Cats of DOOM

[Greg]

Funny story. We knew Mia was pregnant and weren't keen on aborting her babies. We resigned ourselves to getting it done, but before we could, Mia gave birth. At least we think she did. One day she was all fat and pregnant, the next day she was super skinny and had a voracious appetite. This was on July fourth. The only problem is we didn't know where she had given birth. Remember, Mia is the cat who took her last litter away and it disappeared. We wanted to find her kittens but didn't want a repeat of last time.

It occurred to me where the kittens are that whenever I walked over a particular section of the deck, I would hear angry growling. I placed my cel phone camera between the gap in the boards to get a better view of what was going on beneath my feet. Sure, enough, there was Mia and a little black body as well. I could only ever see one kitten, so I thought there was only one cat in the litter.

I only saw the kitten a couple of times before Mia stopped using that spot under the deck. I couldn't find the kitten ever again. Plus, the heat here has been atrocious. We hit 107 one day. We've been averaging 100 for all of July. I figured the kitten was a goner.

But Mia remained really skinny like she was still nursing. When I checked her teats, they were always empty. I held out hope.

The last couple of days, I thought I hear meows from under the deck. But when you are surrounded by cats, you can't be sure it's not one of them punking you.

Today, Aug 4, our mystery kitten made his appearance. I looked on the deck and there was a new kitten. He's all black. He let me pet him and pick him up, so that's a good start.

This brings us up to fourteen cats, which is good. I didn't like the idea of a pack of 13 cats.

[Greg]

Fourteen Update: Fourteen fights with all the big cats. Today the younger kittens are busy jumping him/her into the pack.

[Greg]

The cats are aligning themselves into different packs. The old pack, the ones here when we go here, mostly show up at feeding. They are mostly feral, but are getting more used to us. I have hope they will be socialized. Ramses is the most feral. He darts when he sees us. But I can sneak in some petting if he busy eating food. He is still deciding whether he wants to be around us. Ishtar is in the middle. You can pet, but it's work to get to him. Chicken is his current weakness. He tends to hit your empty hand to show he expected chicken. Finally, there is Anubis. Anubis is still twitchy, but wants to be petted. And I can pick him up. He is looking to break from the elder Ferals and find a new group.

Mama and Fergus, the LA Cats, hang out in the garage. They get fed in there. They sleep in there. They tolerate the other members. Fergus of late has been sort of intermingling with them. But he still has issues with the older Feral cats.

Finchen and Finoula, who are brother and sister, will hang out with anyone. If everyone is sleeping on the chairs on the deck, they are with them. If they spot us going for a walk they will occasionally join us. They are very easy going.

Faini is the loner. I'm her pack. She does the two and three miles walks with the dogs and I in the morning. She doesn't show up all that much for the feeding sessions.

Then there is the second to last set of kittens. I refer to them as the three stooges and Cordelia. The three stooges are very affectionate towards the Queen and I, probably because we bottle fed them for several weeks. They are all boys. Cordelia, Faini's remaining kitten, hangs out with them because she was born only a week after them. She does hang out with her mom and does like to be with me on walks. The stooges are also first choice for the Queen when it comes to nap time, especially Bob, choice number 1 for indoor sleeping companion.

Then there is Fourteen. She/He is the only kitten from Mia's litter. Mia is also a loner. She spends a lot of time under the tree outside the kitchen window. On the feral scale, she's just below Anubis. But fourteen is still trying to find his/her place. He has really joined one of the packs either. He spends time with the stooges, particularly Bob. He/She likes to fight with the older feral cats. He/She is still trying to decide if he wants to like us or not.

So, the walks. We do two walks a day. I take the dogs on long walks in the morning. the Queen and I do shorter walks in the afternoon, depending on the whims of Maeve. Although that is also true in the morning. If Maeve wants to stop at the end of the court, we stop at the end of the court. She just doesn't have as much energy as she used to have. It shows on the walks. Although she has been managing to spend the night barking.

The cats have noticed us on these walks and have started to join us to varying degrees of success. Faini is the best. Like I said, she will go with the dogs and I all the to the bottom of the next street over. This occurs when we have been unsuccessful in locking her up at night.

