The strays in my new 'hood.

Jeez, I think I'm gonna have to give Gabby a cleaning somehow. She hasn't cleaned herself like she should.

This is for sure her first litter. She's acting kind of stunned. And she separated herself from the kittens for hours.

Man, I hope I don't have to bring them in. I don't know what Pixel will do. Not foster them, for sure.

Crap. 🥺
 
I watch "Lucky Ferals" on YouTube. Right now, all 7 are living in her guest room, getting house trained and socialized. They have a bunch of toys, she cooks for them and now they let her pet the. She gets them all spayed/neutered.

There's a few still outside I think. She puts out food and water and has an automatic feeder for the dry food. She spends a lot on those cats.

Here's an early one-
 
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RadishRose said:
I watch "Lucky Ferals" on YouTube. Right now, all 7 are living in her guest room, getting house trained and socialized. They have a bunch of toys, she cooks for them and now they let her pet the. She gets them all spayed/neutered.

There's a few still outside I think. She puts out food and water and has an automatic feeder for the dry food. She spends a lot on those cats.

Here's an early one-
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Yeah, they can get expensive.

I do believe Gabby's catching on. I'm sure glad I moved the kittens in with her. Who knows how long she would have left them alone. The shelter they're in is Danny's, but he'll use one of the others.

I'll put a small dish of food in with her tonight. She's still cleaning herself. There's no fresh blood but she obviously had a rough go of it.
 
Murrmurr said:
Gabby, the pregnant stray that's been coming around for food and shelter - she had her kittens!! Every one of them is orange, at least the ones I can see. Looks like 4 of them. And she had them in the "birth box" I made for her!
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Bless you for caring. The individual I'm feeding would probably punch me for petting/stroking him, so I don't. 🤣🤣 He'd probably not purr anyway.
 
So happy to hear Gabby and her kittens are doing well papa Murrmurr! Congratulations!

She'll do just fine taking care of her litter. Feral cats usually move their babies from their birthing den to a new one and take the ones that die off to some place else. You already did that for her.

Gabby will feed them every 2 to 4 hours right now. When they reach 2 to 4 weeks old, she feed them every 4 to 6 hours. She'll start weaning them at 4 weeks old. A feral will move the kittens again if a human interferes with them too much.

I've went through the same thing with the ferals I take care of. Just make sure there is plenty of food and water for her. She'll need it. And yes, the orange tabby cats are mostly male. The 2 I have coming in are male. The one I call Q is the best parenting cat I have ever seen. He makes sure if someone is missing for a feeding, he'll go find them and bring them to the food and sits and waits for them to finish eating.
 
Gemma said:
So happy to hear Gabby and her kittens are doing well papa Murrmurr! Congratulations!

She'll do just fine taking care of her litter. Feral cats usually move their babies from their birthing den to a new one and take the ones that die off to some place else. You already did that for her.

Gabby will feed them every 2 to 4 hours right now. When they reach 2 to 4 weeks old, she feed them every 4 to 6 hours. She'll start weaning them at 4 weeks old. A feral will move the kittens again if a human interferes with them too much.

I've went through the same thing with the ferals I take care of. Just make sure there is plenty of food and water for her. She'll need it. And yes, the orange tabby cats are mostly male. The 2 I have coming in are male. The one I call Q is the best parenting cat I have ever seen. He makes sure if someone is missing for a feeding, he'll go find them and bring them to the food and sits and waits for them to finish eating.
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Danny is an old orange tabby who came for meals twice a day for 5 years when I lived at the apartment, so we brought him when we moved to the new house. He stayed, and he's been very kind to pregnant Gabby. He sleeps with her sometimes, and always lets her eat first.

He's keeping his distance now that the kittens are here, but he still watches Gabby. All the strays are staying away from her shelter. Not sure if it's because of Danny, but maybe so.
 
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If you have any wheat berries they will hold the heat longer than a rice filled sock, just be sure not to overheat it or you will have a fire. I have arthritis and have tried several fillers for my heating pillow.

What a great idea to keep them warm...Thank YOU and stay dry.
 
Happy Heart said:
If you have any wheat berries they will hold the heat longer than a rice filled sock, just be sure not to overheat it or you will have a fire. I have arthritis and have tried several fillers for my heating pillow.

What a great idea to keep them warm...Thank YOU and stay dry.
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It's been raining off and on all day....not too heavily, though.

On Monday we had the loudest thunder storm I've heard in a very long time. It only lasted about half an hour but the wind blew hard all night.

