petrea_mitchell | Entries tagged with cats

A black cat sitting on a fleece blanket in a chair.

We have moved with unseemly haste to get another cat, because Monty is basically still a giant kitten despite being almost 6 years old, and Marlene is not an energetic cat and never like Monty much anyway. The hope is that by bringing in another active cat, that will keep Monty from harassing Marlene.

Isla is a little over a year old and comes from the Cat Adoption Team, where her listing caught my eye because it mentioned that she was more motivated by play than food. She is certainly a very active cat. She was initially quarantined in the usual room we use, but which is also now where my work-from-home nook is. Having a human to hang out with most of the day has definitely accelerated her getting comfortable in the house, although not the pace of getting comfortable with the other cats.

Marlene is not happy with this development, though with time and reassurance she has at least accepted that the new resident is a fact of life. Monty completely skipped the step about being suspicious of the new cat and went straight to trying to get through the door to play with her within an hour of us bringing Isla home. He has by now figured out that she's a bit intimidated by him yet, and is currently spending a lot of time sitting near her and occasionally rolling around at her in the hope that she'll get the idea.

We don't know much of Isla's history other than what's in her medical record: spayed last December by a program out in eastern Washington that mostly works with stray and feral cats, then some time in a shelter in Pendleton, then a transfer to CAT. She didn't want to eat much in a shelter setting, so CAT had her in a foster home, which meant we got to see her and chat with her fosterer by Zoom before setting up the logistics of the adoption.

Barbecue and Shy cat sunning themselves.

Phosphor's two feral sisters have been hanging out in the backyard since arriving with their own kittens in 2012 and 2013. The friendlier one got nicknamed Barbecue Cat for her fascination with watching us barbecue. The more solidly feral one was Shy Momcat, later Shy Cat, because when she returned she didn't even want to be looked at by a human out the back window.

The day after we said goodbye to Phosphor, Barbecue Cat accepted an opportunity to sit just inside the house for a bit in the morning, as she does sometimes.

And I haven't seen her since.

Shy Cat reverted to hyper-shy mode and the last visual contact I had was last Monday. The last time I heard I heard the distinctive thumping of a cat on the heating vents under the house (where they've preferred to den in the winter despite us offering a variety of aboveground shelter options) was Tuesday.

We'll never know what happened. Did Barbecue Cat suffer a sudden health problem? Did she decide to go after a raccoon that wasn't willing to be intimidated out of her territory? Or did she just decide to go join Orange Cat at his home base?

Given that it's spring, when cats are given to wander, and that Barbecue Cat seemed fine when I last saw her, I think there actually is a pretty good chance that she just decided to move. And I hope Shy Cat was able to find her.

And that's how it goes with ferals, they're just not there one day. I was prepared for this to happen, I mean, they're almost 14 and the life expectancy of ferals in a managed colony is only about 10 years. But the timing is not just tragic but extremely unsettling.

Marlene, Phosphor, and Monty in a sunbeam

We had to say goodbye to Phosphor this morning.

( Brief medical details )

Phosphor was born feral. His sisters who we weren't able to trap as kittens are still with us, but we've yet to see a feral tomcat last more than a couple years as part of the backyard colony, even TNRed. So I manage to think we did him a favor by bringing him indoors.

He's been every cat's favorite cat; he helped tame feral kittens, grew up to take care of the cat he considered his adopted mother, mothered our huge but insecure alpha cat when she was a kitten, and was a best buddy to our youngest.

I think he had a good life, I just wish we could have done more for him.

Put on Your Own Shoes Day: How old were you when you learned to put on your own shoes? How about when you learned to tie your own shoelaces?

Wow, I can't remember at all.

I'll tell a story about shoelaces instead. When the SO and I got our first cats together, one of them, Norby, was a kitten a few months old. For a while part of my morning routine became to put on one shoe, tie it, put on the other shoe, tie it, and then tie the first one again because Norby would grab the end of a shoelace he'd just seen moving and pull it.

Every spring, tomcats feel the need to roam. We will get a few stopping by to see if the backyard ferals might be interested in having more kittens, but they give up after a few days after figuring out that the ferals are never going to be in heat again.

One of them is a huge orange cat who's been visiting the last couple springs. This year, though, he was still making friendly noises around the house at all hours of the day after a month, and he'd started eating at the feral food bowl, which he'd never been interested in before. At that point we realized that he might be trying to integrate himself into the backyard colony.

