Friday Cat Blogging
Tonto 2004-2012
It is time.
[Editor: Tonto took over as alpha female when her sister, The Lone Ranger, left for the Bridge, but she hasn’t been very happy about it. They shared kitten rearing, sitting for each other when either needed a break, and backing each other when there were conflicts. Lately she has spent most of her time on the lawn in front of my house trying to warm up. Last week she became noticeably shaky on her feet, and then she disappeared to her special place on Monday to prepare to meet her sister at the Bridge. She wasn’t very nice, but she will be missed.]
9 comments
Sad to see her go. IMHO, “nice” is highly overrated as a virtue, and doubly so in the case of a feral cat.
You have to be tough to last 8 years as a feral, and an alpha. Someone has to provide discipline.
The problem is that there is no obvious replacement for her. There are only two true feral females left, Froggy and Lucrezia. The others are toms, and they will move on. That means that the ‘Trap, Neuter, Release’ is coming to its conclusion. Neither Froggy nor Lucrezia have ever produced a kitten to my knowledge, although both are old enough. If they had kittens, they didn’t survive much beyond birth.
Tip is fixed, and not a true feral anymore, and Ringo has never really integrated into the ‘family’.
Little crabby kitty, hope your going was gentle and your sister was there to greet you.
I’m sorry tohear the news Bryan. We know what a feral girl can become even when taken in as an adult. But Tonto must have been a tough cookie.
There was no indication of pain, Ellroon, or I would have intervened. I attempted to make things easier for her but she refused to alter her activities. I put a food bowl down at ground level, but she insisted on climbing the steps to eat. She went when she felt like it, and the way she wanted.
She has been through a few hurricanes, Jams, and rose to the top of the heap, so she definitely was tough.
Awww. I’m sorry. It’s sad to see her go. I hope she was able to warm up. Kitties need to enjoy the sunlight, no matter how old or feeble they are.
That was her spot on the front lawn, and she insisted on it. I had the slab by my back door warmed by a light, but she preferred the sunlight on the East side.
i’m so sorry. nice to think of the lone ranger and tonto reunited, but it’s still hard on the humans they leave behind.
It is hard to see them go, but they do get to decide without a lot of strangers telling them they can’t. When it comes to the end of life decisions, cats have a much better system than humans.