No berries here. I went to take the rice bag out and warm it up again, but mommy cat was snoozing on it and the babies were nursing. I'll get it tomorrow...er, later this morning (it's 1:30 a.m). It's still keeping some of the cold out because it's about 2" thick and lying just inside an 8 square inch doorway.

I took some wet food out to her earlier. She didn't eat much, but that's normal. Mother cats stay full for 2 or 3 days after eating the placenta and all. She won't eat much until that passes. (I grew up on a farm)
 
Funny cat story:

Over 40 years ago, my sister had adopted two kittens, a male and female from the same litter. Just as they got old enough to neuter, the female escaped and was gone long enough to get in trouble. So she had the male fixed and, on the advice of the vet, planned to have the female fixed after she had the kittens.

Four kittens were born, did well, and were now mostly eating solid food, but still "nursing" for comfort. At this point, they were almost as big as their mother. She took mama cat off to be fixed and when mama came home, the big babies still wanted to nurse. Mama was sore and grouchy and hissed at them to leave her alone. The "kittens" were distraught and complaining vigorously.

Enter the uncle cat, a gentle and sweet soul. Always eager to please, he stretched out on the couch and offered his nipples. For several days, those big babies "nursed" on their uncle for comfort. Sort of like giving a baby a pacifier, I guess.
 
Murrmurr said:
It's been raining off and on all day....not too heavily, though.

On Monday we had the loudest thunder storm I've heard in a very long time. It only lasted about half an hour but the wind blew hard all night.

No berries here. I went to take the rice bag out and warm it up again, but mommy cat was snoozing on it and the babies were nursing. I'll get it tomorrow...er, later this morning (it's 1:30 a.m). It's still keeping some of the cold out because it's about 2" thick and lying just inside an 8 square inch doorway.

I took some wet food out to her earlier. She didn't eat much, but that's normal. Mother cats stay full for 2 or 3 days after eating the placenta and all. She won't eat much until that passes. (I grew up on a farm)
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I can see a light snow dusting on my portion of the Sierras this morning but more to come tonight.
I hope your new family will grow to be good mousers for you after all the tender care you are giving them. My two are too spoiled to be bothered to chase anything but their shadow, but we keep them anyway. Our youngest likes to open the bathroom drawer and spread the contents all over the floor several times a day. Great mousing skills.
 
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Murrmurr said:
The only dogs I've seen around here are on a leash. I suspect the county is far more diligent about stray dogs than stray cats.

Cats won't bite your face off.
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Which reminds me of another previous life when I was a letter carrier for Canada Post! I loved that job, all that walking in the fresh air (okay there was rain and snow as well)! I think I would have kept it for life except that every free range dog in the neighbourhood hated me, except for the large breeds like Labradors, Great Danes etc. German Shepherds excluded, they really had it in for me. And trust me, they learn how to ambush you after you give them a dose of pepper spray!

Animals are much smarter than we give them credit for.

One small memory in connection with the above. I saunder along with my mail bag on a small, suburban street. Mail recipient's dog, a few houses down from me is on a leash, asleep with a cat equally sound asleep between his paws. Dog hears me coming, gets up, barking his head of. Cat gets on his/her feet, turns around and soundly slaps the dog. Dog settles down, and both go back to rest mode!

Almost wants me to go Vegan, no I don't eat cats or dogs, I am talking about animals in general. Pigs are supposed to be smart as well! Help ... I was born German, I love pork!
 
Old Salt said:
Which reminds me of another previous life when I was a letter carrier for Canada Post! I loved that job, all that walking in the fresh air (okay there was rain and snow as well)! I think I would have kept it for life except that every free range dog in the neighbourhood hated me, except for the large breeds like Labradors, Great Danes etc. German Shepherds excluded, they really had it in for me. And trust me, they learn how to ambush you after you give them a dose of pepper spray!

Animals are much smarter than we give them credit for.

One small memory in connection with the above. I saunder along with my mail bag on a small, suburban street. Mail recipient's dog, a few houses down from me is on a leash, asleep with a cat equally sound asleep between his paws. Dog hears me coming, gets up, barking his head of. Cat gets on his/her feet, turns around and soundly slaps the dog. Dog settles down, and both go back to rest mode!

