Feral Cat Behavior

I just returned from the Petco Adoption Days and while I was there, one of the employees came over and said a woman on the phone had some kittens she needed to get rid of. Now, I need more kittens like Carter needs more pills, but something told me to take the phone call.

The woman had 6 kittens about 8 weeks old. She wanted to keep the mom and her other female was pregnant (sigh). She told me about the litter- 3 black kitties, 2 mackeral tabbies and a a siamese.

I told her I would take the kitten on two conditions: One, she get the females spayed (and I told her how to do it cheaply) and two she bring the kittens to the Petco where I was before 3:00.
When I hung up, I am sure I heard God mutter “sucker!”

She brought the kittens in and she had them in a cardboard box not real stable. I was putting them into an extra carrier. They look to be about 7 weeks old- no discharge from eyes or nose thank the Good Lord.

I had to run and get some litter for them in the store, so I left and my friend who helps me with the cats said she would watch both batches of kittens.

When I got back, I was informed that someone stole a black kitty! Linda said some teenagers came up and were oohing an ahhing over the newcomers and asking if they could hold one or two. Linda said sure and handed them the siamese and the black kitty. One of the girls, the one with the Siamese distracted Linda over a cell phone question or something and when Linda looked up again-kitty and girl were gone! When she said something, the other girl dropped the siamese on the floor and bolted! Linda went to pick up the Siamese and the girl ran out of the store. I arrived back at the table just at the end of all this drama and when I rushed outside, they were nowhere in sight! I have never seen these girls before so I wouldn’t even know if they came back to the table. I just pray they give this kitten a good home!

So now I have five more kitten bellies to fill up and I learned a valuable lesson. Next time, I will put the doors to the cage and the carrier facing me so no one can steal another kitten from me. This is the second time someone tried to pull this! It makes me so angry. The first time I caught the woman right before she stepped out the door- but this time, I was MIA.

Not surprising, Marlow wasn’t rabid. She was also negative for FeLV and Aids. He said in just the brief contact they had with Marlow, it was clear that something wasn’t right with her. I am not sure if that was supposed to make me feel better- but it doesn’t. I don’t like these type of decisions but when it has to be made, I won’t shy away from it. I can’t. It’s not fair to the cat.

They too were sacrificed for the “rabies scare.” It broke my heart because they were so much fun and so much work to hand raise and get back to the wild.

Bottle feeding carefully! LOL

Yesterday, Marlow launched herself on me like a torpedo. I got out of her cage in a hurry and did some hard thinking and a lot of praying last night. I finally decided to take her into the vet and talk to him about her off-the-wall behavior and aggression. I have had so many feral moms before, but she just feels different any way I look at it.

Dr. Steve said that based on what I have shared with him about her behavior and how she bit me three days ago, he is bound by the law to send her into the Oregon Health Department so they can test for rabies! I know she doesn’t have rabies, she has demons- not sure which is worse.

He said he knows the cost is prohibitively expensive but then he paid me a back-handed compliment and said “Mary Anne, I really like you and what you do for cats. If I just euthanize her and not follow-through with the testing and she does have rabies, you die. I have to live with that and I don’t think I can! In fact, I know that I couldn’t.”

So- Marlow has been put to sleep and no I wasn’t there because just the sight of me sends her spinning out of control. They will then send in her body to be tested and I will know by Friday. Not a bill I wanted and again I KNOW she doesn’t have rabies, but I understand their stance on this. I had one cat when I was growing up that had rabies and I remember it like it was yesterday. He was a huge, fluffy black cat who hunted gophers in the back field near our home. He came home one day foaming at the mouth and snapping at the air. My father turned the hose on him and while he was shrieking and shying away from the water, my dad caught him in a net and put him in a box and took him around the corner. I remember the gunshot and then nothing.

Rabies is rare in this part of Oregon so not only do I have to come up with the cost of this test now, but I am not allowed to have Marlow after she is gone and give her a decent resting place.

I told her I was so sorry about all of this but her aggression is escalating and I had to weigh all the pros and cons of keeping her here on earth- and for who’s glory would I do that? So I could eventually say proudly that I was able to socialize these demons at rest, or do I look at that whole picture and understand she was like a loaded gun with a defective trigger and just let her have peace.

It was a hard choice and it is going to be an expensive way of finding my own peace- but again, I don’t think she has rabies.

