Pets

[Boatbuilder]

Thanks John! She is a real character with a mind of her own, but as I said earlier, she is still very actve and wants to be kept occupied all the time, so she is less easy to live with than all our previous cats, who were happy to sit or lie peacefully beside us while we watched TV, read a book or the newspaper or in my case even when I did calligraphy!

Monique, just looking again at the middle picture, I noticed Mrs Reilly has a 'smudge' on the left side of her nose, Suki has a similar, if a little darker, one on her right side as can be seen in the last image I posted of her on page 38.

I suppose If all cats were the same temperament it could become boring, so I think it's good to have them so different from each other.

[Boatbuilder]

Thanks to John (Boatbuilder) for setting the images up for me, I'm able to post a few pictures of the stray cats that I've been talking about...

You're welcome, Bertie. The older kittens are all lovely - difficult to pick a favourite looking at them stood there, presumably asking for food.

It would be nice to see the others when they are a little older if they send you more pictures.

[Bertie]

Thanks Boodi and Boatbuilder (again!)

Yes, Boodi, there's a real difference between some of the kittens. The other two that you've not seen (who are the shyest two) are very similar to the front and back ones in the photo. So there's two white ones that look similar, two Calico ones that are quite similar, and then the all ginger one.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Nice photos!

[Bertie]

The charity people came tonight and caught two of the older kittens - by the sounds of it, the two more 'timid' ones that didn't appear in the photo I uploaded. They'll have their operation on Friday, and be returned early next week (just after they've caught the other three ready for their operation). So hopefully in a couple of weeks time they'll have all been done.

[Boatbuilder]

It sounds like a production line, Bertie. It's a pity they can't find homes for some of them as well.

[Bertie]

Yeah, it does sound like a production line, Boatbuilder.

It's a tricky one about the re-homing.
One of the volunteers does seem eager to try and re-home some of them, but the others say along the lines that it's tough times to get people adopting cats and they've got much more chance with the newborns.
Also, they're only a small charity of volunteers who have other jobs, and mostly focus on street / stray cats, and I think they've got their work cut out dealing with the TNR workload that other bigger charities seem to be cutting back on (and wouldn't help us with!) rather than the additional expense of housing and feeding all of them while looking for owners.
So while they can see they're being well looked after, and know they'll carry on getting food and shelter here, then I think they're happy enough with the situation once they've been neutered, etc.
Though, like you say, ideally they'd have a warm, loving home to live in. But at least it's a much better situation than what a lot of the poor strays that they deal with are facing.

[Courtenay]

Hopefully even the somewhat older ones might find homes eventually — there are sometimes people who would prefer to adopt an adult cat, just so they don't have to go through the "kitten phase", which older people may find harder to deal with, for example. My late grandma adopted her last three cats (one at a time, not all at once!) when they were each adults or at least half-grown, at least partly because she didn't have the stamina to look after ultra-lively young kittens.

And at least, as you say, Bertie, the older kittens at your place are being looked after to the greatest extent you can manage and they're far better off than many stray cats — and now there'll also be no chance of them reproducing in turn and making the problem even greater. It sounds like it's a reasonably positive outcome for them all so far, and hopefully it'll continue to get better for at least some if not all of them.

[Bertie]

Thanks for that, Courtenay.

Yeah, there's always a chance they could find a home. We're a family of animal lovers so, in different circumstances, we'd probably have already adopted them between us. But I've got a nervous, elderly cat and so have my parents. So until anything happens to those (which we really hope it doesn't!) then we don't want to introduce much younger, almost certainly more dominant cats, that would 'take over' their homes. And my brother who also lives nearby loves animals but his wife doesn't, and his kids seem to take more after her and so they (apart from my brother, whose vote isn't worth much it seems! ) aren't taking any.

Selfishly, I'd also hate to lose them as I've grown really attached to them all - especially the back two in that photo of them lined up outside the door - and would love to take them in if anything happened to my cat. But I can't do that to him while he's here as he's so timid with everyone and everything else and only ever looks happy and relaxed when it's just me and him together, so I can't see him lose that only sanctuary that he has.

[Bertie]

Speaking of my cat, thanks again to John (Boatbuilder) for editing the size of the image, I'm able to post a picture of my cat, Slinky.

I called him that when he was a very thin, nervous stray cat who would 'slink' about the garden furtively. It doesn't suit him as much nowadays!

He doesn't probably look it in the photo (as he's much more relaxed and happy when he's with me in his sanctuary) but he's an older, timid cat who is scared of visitors and just won't go outside at all (so is fortunately oblivious to all the kittens who've taken over the garden!)

[Boatbuilder]

He's a lovely cat, Bertie, and I like his colour. A real homely cat if ever there was one. Do you have to have his claws cut regularly as he doesn't go outside the wear them down?

[Bertie]

Thanks, Boatbuilder.

Yeah, his claws getting stuck in things can become a problem - although he has a scratching pole that helps a little. He's so nervous about going to the vets, though, that I just tend to ask for his claws to be clipped whenever he already has an appointment for something else (although during the lockdowns was a problem!)

He's needed insulin injections twice a day for the last couple of years and so there's time I have to take him just to have his levels tested, so he tends to have them clipped then.

[Boatbuilder]

I take it Slinky doesn't object to his twice-a-day injections then, Bertie. Still, it's not as bad as having to give oral medications I suppose. Mine hate it and thankfully the vet I started using about a year ago gives the regular worm treatment as a 'spot-on' rather than a tablet. The previous vet I used, which I changed from for personal reasons, used to give me worming tablets for them.

[Bertie]

I feared that he would be but, no, he's fine with it. I do it in the folds of skin around his neck and he's been fine about it.

I agree with the oral medication, though. The female cat that died about 3 years ago was on oral medication towards the end and she absolutely hated it. Having to pick her up and tilt her head backwards while squirting the medicine in with a syringe was difficult - and horrible to see how much she hated it!

When the vet suggested injecting Slinky with a syringe twice a day I thought it was going to be a similarly unpleasant experience, but thankfully it's been absolutely fine for both of us.

[Boodi 2]

Slinky is really lovely Bertie and looks so happy and comfortable. Difficult to believe that he is so timid and nervous, but he must have had a very bad experience in the past, before he met you. In that regard, one of our cats (the very productive Sox) went missing for about ten days and we thought that we would never see her again. However, she was eventually returned by some boys, who said they found her in their garden and thought that she was a stray until they showed her to a family friend, who was one of our neighbours. He immediately recognised her and told them where we lived and they duly returned her. We have no idea what happened to her or why she went missing like that, but she must have got a dreadful fright as she became very nervous, subdued and depressed...quite unlike her old self. She also had a horror of plastic bags, which is most odd!