A dear friend of mine, when she talks about spring cleaning she says it is like giving her house an enema. So today, I decided to give the cat enclosure a much-needed enema of its own. I threw out all the litter pans, all the bedding, tossed out all the straw- even though I do not suspect that the virus lives out there. I believe it is confined to the house. I tore down the outside drapings that kept the cold weather from coming through and brought in more second-hand furniture for the cats to climb on. I have to say it looks pretty good out there. With the new litter pans it took five bags of Stall Dry to fill them and I had to laugh when Barnum and Sharkey decided to play in the nice, clean sand.
There have been no new passings here and I am still holding my breath hoping the worst is really behind us now.
Mercedes is going to a new home in a week. She is an older cat, she is the pariah and the people adopting her have no other cats so she should be just fine. She goes in for her booster right before she leaves here and I hope for her a long and happy life with her new forever family.
Mike is upset and says we shouldn’t adopt any of our kittens or cats out because they are comfortable with us and happy here. What is he nuts? Feeding 19 cats in this economy is a juggling act at best. Add to that the other neccessities of life that cats need and it does get a bit spendy. I think he is afraid that the adopted families will give up on the cats or kittens much like the last one did. I don’t know what type of experience Barnum went through that prompted him to pee on the master bed, but since he has returned here, I have only had one problem with him; he won’t let me out of his sight! Mike says he cries when I go to work, and the minute I come home, he runs in and claims my lap.
It was a drop-dead gorgeous day today for a little while until the storm came in. The sun was out the majority of the day and I was able to be out in the sunshine (although it was really cold) enjoying the day with Mike. It felt like March instead of Feb.
Our wedding anniversary approaches- 23 years. Mike asked me what I wanted and I told him what I didn’t want- another kitten! LOL
Happy Anniversary!! How blessed you are to have your husband as passionate for rescuing cats and kittens as you are!! God Bless.
happy anniversary purrs to you!!! at 10 cats of our own, including 2 supposed “fosters” — i know your pain and also the beauty of so much feline love. my heart goes out to you — you and mike are such golden-hearted people!
Actually Kim there is a story behind Mike’s passion for cats. 🙂 We met over thirty years ago through a personal ad he placed. He had been divorced a number of years (as had I) and he was looking for a “friend.” This ad went into a National Singles Register and was distributed nationwide. This is way before the onset of Match.com or E-Harmony.
Anyway, long story short, he received over 400 letters back from women, he picked four to write to (I was one of the four) The only reason I answered his ad was because my best friend Jeri “dared” me to during a night of margaritas and salsa! LOL It took some weeks, but I finally composed a letter and mailed it to the paper. That is when I found out he was in Alaska (I lived in California) We wrote for four years and then married in 1987.
Ok- his daughter Donna came to visit not soon after our marriage. It was in the middle of kitten season and she came bounding into the living room where her dad was sitting in his recliner, bottle feeding two kittens, while four were left squirming in a box nearby. She skidded to a stop and exclaimed..”But Daddy you HATE Cats!” I was in the kitchen but heard all of this and came in surprised by the “revelation.”
Mike looked up from his lapful of kittens, looked me square in the eyes and said “Maybe I did, but I love Mary Anne!” I fell in love with this gentle man all over again that day. In all the talks we had about our love for animals (me for cats and him for German Shepherds) he never once told me his distaste for cats. We rescue abused German Shepherds as well as cats.
Now he is a clear cat lover on all fronts. I never had to say a word to win him over- the cats and kittens over the years did their magic and all the work to win over his heart!
I found your blog a few weeks ago while searching for other bloggers who were writing about their experiences caring for feral/stray cats. I’m glad you’ve had no more passings–what a difficult experience that must have been. Hope you enjoyed the sun! I am in Northern Ohio and grateful for any sunshine right now 😎 Hope you have a Happy Anniversary!
Hi, I have been looking online to see if my cats behavior is normal to an outdoor enclosure, what was your experience?
This all started when my neighbor decided to start traping cats and calling animal contorl on them, I rescued two back from anmial control but two were not so lucky, two of these cats are feral and two are not so bad, I can pet them but not much. After building the enclosure against my will but for my peace of mind and their safety, they started freaking out and bouncing off the walls and climbing and seeing if they could get through any space in the morining I discovered that they had started digging and made enough room to get out but were stopped by a root, when I was about to enter the enclosure they started panicking again, any advice? is this normal, is there hope for them? from one cat lover to another.
thanks
Elilzabeth
Elizabeth, how big is your enclosure? You need to provide them with places they can hide. Although I have had my cats for a long time, when I enter the enclosure, several of them bolt down the tunnels into the house. This is normal for them when you disrupt them. When I walk back in the house- they bolt back into the enclosure.
If there are no places they can hide and feel safe, they will start freaking out climbing the wire and digging. We buried our wire, then I set wooden fence sections over the wire and screwed the wood to the frame of the enclosure to prevent them from digging out or a coon from digging in.
Give them cave-like places where they can hide- large cardboard boxes with straw for bedding and a dark blanket draped about halfway over the front of the box (put it on its side) make effective dark places for the cats to hide.
Set up a routine of visits, Schedule them and strictly adhere to the times you set- food at certain times each day, litter box patrol, water refills. Also schedule quiet time with them, where you go in and sit down on the ground and just read out loud to them or talk to them without making direct contact with them. Don’t look them in the eyes, and if you do, then you need to blink your eyes slowly three times, lower you head and look away. Before you leave, place several tasty treats out in the ground where you were sitting. I roll tuna and organic catnip up with cream cheese making small balls- my cats love them. You want them to associate you with good things and treats are always good things as long as they are quality treats and not the gunk you can buy at the local grocery store or WalMart. If you Google Plain Brown Tabby she has wonderful treats for kitties-
Good luck