In Sep 1998 I left my 1st husband (MDM) and moved into a small trailer in the country with my 6 month old POE and 4 year old C. I left my cats at the house with MDM because I couldn't have pets. There were 2 scrawny female cats living in the park and I began leaving them scraps. By Jan of 99 I was buying them cat food and they had a bowl on my porch :) Of course, they started having babies! By the fall of 2000 POE & C & I had moved up the hill into a larger trailer. The colony of feral cats numbered 22 regulars at the feeding bowls. I found Alley Cat Advocates and in Oct 2000 we trapped and fixed 17 cats! One of the original 2 momma cats had 3 kittens, about 6 mos old at the time. When we moved further out into the country this May we had 4 remaining colony cats. Miss Buddy and DeeDee, and 2 of that last litter of kittens, now 9 yrs old, THC (Triangle Head Cat) and Moe.
Within a week of moving the 4 cats out here Moe had taken off. We saw him from time to time at the goat farm on the corner. We haven't seen him for about 6 or 7 weeks now. Last week hubby and I went house hunting. On our way out of our road, I saw Moe on a neighbor's porch. I pointed him out to hubby and said out the car window "Moe! Go home already!" All week I've been looking for him and calling his name when I feed the other animals in the morning and at night. No luck at all.
Today I picked up an injured, bloody POE from school. (More on that later, this is Moe's story!) After I got POE up the steps, put the car in the garage, and got Charquil into his pen, I was focused on getting POE some Tylenol and not on cats. I looked up and saw THC and DeeDee at the top of the steps and Moe on the picnic table. I walked into the laundry room and put my shoes on the shelf before it registered in my brain. MOE ON THE PICNIC TABLE!!!!! I ran back out and loved on him. He's super skinny. He was probably 7 or 8 pounds when we moved here (estimating based on how heavy the trap was with him in it! LOL!) He's only about a pound now....I can pick him up.....not that he LIKES it any better than any feral cat enjoys being handled. He just isn't hefty enough to keep me from doing it!
I let him in the house and gave him pouch food. Right now he's sacked out on a blanket with JoJo watching him sleep. She and Angel haven't reacted any differently to him than they did before. The other outside cats don't act like he's been away either. POE's kitten on the other hand......NOT happy at all! As far as Frisky's concerned, Moe's the interloper. He'll be fat & happy in no time.
POE tripped at school and gouged her big toe really badly, on top, just below the cuticle. It's gross and bled a lot. She left a trail down the hallway at school. Since I only faint at the sight of my OWN blood, I was able to clean her up and bandage her without losing consciousness. It doesn't look like it needs stitches. But she may lose her toenail. We jinxed her by discussing last week how long it's been since POE needed a trip to the emergency room! Poor kid's just as clumsy as her momma!
My parents came over today to reinforce Charquil's pen yet again! Last modification made his pen smaller, but higher on one side. One side is the garage wall, and the other two sides are the landlord's cow fence, wooden slats. Dad put fencing 4 feet high along the two fences. Charquil figured out how to climb over the slat above the fencing, shimmy through the cow fence, then run down the pasture til he can shimmy through again into the back yard! As of today the fencing is 6 feet high and goes above the top of the cow fence. Charquil hasn't managed to defeat the new measures. Yet. Damn dog is too smart! When we move I'll have to keep my Daddy with me for a week to make sure we can contain Charquil! I won't have my parents 15 minutes away anymore.
Okay, all my dark chocolate is gone and I have no further excuse to put off the dishes. HUGS and LUV!
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