The afternoon walks draw a bigger crowd, depending on who sees us leaving the house. The afternoon walks take us into the small canyon at the back of the house on our property for about 1/2 a mile. The whole loop is a mile and some of it takes place on Misty Ridge Rd. As we leave in the afternoon, Cordelia usually waits for us now by the front door. By the time we get past the garden, other cats will have joined us. Usually Finchen or Finoula. Some days the three stooges. Faini will come if she isn't lost in the fields at the front of the house. If she is not with us at the start of the walk, there are plenty of times she will meet us at the gate of the neighbor's property. She knows better than to have to climb the hill to get there.

The stooges are bad at the walk. After we leave the footpath and hit Misty Ridge Road, the stooges get distracted . They chase the birds or strange things in the fields on either side of the road. It takes them hours to return to the house. Cordelia always stay with us. Finchen and Finoula usually stay with us.

The older Feral Cats, Mia, and the LA cats never join with us. They have better things to do.

Until today. I was doing some extra walking because Maeve decided she didn't want to go anywhere. I waited until it was lighter because I take the footpath behind the house and it would be a tad treacherous in the dark. I thought i would be solo, but then Cordelia popped up. She was quickly joined by the stooges. By the time I got to the Serenity Space, I had six cats trailing behind me on the path. It looked like the cats might have found other interests because I was alone on the steep grade down to Misty Ridge. But then they all popped up behind me, Cordelia being first to make an appearance.

I recognized the stooges but it was hard to see which one of the cats was the sixth in our party. Turns out, much to my surprise, that Anubis decided to join. Shocker actually. But he was with us. Let me pick him. Stayed with me for the entire journey.

Maybe Anubis is finding his new pack.

[Greg]

And then there were zero intact cats here at the Lair. After three days of coaxing our final unspayed girl, Mia, into the traps, Mia finally complied and was caught on Sunday night. Our local crazy cat lady was supposed to take her to the HOPE Animal Foundation in Fresno. I had been informed that Kime only went to HOPE on Monday. Fine. I worked it out so I would catch Mia on Monday. When I did catch Mia, I called Kime and told her that Mia was ready to go. Kime then informed, she wasn't going to HOPE until Wednesday.

Kime did say she would come and get Mia and then Mia could just be in the tiny trap for the next four days. Yeah, when I told the Queen she informed me that was not a viable option. She didn't want Mia to be cooped up like for four days. I ended up making the hour journey to Fresno to drop off the cat and then three hours later drove to Fresno again to pick Mia back up. Why Fresno? They have the cheapest Spay/Neuter clinic. And they are set up for feral cats.

No more kittens for us. At least not at this moment. I will not predict the future. I didn't think I would have more than the two cats that I arrived her with.

[thatguy]

No more kittens for us. At least not at this moment. I will not predict the future. I didn't think I would have more than the two cats that I arrived her with.

--tg

[King Bob]

Greg - Speaking of cats, have you read "The Price" by Neil Gaiman? It's in Smoke and Mirrors. It sort of freaked me out the first time I read it.

[Greg]

I have not.

[Greg]

Frickin cat

There is one trouble spot on the early morning dog walk. It's the perfect storm of assorted problems. First there is the dog triangle. Where Eagle Rd intersects with Roadrunner dr there are three houses all with dogs. The dog who lives on the house on RoadRunner just barks at the mere hint of us. Some days, he starts barking when we first hit Eagle Dr which is probably a couple hundred yards from his house. If the RoadRunner dog gets really excited, he'll wake up the other two dogs at that house. Cacophony ensues. The RoadRunner Dogs aren't really a threat, just really noisy.

The house where RoadRunner runs into Eagle has two dogs. They've been inside for most of the winter, but with the weather turning warmer, at least one of the dogs is now stationed outside to guard the property. His/Her job is to race down the lawn and confront anyone walking by His/Her house. It was quite startling the first time the dog charged us down the lawn, until I realized the dog wasn't going to leave the lawn. He/She was content to bark at us from the lawn but wouldn't come any closer. Chicken treats would make him/her shut up. Maeve and Dani would bark in response but nothing serious. And when the charging dog barked, The Road Runner Dogs would redouble their efforts.

