Yesterday, I met Ann Fore and Maizy from Meow Village in Aurora. They had a special problem and sent out an email alert looking for a safe place to put four feral cats. I mentioned this in an earlier post.
So yesterday, they drove through a terrible storm to deliver two older kittens to me who are quite frightened and scared at the moment. They could not tell me for sure if they were giving us two boys, two girls or a boy and a girl. They “thought” they were both girls. The two are mack tabbies.
We took them into the stall enclosure and I just let them out of the carrier. I will worry about catching them in a few days when they were calmer. But from the looks of it- it has to be the same sex kittens because neither one is pregnant or so I could see as they were doing fly-bys in the enclosure. I just let them be, they had food, water, litter pans, they were warm, they were safe and no evil land developer was lurking trying to figure out how to “get rid of this big problem.”
This morning, when I went into feed. I couldn’t find them anywhere. I saw that the dry and wet food had vanished, the pans used, so I knew they were in there. But there are dozens of hiding places in there for scared kitties, so I just started cleaning the pans and talking to them. George has built that room solid- there is no escaping and we laid out in the beginning- thick pieces of plastic they use in shower manufacturing on the ground clear to the walls. On top of that is gravel, on top of that is straw or sawdust, whatever I can find. They can’t dig out.
I noticed movement in the tarps on the back wall and figured by the motion that they had climbed up the screen and were hiding from predators behind the tarp. I carefully drew the tarp back and wham they both jumped down and vanished under a table. They looked okay, I was worried they might have hurt themselves while in captivity, but I shouldn’t have bothered. They are fine. I left them for now- will go in three times a day at the same times every day so they know the schedule and can relax quicker. They are beautiful babies and I am just praying they are the same sex. We don’t need inbred kittens here.
Ann and Maizy were delightful folks and we had a pleasant visit. They presented us with a donation of wet food and dry as well as a check which I didn’t expect. It will go towards the neutering of the two.
There are apparently two more cats coming soon- the calico girl and the mom of the mack tabbies. I think they told me mom is black and very wild.
Would I call these kitties feral? No, unsocialized, not used to human contact, scared out of their wits and in survival mode- but not one attacked me. No one has growled at me or charged me and ferals will always attack- no matter what.
On the subject of Alexa, she is still at the vets. My vet said he has never seen such a laid-back cat in his life. They had her hanging around the back treatment room so he could just observe her. They were parading dogs and cats into the room for various treatments and she hardly reacted at all. The blood work isn’t back yet, but he thinks we just have a little lady who has spent more than enough time trying to survive outside and needs to find a lap to sit on and 3 squares a day, until the end. I am hoping I can find that place for her.
I found a place for Smuckers but they can’t take her until the 25th. I have to keep her alive until then- LOL Benson is a total snot to her and she stands up to him, but boy that 5 month old Siamese mix is a punk sometimes! I tried the calming collar on both kittens but it was a no-go. Some cats can’t tolerate collars at all even the calming kind- so it is just making sure that someone is always in the room to de-escalate the growls and warnings. No attacks yet- but I know one is coming soon. We just have to be prepared for it.
