Buddy in a Box

Buddy in a Box

Buddy is an utterly charming young fellow who devoted his summer to taking our hearts hostage. He arrived one day in the spring, a jaunty, devil-may-care rake with a handsome white tuxedo front accenting his grey striped coat. Our resident cat population was harder to win over than we mere humans. They didn’t take to this new kid on the block, and were especially put off by his confident tomcat demeanour.

Once it was clear that Buddy had checked us out and decided he was moving in, we hurried him in for a visit with the vet. Buddy was in no way discombobulated by this turn of events and gave no indication of being put out by his minor surgery. It did help to smooth the waters with the other cats, though. The veterinarian guessed Buddy to be about a year and a half old.

One of Buddy’s people-charming tricks involves boxes. Buddy loves sitting in boxes or napping in boxes. The photograph above shows Buddy curled up in a shoe box beside my computer desk where he keeps me company. I bet he wishes I wore a slightly bigger shoe size.

We don’t know where Buddy came from. It seems likely that he is the offspring of barn cats and was perhaps chased away from his home by the resident Tom. Buddy was lucky to find a new family. Many, many feral cats live short, tough lives filled with hardship. Animal shelters are often bursting at the seams with unwanted cats and kittens. The planet has way too many people and way too many cats. It’s difficult to solve overpopulation issues where humans are involved. With cats, the answer is easy. Please have your cat spayed or neutered and keep them at home where they are safe. Help make every cat a beloved indoor cat.

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The Heat is On

Arthur

The heat of summer has arrived with July. When the heat is on, there’s nothing to do but to find a place to relax and chill out.

Capone

Tonka

Mikey

Moey

Buddy

Momcat

Arthur again.

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Sunday Snapshot: Missy

Missy Relaxing in the Lap of Luxury

Thanks to Uncle Dave, today’s guest photographer, for this lovely shot of Missy the Cat, reclining on Carol’s lap.

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Sunday Snapshot: Jungle Cat

Capone in the Jungle

Jungle Cat

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Sitting Pretty

For Christmas, Fiddlegirl’s sisters got her a papasan chair, a large, round, bowl-shaped seat that sits on a rattan stand. It was too big to wrap, and we all trooped out to the car on Christmas morning for the Big Reveal. Above, Fiddlegirl whips off the covering with a flourish. The cover for the seat pad was custom-made by Birdgirl and features a pattern of cheerful moose.

Fiddlegirl reports that once she had it set up at home, it quickly became a cat magnet. First Dactyl, her pretty, fluffy orange boy claimed it. Dactyl is so named for his extra thumb-like digit. He is just recovering from a health crisis, so perhaps has the better claim to the best seat in the house. However, his younger companion, Schroedinger, was not to be put off so easily.

Schrodinger is named for Schrodinger’s Cat, a paradoxical thought-experiment proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. If quantum physics interests you, you can read about Schrodinger’s Cat here. If Schrodinger looks familiar, the reason is that he is yet another of Momcat’s progeny. In fact, he looks a lot like Momcat herself.

The cats came to an understanding and Fiddlegirl reports they are now amiably sharing the new chair. In fact, the chair has even brought them closer together, in both senses of the word! Thanks to Fiddlegirl for sharing her cat tale.

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Sunday Snapshot: Cat at the Window

Capone at the Window

Capone

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Snapshot Sunday: Best Friends

Best Friends: Tonka and Capone

Top to bottom, Tonka, Capone, Mikey and Arthur

Capone and Mikey

Momcat and Arthur

Arthur

Capone and Mikey

Tonka and Moey: Half Siamese, Half Tabby, Brother and Sister

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Natural Born Killers (Every Cat an Indoor Cat: Part Two)

Moey

While we cat owners like to think of our cats as warm, cuddly lap-sitters, the fact remains that cats are natural born killers. Inside that cute exterior is a very skilled hunter. In fact, cats are famous for their mousing abilities. However, mice aren’t their only victims. Any small creature is fair game to a cat, and that includes birds.

