On 10/19/2016 7:34 PM, MaryL wrote:
On 10/19/2016 11:23 AM, jmcquown wrote:
On 10/19/2016 2:14 AM, MaryL wrote:
On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, jmcquown wrote:
Feral cats are apparently very resourceful little creatures!

DIFF (Dataw Island Feline Foundation) volunteers made sure there was
plenty of food and water at the feeding stations before the evacuation
order due to Hurricane Matthew locked down the island.

I inquired last night on the Dataw Net, any word on the ferals?

All the cats have been accounted for except one shy little guy named
Mini-Peanut. By all accounts he never wanted to feed with the other
cats, preferring to eat by the tennis courts. Some county [shelter]
workers tried to check on him before the resident volunteers came back.
I'm told they couldn't get to the tennis courts due to storm debris.
Yeah, it's a big mess out there, folks.

It could be he Mini-Peanut is still being his usual reticent self and
simply hasn't been spotted yet. I hope!

Purrs that Mini-Peanut is okay.

Jill

Great news! Thanks for letting us know. Sending purrs for Mini-Peanut.

MaryL

It is good news! 43 feral cats. They've all had their ears notched so
they can be identified as having been trapped, neutered/released.

Buffy has a notched ear. She was one of the ferals until her former
owner scooped her up as a kitten. Who says you can't turn a feral into
a completely spoiled love bug? Introduce them to a life of luxury when
they're young, of course you can.

snip

Jill

My very first cat, many years ago, was feral. He was about 8 months old
when I adopted him. My neighbor was planning to trap the cats that were
running loose in that area and take them to a shelter. I was leaving
for my first semester in graduate school and would be about 1100 miles
from home. I wanted a cat for companionship, and the neighbor offered
to trap one of the cats for me. I was told later that 8 months was too
old to become a companion cat. Well, that is wrong! It took a lot of
time and work, but he became one of the most loving cats I have ever
seen. Within about 2 years, we were bonded and he was a lovebug. He
lived to be 20 years old, and those were 20 years with a most remarkable
cat. I trained him to walk on a harness and leash so he could still go
outdoors--although it was more like he took me for a walk than me taking
him for a walk.

MaryL


Ah, what a wonderful anecdote! Thanks.

Jill