Almost wants me to go Vegan, no I don't eat cats or dogs, I am talking about animals in general. Pigs are supposed to be smart as well! Help ... I was born German, I love pork!
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I love pork, too. And bacon. mmm

Even so, sometimes when I bite into a juicy chop or delicious BLT, I remember the pig we had on the dairy once. Alice was a good ol' girl. She let me sit on her back (I was 6), and she always called me over to pet her whenever I went into her pen, or even when I just passed by. And I swear when I smiled at her, she smiled back. Best ever were her piglets. They were so cute and funny.

Alice eventually went back to her farmer, along with her 9 piglets. He brought her to live with us for a quarantine. He thought Alice might have something contagious to pigs, only pigs, and we didn't have any to worry about. When he came to take her and the piglets back to his farm, I saw the sign painted on his truck and realized he raised pigs for their meat. Made me feel gloomy for weeks.
 
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Murrmurr said:
I love pork, too. And bacon. mmm

Even so, sometimes when I bite into a juicy chop or delicious BLT, I remember the pig we had on the dairy once. Alice was a good ol' girl. She let me sit on her back (I was 6), and she always called me over to pet her whenever I went into her pen, or even when I just passed by. And I swear when I smiled at her, she smiled back. Best ever were her piglets. They were so cute and funny.

Alice eventually went back to her farmer, along with her 9 piglets. He brought her to live with us for a quarantine. He thought Alice might have something contagious to pigs, only pigs, and we didn't have any to worry about. When he came to take her and the piglets back to his farm, I saw the sign painted on his truck and realized he raised pigs for their meat. Made me feel gloomy for weeks.
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I know what you mean. I have minimized my consumption of bacon and ham, but can't seem to stop altogether. :cry:
 
I have many memories of living with Aunt Sophia where everyday for lunch she made me a BLT, funny when I have them today they just aren't as good. If I want the flavor for soup I just add a rasher or two instead of bacon.
 
Happy Heart said:
I have many memories of living with Aunt Sophia where everyday for lunch she made me a BLT, funny when I have them today they just aren't as good. If I want the flavor for soup I just add a rasher or two instead of bacon.
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I suspect the flavor of pork has changed because their diets have been changed, plus they're injected with various chemicals and hormones.
 
Murrmurr said:
I suspect the flavor of pork has changed because their diets have been changed, plus they're injected with various chemicals and hormones.
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This is a purely personal opinion but I think many things have changed. I remember the eggs with orange yolks that tasted heavenly compared to the one I buy now. Chicken tasted much better as well.
 
Old Salt said:
This is a purely personal opinion but I think many things have changed. I remember the eggs with orange yolks that tasted heavenly compared to the one I buy now. Chicken tasted much better as well.
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A lot of fruits and veggies do, too. Mostly fruits. I can't find a decent apricot or peach to save my life. And where'd the peach's peach-fuzz go? :(
 
Gabby moved her 4 surviving kittens a few nights ago. She came by yesterday evening to eat and I tried to watch where she went afterward, but I lost her when she went behind some shrubs. I keep going outside to listen for crying kittens, but maybe they aren't in my yard. Or the neighbor's yards either. Or maybe they don't have anything to cry about.

I tossed out the box I'd made where she gave birth. There were 2 fatalities in it. And when I saw she moved the whole family out of one of the shelters, I took off the roof to clean it out good and found another dead one. This one looked very underdeveloped.

I wonder if she went into the shelter to push that one out and then go back to the birthing box to be with her babies. If so, then I really blew it when I put the live kittens in the shelter with her, because that's probably why she moved. I didn't see that last dead one in there. :(

I put a brand new shelter out next to the one she moved out of. I just finished *building it this morning. I put a nice soft rug in it, and I'm gonna keep putting a bowl of food out in front of it. It's been raining non-stop since last night, so I hope she moves in, and brings the kittens.

*not actually built. I made this one in about an hour out of a large plastic tote + lid that I got at the local thrift store this morning ($3!). I just happened to stop there on my way back from a Dr. appt. I cut out an entrance and an emergency exit, lined it with styrofoam and fashioned a tarp-teepee over it.
 
This is kind of out of the blue but this thread reminded me of it. I lived on an island for a while and it was swarming with feral cats. A local vet was spaying and neutering as many as he could get into his office which to me was much better than the alternative. Strange thing was a large percentage of those cats had six toes. From what I understand they had been being born that way for decades.
🤔
 
@oldpop They might have started out from a single pair, or a single mother. I lived in a small town with a large feral cat population. All the cats were black and/or white. No orange fur at all in the mix.
 

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