Draw the Dog - a cartoon website

Draw the Dog is a great on-line cartoon about dogs and their people. Besides the terrific artwork, the cartoon is special because it is "drawn while you watch". This day's cartoon deals with a dog who would be a help at my house - Peaches

Draw the Dog is drawn by Jim George, an ex-Disney animator. Per their website: "Jim draws the cartoons; Bruce Kasanoff does everything else. This is because Bruce can’t draw and Jim doesn’t want to do anything else."

Still here, Still herding

2010

WOW!!

I'm still surrounded by a herd of my brother's cats mixed with a few of mine (the boys don't mind fraternizing, but the old ladies get picked on by a few of Dick's "old boys", so they avoid contact whenever possible), and haven't had anyone adopted recently. The fraidy cats have become noticeably less afraid of living with me, and Honey, the dog; I'm not sure how they would react to a new face in the house, but they would probably run and hide. I'm hoping, however, that they would adjust to a new person more quickly now after getting used to me. They're getting more used to vacuum cleaners and big scary things in my hands (really only sacks of litter or food or other essentials, but some of them used to react like I was wearing a gorilla suit and threatening them with a tommy-gun), and I get to pet all of them a little and almost all of them quite a bit. Some of them demand attention and petting/scratching, and that includes the two formerly outdoor feral "kittens" - they're going to be 2 years old this July. Time flies -- whether we're having fun or not.



Find me on my other blog at www.shadepuppy.wordpress.com and Twitter at MyNameIsToffee

Taming a Feral / semi-Feral Cat - thoughts

In another 8 days, it will have been one year since my late brother went into the hospital -- not knowing why he was in such pain, and probably not knowing that he would soon die.

In another 9 days, it will have been one year since I took over the care of his many rescued cats -- some cats who were used to my visits and others who were afraid of any visitor. When Casa de los Gatos offered to help, they said that they could take even the semi-feral, but I figured that most of them should be those that were the most adoptable -- young, healthy, and friendly to those they knew at least, so that meant that I would be left with the old and the scaredy cats.

The old ones are not only friendly, they are demanding of attention -- like any true cat. The young ones who were born around the time of my brother's onset of symptoms, or afterwards, always scrambled to see who could hide first when I came in the door. I really never saw them until I was forced to become their caretaker. I didn't know their names, their gender, or even what they looked like -- there were a "bunch" of solid gray cats, and I had trouble counting them to know how many, let alone which one was which.

I have two of those now - Midget (female)and Grayling (male), and they still avoid me most of the time.But Grayling likes the Furminator, and today he saw me "furminating" one of the old cats, Buddy, and he came over close to me to decide whether it was safe to get a bit of furminating of his own. I firmly believe that cats started associating with humans not just for food (they could get their own food, but ours did look tasty) but for scratching their itchy places.

Many of my cats approach each other and give head bumps and rub their faces against the other's body, but cats don't use their paws and claws to help another cat scratch an itch -- they save it for themselves. When they have that "summer itch" with their fur starting to shed, only a human's fingers (or comb or Furminator) can reach down into the deep recesses of that thick coat, managing to both reach the itch and pull out some of the offending loose fur. My brother's old cats, when they were young, would actually line up next to his patio bench waiting to be the next one to be combed. Now they don't wait in line - they push each other away to be the first and only customer, but they all hang around for their chance.

This behavior has brought the semi-ferals, both the indoor and the two born outdoors, to watch and apparently learn about the pleasures of combing and scratching. Today I furminated several of Dick's old cats and a couple of my cats while Cali, Lil Bit, and both grays watched from a distance. Cali has let me scratch her fur before, but I never know whether she will let me approach or run away. Today SHE did the approach, and before she was through, I had pulled out quite a bit of undercoat and she was pushing her cheeks against my hand to be scratched as well as letting me comb her back and sides. Lil Bit came up and let me comb his back and tail. Even Grayling came up for short session - arching his back while I pulled the furminator through his thick coat. Dilly, one of the "outdoor" ferals, has been rubbing up against me for the last week or so, and really enjoyed having the tines of the furminator to lean into once she felt them go deep into her fur. She was purring and leaning and thoroughly looking like a tame house kitty. Her sister, Taffy, (pictured above) was sleeping, and I decided not to wake her for a session.

Summer is a good time to show a cat why being friendly to people can be satisfying -- getting rid of all that shedding fur is almost as much of a treat as a salmon dinner.

The pet gate is down - and this time it wasn't knocked down by accident.

