CatBanter - View Single Post

**dgk** · November 24th 09, 01:59 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav

On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:16:01 GMT, (Gandalf) wrote:

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:56:49 -0500, dgk wrote:

The mother (Jet) took the two babies away from the cat box I built in
front of my house about a week ago, because the babies were starting
to go out exploring. No one in the neighborhood has seen them since
then.

Yesterday I was tracking down Espy in the backyard and he was all the
way in a corner under the deck staring at something in the next yard.
That something turned out to be the two kittens and Jet. I didn't want
to frighten her or the kittens but I know that it's important to
handle them so they don't grow up feral (like their mom).

I went into the neighbor's yard and Jet ran away but the two kittens
were just huddling in a corner so I held each one for a few minutes,
petting them, and then they went off to rejoin mommy. Later that
evening Jet came by the front of the house for a quick meal. Scooter
was hanging out in the cat box and came out to join her. That's the
first time I've seen him in the cat box.

I have the heating pad in the box but haven't connected it to an
outlet yet since it hasn't gotten very cold, but soon enough that time
will come. I'm still thinking that I'll bring Scooter in for the
winter but Espy is quite opposed to the idea. Even if I do bring him
in (likely on an indoor/outdoor basis), the other neighborhood cats
will appreciate the heating pad.

I bought Scooter a tag at the pet store over the weekend. I think it's
time to put a collar on him to make sure that he doesn't end up in a
shelter somewhere. He's so friendly he'd walk right up to the animal
control people.

Thank you for looking after the more unfortunate cats (and kittens!) in
your area.

It's getting overwhelming. A few of my neighbors have formed a buffet
line for the cats so whatever door opens up, the cats come running to
that one.

PrettyGirl managed to get herself locked into my backyard yesterday. I
have it fenced in so my cats can't get out but rarely another cat gets
in (and then can't get out). Normally I leave an opening (when my cats
aren't there) to solve the problem but forgot over the weekend. I saw
her this morning wandering around and went out to open up the fence.
She wanted to come in the house but Espy really frowns on that kind of
thing. She does go into one of my neighbor's house.

I had to put some food on the railing so she would find the gap in the
fence and leave. I hate the idea of feeding her back there because it
causes a conflict with my cats, but I needed to get her out of there.

She wouldn't have starved - I started putting seed in the bird feeder
so there were plenty of birds around, but the idea was not to just
speed up the food chain.