just a cat

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks again for doing what you do

In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :

It's a good routine for me and helps me feel better about the world.

Today at feeding Thomas looked rough. I brought a brush out and he loved it.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Thomas looks like he is having the time of his life. I wish my cats were so chill when getting brushed. Both of them tolerate it for a few seconds before attacking the brush and trying to eat it haha. 

Sasha has had her kittens. I wrote this to post elsewhere, I'll share it here:

Two days of torrential rain flooding the streams and rivers into the low areas. Looking out the window from the breakfast table I see a cat walking up the street; slow, but purposeful. The stride of the hind legs looks wrong. It's not limping, but the movement is stiff, perhaps pained. It is walking away from the area where I put food for the 'street cats'. There was no food this morning. It would spoil in the heavy rain.

Sasha? The coat is mostly white with a saddle-shaped gray with black stripes across the back. As she turns, I see the streak of white fur on her back. It's offset to her right, dividing the saddle. Sasha. I saw her two days ago and she looked very pregnant. Her belly is no longer swollen with kittens. I open the door for a better view. She glances toward me without changing her pace, turns from the road and vanishes behind a fence.

I'll watch for her and leave sheltered food where she can reach it. A wild animal, she has never been anyone's pet. In the weeks ahead, I'll watch for the kittens. If I find waiting homes for them, I will trap them when they are about eight weeks and give them away. More likely, about half of them will survive to adulthood and join the 16 or so feral cats that I tend to.

I have trapped, spayed and neutered over twenty local cats. Sasha is the only one of the group that I have been unable to capture. She vanished last year and only recently returned. I wish her well and hope to trap and spay her before she has kittens again.

Not a cat fight. It's Rita, Dan, and Minnie playing together after dinner.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

I love it when my cats play like this but it stresses me out when it gets intense. Like I swear sometimes they fight when I look away and then I look back just for them to act like they are fine.

This is Gigi, my month-old cat.  Which is to say, I've now had her for one month.  She's actually ~2.5 years old but very small (6lbs).

I was trying to save money so I got her from the "returns" section of the Humane Society.  She had been adopted in Feb but was too scared of kids and dogs.  No problems with either of those here.  She's getting better but she's still easily startled and does not like it when people stand up.

"Gigi" was her shelter name.  It works for her, and she is used to it.  For formal occasions I'm going to say her full name is "Giorgietta".

I really wanted a cat with ear tufts but her white toes are cute enough to make up for it.  The white blaze for her nose slipped a little.

My other cat, Sonett, is not very large (8.5 lbs, 5 years old).  I was worried that a bigger cat might bully Sonett, but I overcompensated slightly.

The two are getting along quite well.  There still have been times that I think they are playing but I'm not 100% sure...

Gigi tends to have "Resting GrumpyCat Face" in pictures.  Gigi cannot be picked up, and does not do 'lap' (yet?), but she will burrow under the blankets and sleep against me for most of the night.

Goblin currently has a bull snake cornered in the barn. 

Senna is watching a very interesting squirrel