My pet gate had a smaller gate door at the bottom that could be opened for cats to use while the dog, Honey, would have to jump the gate if she didn't want to wait for it to be opened. When I was home for the weekend, I would leave the gate open for hours and things went well, but I didn't want to leave all day for work with it open until I had a good deal of experience seeing their interactions. Well, Honey now acts much like my other dogs always did around the cats -- sneaks bites of yummy noms from their bowls and runs to check on them when she hears yowling/squalling/hissing, and so I unscrewed the fasteners, took the gate down and put it away in a bedroom. I now have one less thing to trip over, and the cats and dog officially live together... except for the closed, locked door that helps retain some of my sanity at night when they willingly traipse into the bedrooms to enjoy their bowls filled with canned food, and I run out and shut the door before they can escape, er.. follow me to the rest of the house. I have to lock the door because Buddy can open any door with a handle-type door opener, and all of mine have handles. (If anyone wants to adopt Buddy, this is "just a joke" -- he's not really a super elusive feline who can open any door, any cabinet...).

Which leads me to my next topic -- it's time to get some of these cats adopted into new homes. Taffy and Dilly are the two outdoor semi-feral kittens (born last July), and even they show a lot more confidence. Of course, when I bring out the vacuum, that confidence runs out the door into another room, but all my own cats always did that too. My brother's senior cats, however, were used to Dick's frequent cleaning and hang around while I have to vacuum around them. They aren't ready to have their fur vaccumed while they are wearing it, but they point out the hairbunnies if I miss them. The saying should specify that "Dogs have masters; cats have maids"...

Wild cats in the west

When I last wrote about Sarge's cats, I had transported the last one, Midget, from Dick's home, had scheduled her for spaying, and was worried about taming some of the indoor and outdoor “feral-acting” cats. Midget's spaying was completed without major incident, and she was NOT pregnant. I tried to give her a cage to rest in for a few days, but she didn't want to come out of her crate, so I jury-rigged the crate to fit in the door of a cage (with some towels stuffed around the opening to keep her from escaping from the cage). I didn't think it would work, but she was content to stay in her den-crate and went into the cage only to eat/drink/use the litter box. I didn't see her do any of those for several days, but the evidence was visible.

I had put Hassle in a cage the week before and found that he was not only fearful, but aggressive – when I reached for his bowl to add food, he slashed my hand with a
strong blow and made it clear that he was ready to take further action if I tried to reach for the litter box next to him. I don't like to bleed, and was easily convinced to keep his door shut and drop food thru the cage openings..., but how to clean/change his litter box? I had hoped that he would relax after a few days, but he appeared to be growing increasingly tense and angry. I emailed folks on the animal rescue lists and asked for advice, and grudgingly decided to let him out of the cage and hope that he would respond in time – as encouraged by Colene and others. I had gotten him to move from the cage to a crate and was truly almost ready to transport him to the County pound where he would have been euthanized for wild behavior. I feared that I would end up having to do it later – and that I would get bloodied trying to trap him, but I decided he needed to have a chance. I also decided to change his name from “Hassle” to “Fife”, (and now "Barney") – after Mayberry's fearful but steadfast deputy. Photo of Fife relaxing in the cat playpen.

I am amazed to report that Fife now does the “flop, drop, and roll” to get rubbed and although still nervous about new experiences, he's explored places in my home that my own original cats have yet to touch (I hope they never do), and that he's a “sucker for salmon flavored food”. He enjoys a strong backscratching, allows a tummy rub without attacking my hand, and visits every bowl that has salmon catfood placed in it.

Midget has let me touch her, but is still leery of staying in one place and being petted, but her older stepbrother, Grayling, accepts petting once I can touch him – but doesn't always let me near enough to get that first touch.

The outdoor feral kittens are a work in progress – I took one back to Dick's place because she seemed to be very scared, Dilly and the calico, now named Taffy, have adapted to indoor life quite well. Dilly lets me touch her and pet her and plays games with the other cats when I bring out the string toys. Taffy stares at me and still considers me a threat, but a threat with food. She has gone out the door into the backyard at least twice (not my plan, but hers) and surprisingly returned – she considers the house to be her sanctuary even though she lived outside since birth. Of course, a lot of that time she spent inside a storage shed, under Dick's home, and under the roof of his carport – so that likely has helped prepare her for living under a roof. She used the litter box the first time she needed to pee after being brought to live in my home, and she and Dilly have continued to have good bathroom habits.

My dog, Honey, has chased a number of the exploratory cats, and has cornered a few which resulted in scary situations, but her intentions still appear to be playful and the cats are getting more used to her. A number of them lie in front of the pet gate and watch her with our house cats – they appear to be either judging her friendliness with those cats or studying her response time from the kitchen to the pet gate. They've knocked the gate over several times while running away from Honey, and I'm thankful none have broken any bones. That's not what I'm yelling at them when I hear/see the gate go down, though.

