Kids these day have no manners!
[Editor: Toes is looking pretty bad these days. The life of the alpha tom is filled with fights to take the position away, and he has had multiple injuries this year. It is bad during the cold spells, because he isn’t welcomed into the clusters of cats that share their warmth.]
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Established: 21 November 2004
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4 comments
Poor Toes! He is looking a tad rough – sort of like the one that’s been wandering through my woods!
I took your advice and made sure my “aroma” is all over the little bowl. The food is getting eaten, but I haven’t seen her again. Since it’s being eaten in the daytime, I assume it’s her. We have a lot of night creatures, so I take it up if she hasn’t eaten by dark. I hope to get another glimpse of her soon. All I can tell so far is that she’s black with a mixture of orange. Good colors for a witch’s familiar.
At least Toes appears to be eating well. Too bad that it would be as much as your life is worth to try and give him a bath. He looks like he’d be a pretty boy all cleaned up.
Actually the big clue to his condition is the fact that he isn’t grooming like he should. He is scarred and if he isn’t grooming, he can’t be taking care of any injuries he receives. All I could do for him is ease him to the Bridge, but he has earned the right to make his own decision on the timing.
If you are seeing black and orange, it is definitely a female. If you had noticed white, it would be a calico, but since the third color is probably grey, it is a tortoise shell. You need two X chromosomes to handle all of the necessary color information.
If she is eating during the day, she is almost certainly a stray, rather than feral.
I’m sorry to hear that about poor Toes. Lived hard and fought hard, sounds like. He’ll have plenty of company at the Bridge…
You certainly have accumulated lots of cat lore! So, “tortoise shell” is female? Well. So, your original guess was certainly spot on there. And I’m glad to hear that she’s a stray rather than a feral. Perhaps she will eventually be found by the appropriate people or at least warm up enough to not hightail every time she sees me.
I tried to take a photo of her, and “tried” is the operative word here. I did manage to sneak around the corner of the house while she was eating the other day. As soon as she heard the sound of the camera (which is only a light snick from my phone camera) – Gone! As it happens, I forgot to zoom in, so I still have nothing. Catching cats by photo isn’t my strong suit, and they’re not interested in sitting for a portrait particularly.
I can assure you that all of my pictures of ferals are taken with near maximum zoom, because even though they have known me since they were kittens, they don’t trust me.
If you consider the lack of trust that Mae displayed, despite the fact that she has been socialized, imagine the reaction of the cat who has been cast out. Once lost, trust is hard to re-establish.
Toes has done what he wanted to and reached the top. If he had been a bit friendlier he would have at least doubled his life span, but wouldn’t have had the same career choice.