I don't know if he's actually denning with the other ferals under the house, since the way they get in is on the one side of the house that has no windows. But the hopeful trilling is definitely coming from under the house sometimes. I've seen him challenged by Obnoxious Cat twice now and both times he refused to back down (although he didn't right either, just sat there and waited for Obnoxious Cat to give up), so he does seem to think the house is part of his territory, at least.

We've printed up flyers which I'll go post around the neighborhood to see if we can find out where he's been living recently. If no one contacts us, or they confirm that he's moved away from his old den, then it'll be time to prepare for trapping him to get him neutered.

This is the best photo I've been able to get of him so far. It really doesn't do justice to his epic size or his epic orangeness.

What if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs day? This is a fun one, what do you think our furry companions would be doing if they could open the cans themselves?

Still reminding us about feeding time because it wouldn't give them the necessary strength or reach to open the door of the pantry where the cans live.

Love Your Pet Day: Do you have pets? Tell us about them – cats, dogs, other species? How many?

Still the three indoor cats, the two ferals who can't quite decide to move in, and various backyard passers-by, including the obnoxious neighbor cat on and off.

We still have unrealized plans to add a catio. We got as far as getting quotes for having the front deck rebuilt as one and got sticker shock.

Yesterday evening, Monty discovered the trunk of the Christmas tree was sturdy enough to bear his weight, and climbed about two-thirds of the way up before I told him to stop.

Later, the tree was discovered tilted over significantly. The stand hadn't tipped over, but the tree had rotated in it. We chose to blame the obvious suspect.

Luckily, it was just the tree, because we usually wait a couple days to start decorating until the cats become accustomed to its presence.

Yesterday, a gigantic, uncollared, clearly unfixed orange tabby tomcat strolled into the backyard. He gave the feral cats' food a quick sniff, headed for the back fence, sniffed the air a bit there, then strolled out again, stopping to spray a bush on the way.

...completely ignoring Barbecue Cat, who was perched in a highly visible spot, assuming a defensive posture. I'm guessing that since she was spayed years ago, she was not what he was looking for.

I've never seen this cat before, but he could have been doing this for years for all I know. If I hadn't been working from home with a good view of the backyard, I'd never have known he was here. (My first couple months of working from home, I was at a card table next to the dining table, in the middle of the house with no backyard view.)

Until this week I could say that I didn't personally know anyone officially diagnosed with covid-19. (There was one notable person in the conrunning community who died in early March of what was diagnosed as pneumonia at the time, but in retrospect, knowing that the virus had been circulating in the US since January, looks a lot like a typical early covid-19 case.) As you can guess: not anymore.

Monday one of my coworkers took a sick day. Tuesday he let us know on Slack that he was still sick, and had gotten a covid test. Wednesday the news was that he and everyone else in his household all had mild covid-19, mild in this case meaning, in his words, "at least no one's had to go to the hospital yet". Friday,

lydy announced a positive test.

Saturday, the SO was out of commission due to a disagreement with something from our Friday night takeout dinner. The food poisoning has run its course now, so we know that it was food poisoning, but it has added to the general feeling of doom pressing in from all sides.

As does the fact that tomorrow two of the cats have checkups, and one of them is Marlene. No health concerns, but trying to get her into a carrier is always an occasion for drama and has maybe a 50/50 chance of eventual success. At the time we arranged the appointment, we'd trained her to go into the carrier for a treat, but the vet was scheduling a month out and Marlene got bored with the new game in the meantime.

Christmas lights have popped up all over the neighborhood. Maybe in another day or two I'll be in the holiday spirit.

Last night, I went to retrieve the ferals' food bowls and heard a strident meow. I looked and saw Monty emerging from the shrubbery further back in the yard.

Obviously he'd gotten out somehow. But hadn't I just seen him in the house a few minutes ago? I looked back inside and Monty was in there, watching me.

I looked back at the yard and there was definitely a cat there. A brown tabby, with white patches almost identical to Monty's.

It came over to investigate the feral dens and bowls, and I saw it wasn't quite identical to Monty-- more of a marbled tabby than a spotted one, and a bit larger than him. I didn't see a collar, but it looked healthy and well-fed, and since it was willing to speak to strange humans I assumed it was a neighbor cat just out exploring new territory.

It wandered off, and I haven't seen it at all today, so I presume it found its way home. That was a freaky moment, though.

No, not an untamed riddle roaming the wilderness, a puzzle involving a feral cat.

Barbecue Cat has been increasingly indicating over the last year or so that she'd like to move into the house. Not because she's taking a liking to humans, though; she'd like to come in and hang out with the indoor cats. For years we've been leaving the back door a bit open, or open with the screen closed, so that cats can come up and sniff at each other, so everyone feels like they know each other. Barbecue Cat seems to really like other cats, but the only other regular we have right now is Shy Cat, who is not really into snuggling and mutual grooming and so forth. Whereas Phosphor has the same general like of other cats, and Monty has outright been trying to make play overtures at her.

