Cats

We have several cats that wander through our yard. A few can be attributed to neighbors, but some appear to be feral cats, just living off the land. One in particular is a regular visitor, we’ve been seeing it for three or four years now, it likes to come and sit under the bushes near the back door and watch our bird feeder. I would much rather have birds than cats, but one seems to attract the other.

Last year this one had a single kitten, and they were in the yard daily. Eventually they left and we didn’t see them for several months, but a few months ago the older female showed up again. Back in mid-May B was looking out the window and saw this group:


That’s mom lying in the grass with four kittens playing around. We once came home and mom cat ran across the driveway with a big white Siamese, who we assume is the father. A nice assortment of kittens, two the same grey striped as mom, one black and one white like dad. A very good example of how genetics and inheritance works.

The kittens seemed big enough to be eating on their own, and once in a while B put out some food, which they all ate. As expected mom soon started parceling out the kittens, I guess they grow up and have to be pushed away. It ended up that the white one was left in our back yard, a nice safe area where food periodically showed up. So B rose to the challenge and started leaving out food, and moving the food dish closer to our back door.


And what was the end result? Of course, exactly what you expected:


She is a typical Siamese, blue crossed eyes, and she jumps a lot, and for $147 the vet said she is quite healthy. I would much rather have a little dog, which is a lot easier to control. But now she has slowly started turning into a lap cat (on her terms of course) and bats around the toys (and whatever else is around). We’ve got wooden blinds on the back doors, which she really likes using as ladders. Last night she made it up into the bookcases in my office, and eventually will be up to jumping on the kitchen counters. One thing I really don’t like about cats, I’d rather have my food to myself. Oh well, as long as my wife doesn’t turn into the crazy neighborhood cat lady.