Spring Cat Chat

Our spay/neuter efforts and kitten fostering have officially begun again! It was nice to have a little break during January and February, but a cat lady's work is never done. First, some very good news....our 3 orange foster kittens (Archie, Barley and Chili) have already been adopted at Good Mews!!! I knew they'd go fast...it doesn't get much cuter and sweeter than they were.

The monthly low cost spay/neuter clinic was last weekend, so we headed out to a house in Georgetown on Friday morning to help a lady, Naomi, with her cat colony. Naomi is a wonderful caretaker. She basically takes care of all the neighborhood stragglers....all those that have carelessly been abandoned. She gives them breakfast and dinner and provides bedding and shelter both in her garage and on her back patio. There were 5 cats that we needed to trap. 2 of them are so tame that we got them into carriers, and then we were able trap a 3rd cat. Unfortunately, the other 2 were extremely suspicious and knew we were up to something. I delivered the 3to the clinic on Saturday morning and much to my amazement, one of the clinic volunteers called me to let me know that all 3 had already been spayed/neutered!! That has never happened to us before. But at least they got their vaccinations and flea treatment and were eartipped so it will be clear that they are snipped! I took some photos of one of the kitties. He stayed up in my foster bathroom, and I couldn't believe how amazingly sweet he was. I just can't imagine how anyone could give him up...crazy! He had perfect manners too...slept in his bed and used his litter box. All he wanted was lots of affection.





We have had some newcomers outside our house. Rudy Dude is a black tuxedo boy who showed up around Thanksgiving. We trapped him and had him neutered and vaccinated in early December. He was very scared of me until February and then suddenly decided that he trusted me. Now, he is a total love bug and sleeps on our front porch and loves to rub my legs and receive lots of chin scratches and body rubs :). Well, then 3 weeks ago, an adorable, old, chubby, orange tabby boy appeared out of nowhere. He is now known as Mr. Tubbs. What is particularly odd is that he is neutered AND eartipped! This is wonderful, but I am totally perplexed as to how he got here. Mr. Tubbs will come close and meows but won't let me pet him yet. He has changed the dynamic on the porch immensely. He loves other cats and has become buddies with Rudy. In addition, one of the other feral kitties, Natasha (who we trapped and spayed a year and a half ago), who used to ONLY come for dinner and disappear into the night is now arriving early and staying all night with Mr. Tubbs and Rudy. I put soft bedding out on our doormat and the 3 of them curl up together around 9:00 and stay all night. It melts my heart to see them bonding like that. Amazing. I just stare out the door at them and wish that I could scoop them up and bring them in. Our 3 back patio feral kitties stay back there and don't bother the threesome on the front porch, so their is peace and balance, thankfully.

Here is Rudy (look how nicely he matches our porch decor...ha!) sunbathing...



...and the Three Amigos sleeping soundly (so hard to get a good photo through the glass but you get the idea!)



We have a new rescued foster kitten with us right now, and I am picking up another one tomorrow! So, I am hoping to get some good photos this weekend. I will write and update on them soon.