All the advice out there on transitioning feral cats to indoor life starts with the assumption that the cat is warming up to humans, and you need to work on getting them acquainted with any cats already in the house. Here, the cats are already practically on a first-name basis, and we have find a way for the indoor cats to persuade the feral that humans can be trusted to behave themselves. She's willing to trust me long enough to come sniff my fingers for a moment when I'm putting food out, but we've stalled at that point for years.

So the first problem is letting her into the house without letting anyone else out. This can only be achieved by having me hovering near the door, redirecting the indoor cats away from it if they get too interested. Ideally we could just close the interior door to the back room so that no other cats would be present, but Barbecue Cat doesn't want to come in unless she's seen cats on the other side of the door recently.

On the other hand, we can have too much indoor cat presence. When she tries stepping in, one or more cats will walk up and start sniffing her before she's gotten very far.

One strategy that's helped is to open the door with Monty present, then throw a toy ball for Monty to chase into the next room. This not only clears the way, it demonstrates that we have toy balls in the house. Last summer, Barbecue Cat got hold of some kind of round unripe plant growth and was batting it around on the patio. When it vanished after a few days, I tried putting a toy ball out, and it got vigorously played with from time to time until the weather turned bad.

I tried putting some food and water near the door and inviting her in this morning, but Phosphor and Marlene chose to demonstrate that the food was safe by eating all of it. She stepped in anyway but didn't want to go near the food bowl with two other cats swarming it.

With persistence, we have at least reached the point where she will step into the house for a few minutes multiple times in one evening. She'll even tolerate being within a couple feet of me for those few minutes as long as I don't make any sudden moves.

I guess this is my stuck-at-home pandemic project.

The nice part of spring is finally here! Last week I was still wearing the winter coat on my afternoon walks, but yesterday it hit 75F in the afternoon.

The ferals approve. (Shy Cat at top, Barbecue Cat on the step.)

How about some pictures of sleeping animals?

Here's Marlene, Phosphor, and Monty on a sunny day in January.

I had Presidents' Day off, so I went to the zoo, just to see more cats in sunbeams.

Okay, that's not entirely true. Right next door to the cheetahs, there were dogs in a sunbeam.

These are African painted dogs. The zoo had three of them, and then about a year ago, one of them had a dozen puppies. I'd been wondering if they'd been sent off to other zoos yet, but the answer appears to be no.

This morning, when I turned on the patio light and opened the back door to put food out for the feral cats, a possum popped out of hiding and dove under the house. This explains why outdoor kibble consumption has been up lately, and probably why dirt is getting tracked into the water bowls.

This is a situation we've seen before. A few years ago, we saw one possum so regularly in the evenings that we dubbed it Peculiar Cat. It had no problem being out at the same time as the feral cats, and they would politely wait their turn while it finished eating. I guess, on the premise that it was furry, four-legged, eating the same food as them, and too big to be prey (the typical possum around here is slightly larger than a typical housecat), they assumed it was just a weird-looking cat. A little Web searching at the time suggested that this is far from the first feral colony to have a possum hanging out with it.

Anyway, I don't begrudge it the food. It's probably helping keep the garden pests down (fun fact: possums can even eat poisonous snakes, being immune to pit viper venom), and it won't be around for long. Reliable sources say they don't often live longer than a couple years.

With relatives in town practically all week, have hardly had time to do anything else. I did manage pick up that book I was looking forward to, though.

Cats

Phosphor tries to hold off the umpteenth enthusiastic grooming of the day. I am unsympathetic because when Phosphor was Monty's age, his grooming technique involved putting the other cat in a headlock first.

Fandom

Orycon is suddenly looming before me and I need to get some stuff written down for that panel.

Gaming

Really hardly time to do anything this week, but today I did make it through another chapter of Fire Emblem: Awakening and managed the super-difficult pairing of Chrom and Olivia.

Books and media

Somehow I found time to read Salvation Lost. Just finished off the Australian sf collection, and started The Raven Tower.
( Politics )

I think I'm finally adjusted to the new work schedule. Just in time for it to be disrupted by visiting relatives and a time change!

Cat

Marlene, showing off her variegated toes. Both hind feet have black center pads and pink toes. The front center pads are mostly black, with a mixture of pink and black toes. I'm not sure how you get a black pad surrounded by white fur, but she's managed it.

