THE GOOD AND THE BAD

[Loup-garou]

We use one barn exclusively for wood storing and cutting. Last year about this time three kittens arrived and, together with the mother who had been in the vicinity for a couple of years, they took up residence in the barn. Consequently, we saw quite a bit of them in our outdoor spaces, albeit the four dogs had to first adopt a degree of tolerance towards them. Two of the kittens (tabbies) were drop dead gorgeous but were very wary, however the third, black with white nose and feet, was inquisitive and would take a stroke and occasional neck scruff.

On a regular visit to our vet we discussed these cats and it was agreed that if we could catch them, one at a time, and keep them overnight without food - she would neuter them the next day. We would collect them at end of play that day and release them in the middle of the next if all looked well. Of course, we would have to pay but we feared the alternative in the future. About three months ago we did catch the little black and he had the surgery and he was released as advised. After two to three weeks he forgave us and became his usual trusting self but the two tabbies and mother remained illusive, if anything, more so!

Sadly, yesterday my wife found the poor young lad aside a road. He was quite still and lifeless but warm and supple so he had been killed soon before. She was very struck by this event.

Later my wife passed our tomatoes in pots and hanging baskets when something fluttered beside her. She spotted two young tree creepers and one stayed long enough for her to get her phone and take a photo (despite both of us being pupils at the Hotrodder school for technology buffs). Two examples are below. A small fillip in an otherwise sad day.

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[MAD87]

Very sorry about Blackie. Fine photos of the treecreepers though.
We have a tabby (ours), a bit dim, and now suffering similar mobility problems as I. We also leave a bowl of croquettes and water outside for an old, half-blind black cat, abandoned by his owners en face during the 1st lockdown. Recently he's been joined by another 2 cats, not to mention the endless birds which hop down on to the terrace to feed from the bowl of croquettes. It's becoming soup kitchen central here.
Sish. I really should have more sense.

[Lori]

That's sad Loup-Garou. Poor thing. Hope the girls will keep safe. Too bad you've not been able to neuter them.

Beautiful bird.

[Veem]

Poor Blackie.
13 years ago, during a spell of deep snow, a young black cat arrived begging for a good square meal. So we fed her, watched a visiting tom have his way with her and in early May she produced 3 kittens. They were all tabbies, including a brave and adventurous girl with 4 white feet, who we called Sox. The other two remain hard to tell apart; the timid girl, being a bit lighter in colour is Tigger and the boy (a sandwich short of a picnic) is Tawny. We managed to catch them all just before Christmas 2012, and had them neutered. Their mother sadly disappeared about 4 years ago, but the 'kittens' remain. We'd be devastated if anything awful happened to them, like your Blackie, Loup-garou.

[hughnique]

we had one turn up a year ago, everything was done to dissuade him from staying, but he was persistent, eventually melting my heart so feeding commenced, next step was the vets as he was scrapping with other feral cats at night,. The consultation turned into a nightmare with the cat running wild in the surgery, the shelves were emptied of products, the privacy film came of the window, anyway it was decided to have him castrated, and chipped. He is a more settled cat now and sits on OH's lap for his cuddle most nights, it would devastate me if something like that happened to him

[widge]

We had a guy in our hamlet who had a variety of streys, sadly he died, most of the cats scattered but a few stayed, one moved into our barn with a small male kitten and during the days underneath our campervan, the mairie said that they would get someone in to try and catch them, well at least until they discovered the cost, as the summer was hot we started just putting water down this progressed to food. Slowly they moved into the house, as the kitten was male the mother, slowly started abandoning him with us, and eventually only used to come back occasionally for food.

We obviously wanted to get both cats sterilised, so had a chat to our local vet, about them and the remaing streys in the hamlet.

She told us about a scheme started by Bridget Bardot, for sterilising cats, she said that they get funding for sterilising cats 20 cats/year 10 male and 10 female.

So we got the kitten done (we had to pay for tatoo/chip on the kitten), and with the help of a neighbour and some traps, managed to catch and sterilise another 6 cats including the mother.

We still have the kitten, but the mother got hit by a car a few years back.

[L Austin France]

We've a rescue cat who got hit by a car not long after we adopted her & was found dragging itself across the road trailing a dodgy leg.
Vet couldn't find anything wrong with it & suspected a nerve had been damaged which would maybe repair itself.
Took a good few weeks for cat to get back to it's former self but now won't go anyway near the road if it can hear a vehicle, which can't be bad.
One thing that I always wondered about & is rarely talked about when folk look after multiple cats.
What do you do about all the shit they generate?

[hughnique]

Goes in the bin, non recyclable, however any rat shit is saved as I know someone who makes screwdrivers out of it.

[Loup-garou]

Thanks for all your comments - they cheered us up.

Veem - our horse died at 33 we had her for 30 of those years. Not a pun but the loss of a horse does leave a huge hole in your family and we talk of Zerlina (a Danish Warmblood) to others and between ourselves a lot. The reaction of some of our dogs to her amused us, one was very jealous and tried to bite her muzzle when she lowered it - he was our original collie and was not best pleased that we rescued others (that's a Wicklow Collie all over; thought he was human and not a dog). But another collie was convinced that Zelina could talk and obeyed every command he was given from above, When you dismounted he would look at you as if to say "Oh, where did you come from?"

Hughnique - "rat shit" ............... it took a while but I got there, thank you.

[L Austin France]

Goes in the bin, non recyclable, however any rat shit is saved as I know someone who makes screwdrivers out of it.

Yeah. Like you, we've only one cat who is pretty predictable in her toilet places & therefor relatively easy to collect & bin.
My post was about "folk who look after multiple cats" & what they do as I can't imagine their cats would be toilet trained & therefor crapping all over the place