Ella

We may have found a kitty for Ella. The people we've been buying eggs from have a cat with kittens. They're too young to know what their sexes are yet but it's likely that a litter of kittens will include at least one girl. They need to remain with their mother a while yet, to be weaned and to become socialized, but they say we can have the first pick. That's what I was looking for, a private adoption because I hate shelters for several reasons. They tend to be far too intrusive, for one thing, and when you get a cat from a shelter, they've already poisoned it with vaccines. No, I am not wholly opposed to reasonable vaccines but I am not at all in favor of dosing them with a bunch of vaccines at one time, and I don't believe all of them are necessary or safe.

I'm curious to see how Ella handles a new kitten in the house. She came to us when she was a kitten, and Cutie and Lydia treated her horribly, although not to the point of hurting her. They did make it clear that she wasn't welcome and that no, none of the cat beds were for her.

Ella handled it all very well, playing politics without caving into them entirely and, one day, I was in my office when Ella came running in, sliding under a cabinet, with Cutie after her. Then they began slapping at each other since Cutie couldn't fit under the cabinet, and I realized they were playing. From that moment on, Cutie got along pretty well with her. Lydia was never nice to her, but Lydia wasn't even nice to her sister.

 

Ella is not a happy camper. There is a family of fishers in the neighborhood. In fact, someone took pictures of them in the yard of the vacant house next to ours, so they may be living in the old shed behind the house, beneath the house, or possibly even in the house. I don't think anyone has been in there since my neighbor moved to a retirement apartment. Sometimes known as fisher cats, although they are not cats, fishers are forest creatures who don't usually come into town but I'm thinking that with so many people staying indoors for the past month, they might think the town is deserted.

Related to weasels, fishers are sometimes mistaken for wolverines. They can be vicious, so we are letting Ella out only under our supervision right now, and she doesn't understand that. Now that the weather has finally gotten nice, and the snow is gone, she can't go out. I carry her out in the backyard but she struggles to get down so that she can play.

 

I took Ella out a few times today so that she can run around and chase leaves. I guess I'll have to dig out the live traps and see if I can catch the fisher family and relocate them. As it is, Ella is in the same boat we are - kept in by a fear of something she doesn't understand or share, imposed upon her by someone else. She's pretty good, though. She doesn't run, except after leaves, and she sticks near me.

 

Yeah, I'm going to expand the garden this year. I might make a couple more of these. I think we've found a new kitty but she's still too young for adoption.

 

I am working at a metal desk outside so that Ella can be chaperoned. Oddly, she spends most of her time sitting on the desk by me, but she wants to be outside and it's not so warm right now.

 

Ella is despondent. She decided to run from me yesterday, to leave the yard, and didn't come back until she was ready to come back, so she was grounded for the rest of yesterday and all of today. The weather has been beautiful and I have a hard time blaming her but I just can't take the chance right now. However, I strongly believe the fishers have moved on.

 

Our kitten is supposed to be ready to be adopted a week from today, only she doesn't know if it's a male or a female, which can be difficult to determine in a kitten. Even veterinarians get it wrong sometimes. Of course, the really important thing is that it identifies as a female.

 

Very cute. I think of that look as a "What are you looking at?" stance.

I'll probably start an Ella & Bubba thread since, once Ella is persuaded that he's not going anywhere, I expect a lot of what I have to post will be about both of them. For a moment today, while Ella was watching Bubba bat something around on the floor, it looked like she was going to join in. Then she decided that it was too early to give up the pout response, and left the room.