Fandom

It's almost time for Orycon. I don't feel ready!

Gaming

The friendly local gaming store had its store championship, everyone playing with a single just-unsealed deck. I got a very strange deck which, across four rounds, won big twice and lost big twice.

I keep meaning to start taking a look at the DS games I got at PRGE, then going, "Wait! I should finish my replay of Fire Emblem: Awakening first!" So I've done a few more chapters of that and am about to see if I manage to get Chrom paired up with Olivia or not.

Books and media

Started reading Portable Australian Authors: Australian Scienc Fiction, edited by Vann Ikin, a collection showcasing the history of Australian sf from the 1800s up to the modern day of 1982, when it was published. Main impression of the early stuff: boy did it love its race wars. Then again, I've just read a piece from 1915 where the survivor of a super-technological society advocates aggressive eugenics and the hero disagrees. In fact he goes so far to suggest that the treatment of aboriginal peoples around the world in his own time may have been a tad unjustified...
( Politics )

It was dark when I got up even though I lazed around until after 7am. I can't wait for the end of daylight saving time.

Cat

A gray tabby bicolor watching curiously beside a tree trunk.

A rather handsome if apprehensive fellow on the catio tour. No, I didn't take many pictures of actual catio features...

Fandom

I got my Orycon panel schedule. It consists of one panel, but it's one I've been pitching to almost every convention I've been a panelist at for over a decade, so I'm happy.

Gaming

Went to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this weekend, which is a post all by itself. While there, played a lot of Mii Plaza and a couple chapters of Fire Emblem: Awakening.

I learned that The Crucible, the unofficial online KeyForge play forum, has updated itself to the current card set after all, so I've started playing a game or two a day there. It's a good way to practice not making stupid mistakes, but it's not going to replace the gaming store games. It doesn't have the camaraderie, or the benefit of just getting out of the house... and what it does have is rather a lot of people who will quit in the middle of games rather than lose.

Books and media

The final push to get the anime premieres over with crowded just about everything else out. Though I did finally remember to pre-order Salvation Lost.
( Politics )

Fall color around here usually comes in piecemeal, but this time it's like all the trees looked at their calendars this week and said, "What, October already??". Suddenly it's everywhere.

Cat

A well-camouflaged cat on the catio tour.

A well-camouflaged cat seen on the catio tour.

Fandom

Orycon issued a progress report yesterday saying panelists should have their schedules "by the end of the week". Which week or what they consider the end is not clear. There's another section of the progress report referring to the con coming up in six weeks (more like four now).

Gaming

Yesterday I went all the way across town for the store championship at Red Castle Games for my worst result ever! But I now have a deck named Dr. Pain, so the day was not wasted.

I've been whipping right through the Fame path in Sunless Skies and have nearly finished it. After that I think I might put it aside for a while. The Retro Gaming Expo is right around the corner, after all...

Books and media

No room for anything but anime this week. But I'm done with the premieres (except for Psycho-Pass 3 which doesn't show up for another couple weeks) and nearly caught up with second episodes, so there will be room for other things soon.
( Politics )

I had to put my thermal on for the morning commute on Monday. In September! It's not supposed to get that cold this soon.

Cat

Another cat from the catio tour. I didn't really take many pictures of actual catio features.

Fandom

Any day now I should be getting my Orycon schedule. Their programming department usually gets schedules out a month before the con. If that sounds reasonable, about 2 weeks ahead is more typical of sf cons in my experience.

Gaming

Made real progress toward the Fame goal in Sunless Skies. I didn't expect to play it at all once the anime premieres got started, but they've been very evenly spread.

I had a very meh showing at this weekend's KeyForge event with a deck I wasn't very enthusiastic about anyway, so I decided to open one of the unopened ones I have lying around and got Iron "Updog" Jonas, who has some neat cards I haven't seen before.

Books and media

Before the Renaissance book, I forgot to mention I read Broken Stars, a collection of recent Chinese short fiction edited by Ken Liu. Since it's intended to provide a wide range, not everything is going to work for everyone. My favorites were one about philosophers trying to impress the first Qin emperor, and one that had a different take on the whole idea of alternate history. I can't really say why without massive spoilers.

No time to watch anything but anime this week. My current favorite premiere is the one that turned out to be a Harry Potter parody.

Politics

Not that politics haven't been very interesting in the English-speaking world lately, but you're probably all up to date on whichever parts of it matter to you.

Profile

petrea_mitchell

April 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Active Entries

Style Credit

Style: Neutral Good for Practicality by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Apr. 23rd, 2025 11:23 am