Looked down from my deck a few days back, and...!! A big green carrier. As I went downstairs, I began to suspect...and when I saw a bulge in the back (it was a thin fabric crate!) I knew...but didn't suspect that it was a whole family...!! I got my husband/partner to help, and picked the crate up, gingerly, and brought it upstairs. The adults howled in distress. We got them into a big raised cage in the living room,with food, water, litter, and covered the cage entirely. They stopped howling...bless them. This photo is of the male, who may well be the father, and one of the two girls. All five have kinked tails, perhaps from inbreeding. One little girl has a twisted stub of a tail, and her hind legs have atrophied. No feeling at all, in her entire back end. Otherwise, she's fine and dandy! Here she is below, looking at the camera, with her sibs.
So:
So:
So what now? The babies are not 'socialized'; are terrified when I pick them up, save for the one boy, who is game. Still scared, but game. The parents are responsive and like to be touched. Whew. Means that the little ones were ignored by whoever they were living with. My guess is that brother and sister were adopted (to the Wrong Family) as kittens, not neutered, and when the little female had babies, were more than these folks wanted. Glad they came here!
I kept them all in a big, raised cage in the living room for a few days. When they come in, they hunker down and don't move around much anyway :-). They can see where they'd landed, get to know the other cats here a bit, at a safe distance, and, we hope, start to feel that they will be loved and cared for. Their next venue, the back bathroom, large, with a bay window with cat beds, two cat trees, y mucho mas, was occupied by the boys in the previous blog post.
Those boys got lucky! Their caretaker put off her trip (no surprise) till the fall, and they went back to their outdoor home. Will revisit that situation down the road.
The family is in the back bathroom now. The two adults, lets call them mother and dad, are guarded, very quiet, but not spooked by anything...calm and affectionate! The dad is big, and serene. He is watchful and protective. The smaller mother is also calm and relaxed. Go figure...the adults were used to people, but the babies- not at all. We named the calico girl Juliet, mother Julia, dad Jules, and the boys Julian and Max. I don't go for cute or random names, but they are family, and those names seem to suit. Max, well, he's more out front and confident. He just jumped from my lap onto a distant cat tree! Now exploring the living room. The others are in the cage, their happy time (or not) out of the back room. They'd run & hide still if I put them on the floor.
Those boys got lucky! Their caretaker put off her trip (no surprise) till the fall, and they went back to their outdoor home. Will revisit that situation down the road.
The family is in the back bathroom now. The two adults, lets call them mother and dad, are guarded, very quiet, but not spooked by anything...calm and affectionate! The dad is big, and serene. He is watchful and protective. The smaller mother is also calm and relaxed. Go figure...the adults were used to people, but the babies- not at all. We named the calico girl Juliet, mother Julia, dad Jules, and the boys Julian and Max. I don't go for cute or random names, but they are family, and those names seem to suit. Max, well, he's more out front and confident. He just jumped from my lap onto a distant cat tree! Now exploring the living room. The others are in the cage, their happy time (or not) out of the back room. They'd run & hide still if I put them on the floor.
Juliette: her challenge. No biggie for now, but as she gets older and heavier, sores may form on the parts dragging on the floor. She has seen a western-only vet who found no feeling in her back legs, which have atrophied. Our neurologist is now seeing only the most critical patients. He consulted with the first vet, and thought her chances for improvement were slim (we'll see about that; does not bode too well, but!) There's a remote chance that she could have toxoplasmosis, which can be treated. I'll give her the medicine and see how she responds. She needs to have her bladder expressed, and help with stool. otherwise, she's in great shape! She gets around fine, though she can't (yet) climb. Last time I had a cat with bad mobility issues, our chiropractor had the best insight as to what we could expect. She's also not seeing patients till further notice. But our Juliette is full of life! She's the most eager and best eater of the five! They certainly keep me occupied during these troubled times! Stay tuned!