I have always had a soft place in my heart for animals. Personally I prefer dogs over cats but have not had any dogs since 1994 when I had to give the 2 Border Collies I had away. I was moving to the Dallas area and had no place to keep them and knew the city was no place for such exuberant pets. Those collies were like kids to me. They had free access through their own door to my house. They slept with me, ate with me, watched television with me and always anxiously awaited my return from work.
Presently, though, we are the caretakers of several stray ferrell cats. The first was Missy. she is a grey and we started seeing her hiding under one of our sheds. So just as a fluke, we got a bag of cat food and started trying to coax her out from under the shed. She came out and even after several months, allowed us to touch and pet her. To this day, though, we can not pick her up. Then she had a litter of kittens. They were also very wild and we never got close to them. They started disappearing, probably killed by other cats or raccoons. A few other strays wandered in and out of our little soup line. Some returning many times and some only a few. Then Missy had another litter. While the kittens were very small, we set out live traps to catch them. We had 2 traps and once several of the kittens were caught, Missy was also trapped. We called the city and they came and got them all. The Animal Control Officer said they would spay Missy and release her somewhere near where she had been caught in about a week. The kittens were sadly, to be destroyed. This was in May of 2009. Mike went on his annual " father/son motorcycle ride" with his son and some friends and their sons. While he was gone, I happened to look out the back door and there sat Missy. She had been spayed and had the tip of one of her ears clipped off. That is how the city indicates that this cat had been fixed.
We continued to feed her and any other strays that may show up from time to time. There have been several arrive at our doorstep in various states of health and growth. Zorro, a larger black male with just a spot of white one his chin and neck. He was a loving cat that from day 1 alllowed us to pick him up and pet him. A very thin yellow male Mike called Rufus and I called Goofus came aroun d pretty regularly then jsut quit showig up. There have ebbn several that we may see eating on the back porch but as soon as they see us, they run off.
This past January, a tiny starving kitten of just a few months was spotted eating out of the bowls on the back porch. He was very fast and we couldn't catch hime by hand. We set the live trap out and caught him. Initially thought it was a her. We then moved the live trap into the garage as it was very cold this January. Then fed him and let him rest and stay warm. We decided to keep and possibly house train him. We took him to the vet and got his shots and a general check-up. Named him and kept hime in the house for a few weeks. Then he got out one day and Mike had a hard time catching him. He now comes and goes as he wants. We have to let him in or out but he has a litter box inside that he uses and he sleeps at the foot of our bed sometimes.
There is another, a female that has her ear clipped. She appearantly has at some time been a house cat. The first day she showed up, she tried to get in the house, no coaxing whatsoever. She is lovey and often lays on Mike or I while we watch television. We call her Rat Cat. She is not playful though we think she was only a few months old when whe wandered up. She also spends the night in the house most of the time.
Now we have a new one, partaking of the free grub. A large yellow male. He may be Goofus all grown up but we are not sure. This cat is very shy and stand offish. He has only allowed us to touch him a few times. He truly needs care thoug as he seems to be a scrapper, only not a very good one. He has a large open wound near his left ear, often bleeding. He also has several wounds on his neck and sides. There are also a few patches of skin with the hair completely pulled out. He is very comfortable spending the nights in the cat condo Mike built, a 2 room cat house with foam pad and old tee shirt in each. He also stays on the back porch at various times during the day. We want desperately to catch hime to tend to his wounds but he will barely allow us to touch hime now. Whatever he is doing to get these wounds, he keeps doing it. He goes away for a while then returns with more injuries that he had before.
When we move this coming October, we are certainly taking Cowboy, the black male we got shots for. We may also take Rat Cat and get her shots and a check-up. We would like to take Missy but doubt that she will let us catch her to be albe to care for her more than just a free meal. And the yellow ton, he probably won't live till then unless he gets some medical attention and fighting skills.
Moving any or all of them to Grants will be a very radical change for the cats that do go. The temperatures and dryness, the rattlesnales, the coyotes all things that could kill them but hopefully will not.
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