I now believe that each of them could live in an adoptive home, given more time to become socialized and given a patient adoptive owner.

Dick's house is catless!

Tonight I transported the last cat out of Dick's house - she (Midget) is scheduled for a spay appointment tomorrow morning at the MASH unit in Apache Junction. I had set three traps in the empty hall bedroom (with no bathroom access or other doors to escape through) after finally closing both Midget and Lil Bit in that bedroom. Midget has been very leery of me over the last few weeks as I crated and trapped cats for transport to my home, and she has avoided each of the traps that I set - one by one, the traps caught the "under the sink" cat, Midget's brother or step-brother, but NOT Midget. I caught the last of the outdoor kittens and got them spayed last week, but NOT Midget. Even tonight, things did not go as hoped -- after I took Lil Bit in his trap out of the house, I hoped that Midget would come out and seek food, walk into one of the two remaining traps and await me when I returned. Instead, she was still curled up in a corner of the closet - I touched her, but she growled and looked frantic, and I was not willing to risk being attacked in fear. I guided her out of the closet and herded her from several hiding places, hoping she would head for one of the traps, but instead she went into a small crate! I would have been overjoyed except for the fear that the vet staff will find it difficult to handle her and get her out of the crate. I placed the crate in the trap door, and she ran into the trap, but ran back into the crate - so I thankfully accepted that she was finally captured and took her home. I hope the vet clinic will be able to handle her and get her spayed tomorrow.

An Update from the Casa de los Gatos

I received an email today from Sheryl, one of the angels who cares for the cats at the Casa de los Gatos, and specifically, one the of the angels who cares for those of Sarge's cats who were re-homed there. I knew that leaving them there would be extremely upsetting for them, but I could not afford to keep paying the mortgage where they were living since Sarge's death. Any move would have been upsetting, but they needed to go somewhere that they would be cared for and given the chance for adoption into new homes - the Casa was a wonderful opportunity for them -- but they might not agree. Well, it seems that most of them have begun to delight in the advantages of their new temporary home, and the staff who cater to their needs.

The email:

We wanted you to know that the cats are doing well. They are still pretty shy, but most of them are coming to us for attention now. Socks, Smokey and Prissy are the ring leaders and all pile into my lap at once, then the others come to see if they can fit in too!

I brought them a Drinkwell water fountain yesterday since some of them like to drink from the sink faucet, I thought they would like it. Sure enough Prissy made a beeline to it, and several others gave it a shot. Henry walks way around it though- it just seems too strange to him! Mittens is the only one who remains very unsure about us, but I did get a couple of pets in on him yesterday, he hissed to let me know he is still not sure if I am OK or not!

Alex and Patches are vey sweet and will let me carry them around, ( Smokey insists on being carried!), Markie, Angel, Henry, Marmalade, Inky, Missy and Pepper loosen up after I give them some gentle petting, they will relax and act like they are enjoying the attention! Joey and Jack snuggle together in the bottom of the climber, they are so cute together, Joey likes to have one arm extended out of the side hole of their little cubby. Sunshine and Lucky have taken ownership of the top of the storage cabinet, they have the best view from up there! They start purring when we come in to give them their breakfast in the mornings. Lucky will come down from his perch to eat, but Sunshine likes "room service" he wants his food served up to him in bed! They are all getting quite used to having wet food in the mornings. They are eating well, and from the mess in the house every morning they are quite active at night! Most of the covers are strewn about the room, food bowls tipped over, they party hard at night!

Anytime you want to visit please do. We are at the house every day from morning till early (sometimes late!) afternoon. I know it is a long drive, but if you need to come this way just give me a call and let ne know you are on the way.

What's your favorite litter?

I've been doing a lot of litter box duty for the last few months, and I have come up with a recipe for a mixture of cat litters that I like. The rule for number of litter boxes is "one for each cat PLUS one", so for my brother's 40 cats, we would have needed 41 boxes. That wouldn't have left much room in his home for walking around, so he only had about 6 boxes - one being a large bin. When you have a lot of cats using only a few boxes, clay litter can get H*A*R*D pretty fast. I added a couple of boxes, but decided that I needed to try other litters. I like World's Best litter (corn based), but it is expensive, and at first I thought that it would cost too much to use for such a large group. Since I've found that it can be used longer than clay, I decided to give it a try, and found that the expense was not as high since I didn't need to refill it as often. Then I decided to add some Nature's Miracle litter to see if it would further reduce the odor after many uses. I really liked the fluffiness that the Nature's Miracle added, and believe it is a really good combination -- the corn granules form nice tight balls around the urine, while the fluffiness of the Nature's Miracle helps make the scooping easier (no cement blocks to try to dig thru) as well as keeping any messes from sticking to the sides of the box.