Once you get past the Eagle- Road Runner Intersection there is dog house number 3. Once again, there are two dogs at the house, but only one is confrontational. Again these dogs have been inside for the winter, but now one is out and about again. Thankfully, when this dog sees us he just heads up to the driveway and goes into the garage.

The dog walk only continues for a little bit beyond Dog House #3. Maeve determines when we will head back by stopping in her tracks and refusing to go any further. She also refuses to turn around until given sufficient bribes. This low point in the walk is also the time when Dani decides to mount Maeve. Maeve's rear hips can't support this. Usually the weight of Dani on her back causes Maeve to fall to the ground. When I pull Dani off Maeve and scold, Dani responds with her own barking.

So, there I am, helping Maeve to her feet while trying to get Dani to shut up and leave Maeve alone. Dani's barking draws the ire of the Road Runner dogs, who increase their barking. This causes Eagle Drive dogs to start their barking and occasionally come down to the road to investigate. I'm waiting for the neighbors to leave their houses, guns at the ready to find out the source of the commotion.

This entire time I have had one of my cats with me. Fainí the intrepid watches this all with amusement, I'm sure. That is until Dog #3 streaks down from his perch and chases Fainí into the bushes. Fuck.

Usually, if I can get Maeve and Dani far enough away from Dog Trouble Corner™, Fainí will reappear. Not yesterday. She remained elusive. When she still hadn't reappeared by the end of Eagle Drive, I made the decision to go all the way back to Road Runner to see if I could coax her out and act as a shield from all the dogs. I did this, but Fainí never came out of hiding. She never appeared on the long walk back to Lynch Lair. I was worried, but not too worried. I was more worried when by dinner there was still no sign of her. I'm not up on how smart cats are and whether they can track back to their home from a mile away. I feared she was lost back at the end of Eagle Dr.

Usually Fainí shows up at the front door when I head out for the morning dog walk. Not so this morning. I was mentally changing my Lynch Lair Cat Count from 14 to 13. It was going to be a long sad walk.

Until Fainí joined us at the end of Misty Ridge Ct. She was fine. She was sorry she was late. She walked with us all the way to Dog Trouble Corner and back without any trouble. Dog #3 didn't show. Although the barking Road Runer Dog showed his presence.

All is right with the world.

[Greg]

Simon. Simon has injured himself. Simon gets to go to the vet. This is not part of the compact I have with the free range cats, but there's not a lot of options.

I don't know how they do it but the three of the cats have scratched themselves under the chin. The scratches get infected and the sides of their heads balloon up. It looks like the cat has mumps on one side. In the case of the first two cats, the swelling eventually drained. Those cats showed no ill effect from the infection.

Not so the case with Simon. His face swelled and popped and swelled again. He's lost all the fur under his neck. There's an open weeping wound under his chin. Constant application of hydrogen peroxide and neosporin have had no effect. He's also really listless. I keep finding him staring off into space. He doesn't react a lot to being petted. It's a problem. The vet is the solution, so off we go. I'm coupling the vet trip visit with a dog grooming visit. The car will be full.

[Drunk Monk]

Poor Simon. Sounds like quite the journey. How do the cats and dogs like travelling together? 

Hope it all goes well.

[Greg]

The dogs tolerate the car but certainly don't enjoy it. They do like to hang their heads out the window.

Simon had an abscess that needed to be drained. He was also running a fever. The also, because of his size and weight, checked for feline Leukemia and Feline AIDs. Those both came back negative. He's just a small cat. tQ is currently on her way to retrieve washed dogs and drained cat.

[Greg]

Woooo! The wound on poor Simon's neck is massive. He had 104º fever but the doc got it down to 102º No surgery for now. I'll take him back in next week

[Drunk Monk]

Yikes! 

Any idea what caused the scratch?

[Greg]

He either scratched himself deeply from an itch or he was in a fight with one of the other cats. Cat claws are nasty.

[Drunk Monk]

Now you just need to figure out which car has the best upper cut.

How much was the treatment?