TODAY, Freekibble is donating 100% of the Halo kibble raised today to homeless dogs & cats impacted by the tornado in Oklahoma. Visit
this website to answer the trivia question and that’s all you need to do to add to the tally.

If you would spread the word via your blog or social media or at the grocery store it will make a difference!

Here he is- isn’t he gorgeous? he is 7 years old and his name is Kira

This beauty was stolen (yes stolen) by someone who had a grudge against the owner. The person actually stole this cat first and the second one exactly one year later.

She is microchipped- she is missing and being missed and her name is Cross. She has a crooked tail. If you could spread the news around through social media, perhaps this woman will get her cats back- we can hope. This kitty came all the way from China and it would be so nice if she came home safe. She was taken out of Reedsport Oregon-

I wish there were some way they could make an APP that would alert people to lost kitties. Sort of like the Amber Alert, but since cats still don’t count in so many facets of society, I doubt my dream would ever be realized- but wouldn’t it be nice?

Google is one of many up for adoption and today, I turned down yet another home for her. There have been three families that wish to adopt her- but she is so special and has special needs. I want to be sure that when I leave her at a home, I can pull out of the driveway and look toward Heaven and tell My Father- “God we did good on this one.” Sadly, that hasn’t happened.

I am so glad I insist on pre adoption and post adoption home visits. This last home, the lady was trying to sway me from coming to their home (it was quite far away) and opt instead for a closer location (her mom’s house0. But, as I told her, I want to see the home where the cat might be living so it didn’t matter that she was a bit far away.

When I got there, even before I walked up to the door, something didn’t feel right. For the first time, I left Google in the carrier in the car with Mike and went alone into the apartment.

Ay- yi-yi- the apartment was a mess in so many ways. There was a pug, and two cats already living in the one bedroom along with two adults and two teenagers! The cats were not friendly at all, there was no space for active kitties to even run around and I was appalled that they would even consider bringing another living, breathing creature into their family.

I was nice about it, but I do hate disappointing people but if they can’t even bring themselves to straighten up one room- what type of care would they give to this special needs kitty? Plus they were slovenly in appearance and just overall odd. It was strange and I left quickly.

There is a home for Google out there- I just haven’t found it yet-

Just over a week ago, Marlow dried up and I began to bottle feed her kittens and separated the family. I am happy to say that even Jedi Night no longer wants the bottle. The kittens are eating solid food (wet not dry) at this point. I know it is earlier than it should be for them, but the formula didn’t seem to have what it takes.

I received a gift pack from Merrick Foods of their new food Purrfect Bistro along with some coupons and on a whim, I took the canned food into the kitten room and opened it up. The kittens loved it! They are eating it now instead of the baby food- the food is all natural, no grain. They seem to like the Beef Wellington best but they also took quickly to the dry food.

I asked the local feed store to order this food and found out it is currently out of stock! I have a pending order for it once it becomes available again.

The kittens now have the run of the bedroom. I very cleverly barricaded them in half of the room using our jungle-gym fencing but hey, they are growing which means they are climbing and they were up and over the tallest barricade in a matter of seconds. I threw in the towel and just gave them the whole room. I figured they would dive under the bed and I wouldn’t even be able to see them- but I was wrong. They are all over me when I walk in the room- jumping on the back of my legs and climbing up to “see” me, making me grateful I wear jeans and not shorts!

Here is a current photo of the little ones- they are growing like weeds

more photos

Years ago, Mike and I rescued an abused German Shepherd. Brooke was HUGE over 128 pounds of insecurity and anxiety. When she first arrived here- we tried to put her into a large cage to see how she did. The first time we put her inside a cage it took her 3 nano seconds to bust out of it!

The second time, we braced the cage door closed- went to the store and came home with the kennel in pieces and Brooke chewing on the sofa leg! LOL

The third time, we cable-tied the cage door closed on another larger cage and went out for a few minutes returning to find steel carnage and Brooke eating our carpet!

We figured after that and three purchases of cages, we just best keep her with us.

We kept all the pieces and so a few days ago, I asked Mike to millerize a new cage for the kittens and here is the result. They love it- they have lots to climb up and on and room to run around and the other cats can’t get to them.

ON THE CONTEST NOTE- I did not place 3rd so I did not win- BUT I so appreciate all of you who took time out to vote for my cats. Maybe next time!