Cats are not a natural part of the North American ecosystem. They arrived with humans, and have been wreaking havoc on the bird population ever since. This might not have been too much of a problem when the cat population was small, but those days are long gone. Today, there are an estimated at 75 million cats in the United States alone. Studies of cat poop (ewwww!) have shown that the average cat kills and eats at least one bird a week. That includes cats whose owners have never seen their cat with a bird and are convinced that their pet doesn’t hunt. The instinct to hunt is strong. The fact that the cat is well-fed will not prevent it from hunting. Wearing a bell will not prevent these crafty hunters from successfully catching prey.

Capone

If you do the math, you will see that the toll cats inflict on the bird population is astronomical. Six hundred cats will kill 600 birds a week. Over a 10 week breeding period, those 600 cats will kill 6000 birds. Those figures are for house cats. Consider that half the cat population consists of free-roaming, homeless cats hunting for their livelihood. Cats kill millions and millions of songbirds every year. You can read more about cats and birds at the American Bird Conservancy site. Cat lovers and bird conservators agree. Cats belong indoors. The Great Outdoors is no place for a cat! For more on indoor cats, see Every Cat an Indoor Cat: Part One.

Arthur

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Every Cat an Indoor Cat: Part One

Momcat

Momcat could be a poster girl for the Cats Indoors campaign. We’ll never know who her caregiver was when she was a kitten, but whoever they were, they should never have had a pet. Poor Momcat! Barely a kitten herself, she was allowed to roam the neighbourhood, and as her caregiver had failed to have her spade, it wasn’t long before she was pregnant. Although this event was a result of her caregiver’s negligence, it was Momcat who paid the price. After her kittens were born, her caregiver bundled her and her new family into a cardboard box and drove them out to a country road. The little family was dumped unceremoniously by the roadside. You can read Momcat’s story here.

Momcat has lived inside with us now for a year. All winter she was content to laze away the days, sleeping in the sun, happily gazing out the window, watching the world go by. I thought that when the spring came, a touch of wanderlust might overcome her and make her restless, but such was not the case. She has continued to contentedly while away her days inside. Although she never allows us to approach within a few yards of her, and has in no way grown to appreciate human attention, Momcat is no fool. She has led a hard life and she knows when she has a good thing going. No more outdoors for her! No way! Momcat has come inside to stay.

When Momcat’s son, Arthur, managed to slip out one evening through a hole he discovered in a screen, his curiosity quickly turned to terror. Poor Arthur! He was so frightened, he wouldn’t respond to our calls. He hid himself away and we couldn’t find him anywhere. However, that night, after the house was still and dark, he tried his best to return home. We jumped up repeatedly on the windows, trying to find his way back into the house. In the morning, we found the screens ripped to bits. But no Arthur. With the light of day, he returned to his hiding place. Finally, the next evening, he crept in a window we left open for him in a closed-off room. Although he enjoys sitting on the screened porch, he has never left the house again.

Holden

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies has promoted keeping cats indoors for more than a decade now. Indoor cats live longer, healthier lives, free of injury and disease. They don’t get run over by cars, carried away by coyotes, or pick up fleas and worms. They don’t dig in the neighbour’s garden or haunt the bird feeder. If you don’t want a cat living indoors with you, 24/7, for the next 15 years, don’t get a kitten.

Cheddar

Contrary to signs you see that read FREE KITTENS!, kittens are definitely not free. They come with a responsibility to have the kitten spade or neutered and vaccinated. If you can’t afford the several hundred dollars it will cost, you can’t afford a free kitten.

Diamond

All across North America, shelters are full of cats and kittens like Holden and the other cats featured here. Holden and friends were seeking homes at the Toronto Cat Rescue. Toronto Cat Rescue is a “no kill” shelter, but perfectly healthy cats and kittens, unwanted and unloved, are euthanized by the thousands across North America every year. Thousands and thousands more live short, hard lives as feral cats.

Austin

The cats and kittens that are euthanized, the cats and kittens that live hungry, tough outdoor lives, are the result of irresponsible pet owners. Don’t let your pet become a statistic. Keep your cat inside where it will be safe and can get on with its job: being a much-loved pet.

Arthur and Tonka, safe inside.

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Snapshot Sunday: Handsome Stranger

Capone at Mirror

Who is that handsome stranger?

Capone sees Capone

And why won’t he come out to play?

Capone x 2

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