tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39109561253204436042024-10-07T01:13:52.822-05:00I love cats. This blog is about my journey into the world of feral cats.Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-64463561676662081912017-10-19T13:53:00.003-05:002017-10-19T13:54:28.911-05:00

Pippa October-November 2016 Mistake #2! Charky and Star escaped from the garage! Accidentally, of course. I let one out and Don, the other, at different times. Charky !  Star and Ash  We tried and tried to get them to come back. And where did they go? Back to their home, across the street, where my daughter now lives. And they do not want to take care of them.

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-24147716583542791412017-10-19T13:26:00.001-05:002017-10-19T13:26:45.611-05:00

October 2016 Back to my Cat Relocation Plan So I looked online to see if I could bring my little cat colony with us when we moved across the street. Shouldn't be hard, right? I could pet Charky and Pippa easily. Even hold them in my lap. Got my carriers, picked up these two by the scruff of their necks at different times, and dropped them in. Had to trap Star because she is not so

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-28735475489942574752017-10-19T13:17:00.000-05:002017-10-19T13:19:37.758-05:00

Winter 2010 When you trap cats, sometimes other critters get into the act. And when you feed cats outside, you'll discover that blue jays, possums, and raccoons will partake and who knows what else when I'm not looking. So we had a couple of possums and raccoons participate in our relocation program. I'm sure they're much happier now. I know I am. Unfortunately, there are more but that's for

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-5626122175600403132017-10-19T13:16:00.000-05:002017-10-19T13:28:18.840-05:00

October 2016 Let's see . . . Where were we? Oh, yeah, that's right. My daughter and her family moved to Nashville from Chicago and . . . they moved in with us. Temporarily. Which meant, a little over a year. Because they loved the school that Jordan was zoned for, they began looking for a house in the area. Yay for us, right? Well, they couldn't find exactly what they wanted. So we offered to

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-61491377561311584632015-10-05T20:47:00.001-05:002017-10-19T13:20:03.556-05:00

August 2016 Five weeks ago, Silver decided once again that she need a vacation. I know it's been a while since I've written, but you might remember that Silver is not very bright. We love her, she loves us, but we've never touched her. She is very feral but has lived in our house for maybe 8-9 years? I can't remember. She has run away 2 times for about 3 weeks each time. However, this time, it

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-48660236378973385442015-02-20T19:16:00.000-06:002016-11-02T18:24:12.669-05:00

Flash Forward, February 2015 Anyone who lives in the Middle Tennessee area knows about the "Snow Dome" and the inability of weather forecasters to forecast the weather. I call their obsessive behavior the Radar Show. It's most inconvenient when you want to watch normal TV. Because all stations feel obligated to give everyone within a 500-mile radius a minute-by-minute account of what has just

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-32832503431515149272014-11-23T21:37:00.001-06:002014-11-23T21:37:29.753-06:00

January 2010  Day 2 TNR I was more than happy to fulfill the "Release" part of TNR. Big Yella was driving us crazy. He was more than ready to leave the premises. So the next morning, I set the trap out and opened the door. He ran away so fast and we laughed so hard because we knew he wished he had never come to our backyard. And he never came back. Never. The kittens were another

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-3084468606307865662014-11-22T20:54:00.001-06:002014-11-22T20:54:59.674-06:00

January-February 2009 Mistake No. 3 I absolutely fell in love with "Miss Pretty," picture to the right. How could you not love that sweet little face? A few weeks before we trapped the cats, it snowed. They looked so cold and we had not discovered how to make those great little houses yet. I had blankets and towels out in the chairs for them. I checked every day to be sure they were dry.

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-67512194041638303012014-11-22T16:29:00.001-06:002014-11-22T16:29:57.235-06:00

One more reason to love Disney! Check out this great article on the Alley Cat Allies website— TNR at Work – Disneyland Finds Balance with Feral Cats

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-71727170665085795362014-11-15T16:00:00.000-06:002014-11-15T16:00:15.113-06:00

January 2010 Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) "We're going to trap cats, Don! There's a place in Lebanon that's called Snip and Tip. They will spay or neuter feral cats and give them their shots, too. They even loan people the traps to catch them. Isn't that great?!? All we have to do is catch 'em." Was that a groan I heard from the other room? Surely not! "And it's free." In all my research on

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-87697419037579362562014-11-10T08:32:00.000-06:002014-11-16T07:18:34.998-06:00

