a tale of 4 kittens...

Skita (previously Termite)

This is the story of 4 kitties... 4 little black ferals.  The first one lives in the backyard with his skinny mama. He is the one outside survivor of a litter of 6. DH and I took the others to the Adoption Room at our local Animal Shelter. We left this one (the runt) with his mama. We originally called him Termite, but now call him Skita as he's no bigger than a mosquito... and although about 3 months old... is still tiny and somewhat shaky when he walks. DH and I don't think he'll ever be normal, but we're giving him a chance. His mama watches him very closely and is never far away.

Having an AMT background, I've done a little research and believe that he may have a mild case of Cerebellar Hypoplasia, which is a bit similar to Cerebral Palsy in humans.His walk is shaky, his head bobs, and he occasionally falls over. Otherwise, he eats, sleeps, and plays like any other kitten.

There's another half grown female in the yard who's mother and sibling took off and left her when she was about 6 weeks old. She has attached herself to skinny mama and Skita... and acts like an adopted older sister keeping an eye on Skita when skinny mama isn't around. DH and I call her Aunt Polly.

Then there's another black mama who showed up with 2 little black kittens about 6-7 weeks old. We call them 'the twins'. One is always running around the back yard on his own. The other sticks close to his mama and seems to be afraid of his own shadow.

And then.... there's "the wanderer" in the side yard. He's a little ball of black fluff. His mama leaves him a lot and he never stays where she left him. He wanders about and cries. But he's very brave and has no fear of other cats.

Occasionally all 4 kittens are in the back at the same time and will play together. Today was one of those days. I tried to use my iPhone and get a video of them playing. In it if you look closely, you can see how shaky Skita is.  It starts off with Skita...

Termite meets turtle...

We have a very small feral kitten that lives with his mom in our back yard. We call her "skinny mama" as she is very thin... although she eats well. She is also an excellent mama and takes very good care of this kitten... who is also very small for his/her age. We think he or she is about 8 weeks.

Anyway, I was washing dishes at the sink and happened to look out the window. Termite (tiny kitten) was sneaking up on a good sized box turtle that was eating from the cat food bowls. I immediately grabbed my camera and shot a few pics.

As you can see, Termite was hiding in the grass as the turtle approached. However, in the last 2 shots, he heard my camera and turned to look...

Update on recent feral kittens

If you'd like an update on the recent feral kittens,

go here under "kittens and tea".

a new litter...

new feral kittens

I know it's hard to see them, but we found this new litter of feral kittens on the side of the house a few days ago. If you look hard, you can see... maybe 4 black ones and 1 little gray.  The mama is a tiny little black feral. She takes off when we get close, but always returns.

We will keep an eye on them and hopefully take them in at about 4 weeks old... (old enough to start eating on their own). At this time we will bring them over to the Adoption Room at our no kill shelter. If we can catch mama, we will bring her in too... to be spayed.

kittens...

one of the outside feral kittens

This is one of our outside feral kittens. DH calls him "Rolly Polly" as he is a fat little thing. 

and this little one showed up in our front yard about a week ago with his black mother and another black sibling.  We were amazed as all the feral kittens that have shown up for the last several years have been either solid black or black and white. And if you remember the story of Sam, the Siamese male that has been around for years, this one may actually be his legacy. However, she and the kittens disappeared during the bad weather and we haven't seen them since.

Outside... and inside critters

outside feral cat and coon

tapped on window to get his attention

one of theoutside feral kittens

and then there's Ghost...

Ghost watching me read in bed at night

Some nights DH goes to bed at 10 pm and I stay up to watch the 10 o'clock news. Rose and Ghost are usually in bed by this time. Rose will settle in, but Ghost will wait up for me. She knows I read for a while and likes to share in that activity (?). 

Julie... the counter cat

Julie on counter

Julie is our *counter cat*.  As hard as we've tried to keep her off... she persists. If you spray her with water, she will leave (for the moment), if you manually take her down, she will jump right back, and if you lock her in another room, the minute she gets out she runs back to the counter. We've given up. I keep the counters covered with kitchen towels or small quilts. And of course I wipe it down with lysol continuously and use those plastic chopping boards whenever we put food up there.

The other cats are not so inclined. One prefers his own cat basket (Tux) or my lap. One prefers DH's chair (Ghost), one prefers the sofa(Molly), and one prefers our bed (Rose). Of course if there is a *sunspot* somewhere in one of the windows, they will all vie for that.  And in winter, they all go for the rug in front of the Aga.

I haven't posted on this site in a while.... mainly I post on "Older, but better...?" and recently I started a new blog called, "My Mulberry days...". But since cats, coffee, and chocolate are still my main vices, I thought I should update this site occasionally.

beautiful black ferals... and spoiled inside fur-babies

one of our handsome black feral cats in basket on back porch

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog, but with all this cold weather here in Texas I decided that this picture of one of our ferals with his winter coat was appropriate.  Isn't he a handsome fella?

Cardinal in our birdfeeder outside window in snow

And I posted this picture on my other site (Older, but better...?), but if you missed it, here it is again. This cardinal and his mate visit this feeder often. 

As for my inside lazy spoiled fur-babies, here's a picture of them and how they spend their days in the winter.

Have a good week and try to stay warm!