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Feral cat paths crossed the garden
in the recent light snow. Old and new
dotted lines of cat prints led to their destination. Some paths were on their way to
somewhere else outside the garden. It made me smile to note that they used the garden gate, the
natural passage way via the culvert, installed last Fall by the farmer. Other paths stopped to
inspect something intriguing under the snow, or to inspect around some rock. No matter where
one lives, stray and abandoned animals lurk in the shadows, constantly looking for food
and to establish a home. Perhaps they are bolder or more noticeable, in the rural countryside,
with slightly less danger than those that live in the busy cities.
My first stray showed up three years ago - a handsome Siamese Tom. He hung around loyally for the first couple of years by his lonesome, until
two gray tiger sisters moved in with him last spring. He disappeared for months at a
time after that, showing up now and again. I have since learned that feral toms will roam
over several territories, whereas the females will stick pretty close to their chosen home.
These
territories know of no boundaries of property lines - they just understand the invisible lines
they draw
themselves within their self-maintained colonies.
One day one of the females disappeared as well,
and my suspicions soon proved true. She later showed up with four youngsters who were now
old enough
to leave her hidden nest. One kitten disappeared
soon after, and another a while later, sadly was killed when it unwisely weaseled its way
into my dog pen.
With her kids firmly ensconced, Mama kitty promptly became pregnant again. Late
in the Fall and verging on winter, right before the first real Arctic blast, mama dragged
her
litter of three week old kittens to my barn steps. I went out to find them there, scattered
everywhere, hollering their heads off for mama. Five very sweet and cute little
kittens (as I am sure momma instructed them to look!). They were way too young to leave
mama as they were still nursing age,
but mama had better plans of how to
care for them that winter. With one direct stare at me over her retreating shoulder, she gave me
a very clear directive to feed her babies and keep
them warm during the imminent winter.
She knew me well, and so I resigned myself to their care on my enclosed porch all
winter. They soon were dubbed "the Naughty Kids" and full of play to the hilt. I soon became
the designated "tree" upon which to climb, and one little adept black male soon earned
the name "Spiderman". The Magic of baby animals at play, can no better be experienced
(ouch!)
than by a bunch of kittens! I do plan, however, to have them rejoin momma outside in the
spring the minute it warms up.
As much as I love cats, I could easily see where this was headed. I like
having the
strays around to naturally keep in check the prolific mouse population I have from all
the bird feed that they get into. However, I did not need a prolific cat population.
Checking around, I stumbled upon a very interesting
solution to my problem. A local foundation, TLC/For the Love of Cats, located in Ann Arbor,
who is committed to finding another solution to the huge feral cat population.
Constant breeding is a self-perpetuating problem, which in turn
burdens the animal shelters, and
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