trap Lina alone at the food bowl. She has always been timid, so I was happy to get her. The traps from Tomahawk Traps work well together - Drop trap and transfer.

She is at the vet now and I'll keep her in the house in a dog crate tonight for release tomorrow. Meanwhile I'll try to trap another cat or two.

I grabbed Anita on my way to pick up Lina. She still has some stitches from her spay last month. One of my neighbors treats her as a barn cat and she is the most tame of the cats I feed.

Lost one of our barn kitties yesterday. 

I tell the wife unit not to get attached to the help but she does anyway.

RIP Roo.

Lina hated being captive and was making a sorrowful meow when we got up this morning. I couldn't get her back into the carrier, so I carried the large dog crate down to the spring to release her at dawn. She ran about 50', then settled into the brush where I normally find her. I think she'll do well.

Trapping was easy today. At first none of the cats were coming out for food, then Allie came out and cautiously started eating. She is one that I've know since before she was weaned and was spayed a year ago. Terry is the 'intact' male in the group and he came next. He gets aggressive with all the other cats, attacking them for what appears to be no reason other than dominance. As soon as his head was down in the food, I dropped the trap. He fought hard and I sat on the trap to keep him from escaping. Allie didn't seem too disturbed; she watched me and sat still except for keeping out of Terry's way. When I opened the gate to the transfer trap, Allie came out while Terry bounced off the walls growling. With her released, I moved to the opposite side from the transfer trap and Terry ran to it expecting freedom. 

When I dropped him off at the vet, my parting words were, "Be careful, he'll kill you if you give him the chance."  I'll be picking him up soon and hope that he's recovered enough to release this evening. I don't think that he'll be easy to keep overnight.

Sent this guy over the bridge today.  He got sick suddenly and the vet said kidney failure.

He even got along with the dog, now both are gone.  He had the loudest purr that I ever heard.  I'm not a cat person but for a cat, he was OK.  (Strong praise when you're not a cat person!)