More New Babies

We don't have a picture - wouldn't want to get too close. But this early morning my husband saw a mother skunk and 3 little ones parading along the top of a retaining wall.

Mom Scarface and her troop are doing fine. Yesterday it stormed most of the day and only 2 of the kittens showed up to eat in between rainstorms, leaving us concerned as to the whereabouts of kitten number 3. This morning they were all back on our porch. Apparently kitten number 3 chose to sleep in yesterday. Or maybe she got too close to a skunk and was persona non grata for a while.

What a Surprise !!!

I thought colony had pretty much exhausted all the "cute" things I could report on, so haven't added to my blog for some time. However, recently our neighbor alerted us to the news that kittens had been spotted. "Oh Yes," we said. We never did catch Yellow Ears, so had been expecting this. Then Mom brought the kittens to our back yard, and we couldn't believe our eyes. Their mom is Scarface, who is not a male, as we had thought !!!

So we have 2 sunny yellow kittens and a dark one who looks like mom. And we'll have to rename Scarface.

The kittens are very active. Note the 2 climbing the tree. It's easy to spot the yellow one, but the dark one kind of blends into the bottom of the tree.

Cooling Off

It must have been warm that day, or perhaps he had a major workout before breakfast. Either way, Scarface found the perfect dish - one that enabled him to dip his tail in the drinking water to cool off.

A New Treat

Yesterday we did some spring cleaning and moved the condos away from our back porch, so things looked a little different to the cats this morning. Only the 2 young males came when breakfast was put out. At lunch time, Pepper came to eat and appeared to be having trouble crunching the food - possibly a bad tooth. Ever the soft touch, I put out a small chicken appetizer of soft food. However, Pepper ran away as soon as I opened the door. I left it there, thinking she would be back. Instead, Rollo came back and was enjoying the treat when Mama strolled up. After a short stare down, Rollo moved away from the food. Mama, however, took her time to get to the treat; and first sampled the dry cat food in each dish. Then she ate a few bites of the chicken and left. Rollo hurried back to finish it up. Poor Pepper got none.

It's Spring !!!

Our camera caught Pepper enjoying nice weather and a good spring roll around on the greening grass.

Mama is One Cool Cat

This morning the roofers began work on our new roof. Four cats were breakfasting when the roofers arrived. Four cats disappeared for the day. Mama Cat usually comes for breakfast after the other cats have finished and gone off to their daily pursuits. Today was no different. While the roofers were pounding and scraping she enjoyed a quiet breakfast and then gracefully and purposely walked back across the yard.

Back in March I wrote how Harley stepped into the house and she and Alex met nose to nose - and I missed the picture. Well, Harley has frequently come back inside briefly when I open the door in the morning to bring out the food for the day. So I finally caught the exchange between Harley and Alex on film - but missed the actual kiss. Here, Harley appears to be more interested in the furniture than in Alex.

Don't Fool with a Duck

Harley was out in the back yard yesterday when the two ducks that roam our neighborhood came through, quacking away. Harley began to stalk them, crouching low to the ground. One of the ducks turned and faced Harley, still quacking away. Harley stopped. The duck started toward Harley, still quacking away. Harley didn't move. The second duck turned and also started toward Harley, also quacking away. Harley chickened out and left.

A Visitor

This cat visited our back yard recently. It was the first time we had seen him. We almost mistook him for one of our kittens, until we noticed the black rings on his tail. To date, he has not returned.

Spring Cleaning

We've been blessed with sunny, warm weather recently, so we figured it was time to clean up and put out some warm weather things. The blanket on top of the condos will remain for the time being - nights can still get quite cool. However, we have unplugged the floor heaters. The cats don't spend much time inside anymore. Pepper, eating above, is the only one that sticks pretty close to the condos, and she is away more and more lately.

Capture Mode - Not

All the cats were waiting for breakfast this morning. Two dishes went out again and Yellow Ears was again one of those waiting. All at once all the cats went on alert and began to run erratically back across the yard and down the hill. Not one came back. I went out on the deck and could hear the pilings being driven in for a sea wall a short distance away. That noise was of great concern to the cats.