November 2009 "We need to make some warm places for them to sleep through the winter," I told Don. "Let's get some tarps and we'll drape them over the table. The umbrella will keep them dry, I think." So we used old towels, got tarps and tried to cover the chairs and give the cats warm and safe places to sleep. But I didn't think it was working very well. The wind would blow the tarp off and

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-28152115430621163032014-11-01T21:12:00.000-05:002014-11-01T21:12:37.580-05:00

Feral cats? In my backyard? That doesn't sound good. But they're so cute. So I started to do what we all do now—Googled it! Oh, my goodness. I couldn't believe what I found out. There is a serious problem with feral cats (and dogs, too). They kill birds and spread disease. They do whatever they can to survive. All because people have just thrown out unwanted domestic pets to fend for

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-41579782666005856432014-11-01T12:29:00.002-05:002014-11-02T15:44:29.246-06:00

Late October 2009 Yep, there she was. Mama cat with four new babies! Unbelievable! What on earth? And where had they been? Under the deck, we finally decided. Oh, and yes, the first family of four was still hanging out. Why not? The food was plentiful, fenced-in backyard, safe. If those people would just quit coming out, life would be quite good. We were still unable to touch any of them

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-8023769106275301122014-09-19T13:40:00.000-05:002014-09-19T13:48:13.671-05:00

Late Spring 2009 It was a beautiful spring day, when Don came in and said, "Honey, you've got to come look to see what's out back!" He was standing at the window in our living room that looks out over our yard. Of course, I dropped everything and went to look. Oh, my goodness! There was the sweetest mama cat with four little kittens just lying around in the grass. I took photos through

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-41253024818890938792014-09-19T13:03:00.002-05:002014-09-19T13:03:33.815-05:00

This will be a slight interruption to my ongoing story about my ferals. But this is a good article about the best kind of furniture to have if you are a cat lover. http://cats.about.com/od/illegalclawing/f/bestfurniture.htm

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-51163307208245275282014-09-09T12:01:00.001-05:002014-09-09T12:13:12.256-05:00

Winter - Spring 2008 Mistake No. 1 in socializing Silver was in not bonding with her while we had the chance. I've read since then that it is possible with younger ferals to ease them into the world of domesticity. What I could have done was play with her while she was in the trap and gradually get her used to my voice and touch. But I didn't know, so poor Silver found what she thought would

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-73993955728424406002014-09-05T19:35:00.000-05:002014-09-09T12:12:41.837-05:00

March 2008 After our visit to the vet, I returned Silver back to the "her" bedroom. I set the trap down on the floor and opened the trap door. Silver, who was still slightly sedated, cowered at the back of the trap. She would not come out. So . . . Mistake No. 1 . . . I left the room, turned off the lights and closed the door. Why was this a mistake? I'm so glad you asked. I now realize, after

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-31726233063078951852014-09-05T18:32:00.000-05:002014-09-09T12:12:18.181-05:00

January 2008 Poor Silver! As soon as the door slammed shut, she panicked. She jumped straight up some shelves that were in a corner by the door. Then she started running. Since she had already been in the house before, she wasn't totally lost. But this time, there was no escape. We had no plan. But fortunately for us, Silver found the upstairs guest bedroom and hid under the bed. Yes! I shut

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-56597873284148990252014-09-02T13:38:00.000-05:002014-09-09T12:11:45.784-05:00

Winter, 2008 As the weather got colder, I became more worried about our little Silver. Where would she go to keep warm? I began setting her food dish just inside the back door. I turned out the lights in the kitchen and would sit in a chair, frozen, where I could see her and she couldn't see me. She crept up to the open door and then would just sit forever. Finally, she carefully would creep

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-36034680754902577202014-08-26T19:06:00.001-05:002014-09-09T12:11:33.112-05:00

Summer 2007 "The fish are disappearing!" We have a pond in the backyard and it has koi and goldfish in it. We have lost fish for various reasons—didn't make it through exceptionally cold winters, the extreme fall of leaves covering the pond smothered them once, chlorinating them when I forgot to turn off the water, etc. I know, I'm a bad fish mother. But this was early summer and we could see

Janishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233129301674942055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3910956125320443604.post-23250286079979190452014-08-25T14:54:00.000-05:002014-08-26T09:17:32.316-05:00

Cassie is a beautiful Himalayan. Cassie is not a feral cat. She is a pure breed, registered cat. Born 1996. Big blue eyes, sweet face. And mean as a snake. She was our daughter's 18th birthday present, two months after our sweet Yorkie died. My daughter moved to Chicago over 15 years ago and Cassie is still with us. That should tell you something. After just 8 weeks of being in this world and

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