The capture cage sat alone on the porch. We took the time to do some measuring. It's a much smaller cage than the one we usually borrow. We figure this is a kitten capture cage. Our measurements showed us that if one of our cats (who are pretty well full grown) went inside, they would trip the cage door before their tail was inside. Ouch! We don't want to hurt our cats, so the cage went back to the vet and we will wait to return to capture mode when the larger cage is available.

Capture Mode

We borrowed a capture cage from our vet and set about coaxing Yellow Ears into it. She's the only female in the colony that has not been spayed. Yellow Ears is our least aggressive cat, so we set out only two bowls of cat food. Yellow Ears is always last to eat because she will not challenge one of the other cats, even those younger than she is. When the rest of the cats had eaten their fill, we took the bowls of food away and set out the capture cage with food inside. Yellow Ears kept coming back every couple hours, but would not go near the capture cage. We'll try again tomorrow. She'll be very hungry by then.

Back from the Vet

Pepper was released by the vet earlier today, and she is now back home. Unlike her sister and mother who went off to be by themselves for a couple days upon their return home from surgery, Pepper has stayed near the condo and was scratching and looking into our windows that same night.

Off to the Vet

Pepper had been spending a lot of time with Blackie over the weekend so we were motivated to get her to the vet. We didn't deem it a difficult catch because Pepper is pretty tame and usually lets me pet her and even pick her up. I did that this morning and all was fine until Erv came out with the cat carrier. She fought valiently and bit me several times in the finger. Ouch. I let her get away. By then, however, she was in the house; and off she went. Alex chased her and (we're proud to say) herded her into the guest bathroom where we finally got her. We wrapped her in a towel which helped to calm her down and put her in the carrier. Unfortunately by then my finger had leaked blood in quite a few places. We're glad bathrooms are easier to clean up than most other rooms. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow.

New Face in the Yard

Late this afternoon I noticed a large yellow cat in the back yard. It is about the same size as the yellow longhair that fathered Mama Cat's first litter. This cat, however, is shorthair and a much lighter shade of yellow. It seemed to be headed for the porch and I ran for my camera, but it was gone when I got back. Scarface and Harley were watching the cat from the roof of the condo, but they did not seem overly concerned to see it.

What a View !

There's always a window nearby, so Alex our housebound Maine Coon seldom gets bored. And there's usually one or more cats in the view outside the window (in this case, Pepper and Blackie).

Missed Kodak Moment

I opened the door this morning to take breakfast out to the cat colony. Harley stepped into the house while most were milling impatiently around my feet and spied Alex who usually sits close by to observe. Harley approached Alex nose to nose. I forgot my camera while I waited for a cat fight. But no - just a kiss and she was back outside for breakfast.

Back to Business

Sunshine and a little rain have gotten rid of most of the snow in the back yard. The cats have been quite busy lately revisiting their property now that it is not hidden under the snow.

Setting the Table

Looks like a lot of cat food for Pepper, doesn't it? The cats do not share. So, every morning I set out 6 dishes. I started out with the small oval dish for Mama Cat. When the first 3 kittens came to eat, I added the 2 round CAT dishes. Yellow Ears was always the one who waited for a dish to open up. I shopped for more dishes, but could not find any I thought were satisfactory. So I set out the plastic container to accommodate Yellow Ears, too. When the second 2 kittens joined in I added the two paper plates (sometimes they double as cat frisbees). Blackie makes 7 cats, but he generally shows up after some of the cats have eaten. Actually, about one CAT dish of cat food comes back inside each evening - but that's still a lot of food for 7 cats. At least it's a lot based on how much Alex eats each day. Guess the colony cats get in a lot more exercise outside.

Just Like Dad

Little Rollo likes to spend time with Blackie. Just like a little boy, he mimics the things he sees his dad doing. Blackie's head is big and doesn't fit well in a couple of the food dishes, so he flicks out some food with his paw and then eats off the rug. Now Rollo flicks out cat food and eats off the rug, too.