The new kitten has been gradually getting used to us, and moved herself up onto the porch and found a kitty bed that she liked. She meows at me and then I meow back, but then she looks at me and says “You are NOT my mommy “, and runs away again. Then, she started sleeping in Bobby’s porch chair and my porch chair, and this morning, she let me pick her up,and she started purring right away. So, here we are in the house, she is on my lap, meowing and purring, and she and Poodle are getting acquainted. Now, I think that she was definitely someone’s pet, and either they left her, or something happened and she got lost; but she is definitely not a feral cat that has never been touched before, like the other kittens were.
So glad you are taking care of it, I love cats always had one but became allergic to them. I sure do miss having one. We had a beautiful little feral cat, and found her a wonderful home, they said she rule's that house now. They have other cats and dogs. Jake and I miss her, especially Jake fell in love with her right off.
The cold snap is hitting Alabama this next week, too, and we are going to be down in the 20’s at night, which is pretty cold for north Alabama. Bobby already ordered a cat igloo and set it up on the porch and some of the cats have been sleeping in that now. I had an indoor dog house that I got several years ago for Poodle, which he loved for a while and then decided he didn’t want to sleep there anymore. It is fuzzy quilted inside and will be warm for the outside stray cats, too. I ordered one of those thermal (self-heating) pet blankets that is similar to what emergency services use for people with the heat reflecting metal inside, and Bobby put that inside the fuzzy dog house and is putting that out on the porch for the cats, too. We buy large bags of dry cat food and keep some on the porch so that the feral cats can come in anytime and sleep and eat, and the three that have been here since last spring when they were kittens pretty much know this is their home, and spend a lot of time on the porch. Fluffers will let me pet her and she purrs, Goldie will let us pet him when he wants food, and he has started purring when he gets petted, and Speckles is totally stand-offish and will bat at you with his claws if you try to touch him. We have petted him a few times when he is eating, but then he moves away from the food, sits there and glares at me and pouts until I go back inside the house. I bring them leftovers and canned food, so they all know when they see me that food is coming, but the only one that is safe to come inside of the house is the new orphan kitten, because she is totally friendly. If one of the others came inside, we would have a hard time trying to get them out if they hid somewhere, so we are careful that they do not try to come in.
With the dry cat food during freezing temp I know you know, as an ex horse person, that wet water is required nearby. I like those old rubber pans and tubs for barn animals. They are flexible so you can break the ice out easily.
Yes, I didn’t mention the water, but we have that, too. In the summer, a large old stainless steel pan full of water and under some shade of the cannas , so any thirsty critter can drink. Now, we have more rain, so we just keep a bowl of fresh water on the porch for the stray cats.
I have wild birds in the bushes in the morning. I have tried to put out water that they seemed to have been looking for but it freezes quickly and they have left it and the seeds I have put out. I guess they have better pickins elsewhere.
The cats have been sleeping in the fuzzy dog house with the thermal blanket, and it must be keeping them nice and warm. Bobby put the little cat caves right next to the porch railing, and he said that when the cats jump up onto the railing and down onto the porch, they now jump down on top pf the cat cave, scaring whatever cat is sleeping inside the cave. He said they go right back inside, so it must be nice and cozy for them to sleep there even when they are getting scared and squashed by one of the other cats jumping on them. Bobby is going to move the beds, so that they are underneath something and will be protected from cats jumping down on top of them. It is cold inside now, so I have brought out my little electric throw blanket, which is soft and fluffy, and Poodle is loving that, and curling up next to me with the heated blanket. I think that I will order him one of those thermal blankets like the cats have for sleeping on. They are soft and fluffy, and reflect body heat, so I can put it on the foot of the bed where Poodle sleeps and it will help him to stay warm at night. When Bobby gets up in the morning, Poodle usually burrows under the blankets, but otherwise he has to sleep at the foot of the bed.
Of the stray/dumped cats that I have been feeding, the gray one and the black one have been coming to my feeding station almost every day, often more than once a day, for years. With premium food every day, they have grown large and look healthy, although the black one is either a fighter or a victim, since he looks like he's been in more than a few scrapes. The gray one used to be terrified of the black one, but no more. The two are not friends but as far as I can see, visually and through my video cameras, they direct a lot of noise at each other but don't fight. Nearly every morning, whatever time I get up, the gray one is in the porch waiting for me. We have an enclosed porch, but we leave the sliding barn-type door open just enough for a cat to get in, and that's where I feed them now. I have put an enclosed bed in there for them, but not a single cat has dared enter it, as far as I can see. They look into it but stay out. I think they feel like they'd be too vulnerable in there, with only one entrance/exit. I am pretty sure I could pet the gray one with just a little encouragement because he comes when I call him and is no longer afraid to be near me. I don't try to get too close because I'd want to bring him into the house if I made him mine, and that wouldn't be fair to Ella, who still hasn't forgiven me for Bubba. I'd love to give him a home, but I can't do that to Ella, and Bubba probably wouldn't be happy either. If the gray one is in the porch when I open the door, he will go outside, but if I talk to him, "That's okay, kitty, you can eat," he'll come back in. A few times, I've come across him in the backyard and asked him if he wanted something to eat, and he followed me back to the front porch, waiting for me to get him something. The black one sometimes frustrates me because he doesn't trust me. If he's in the porch when I bring him some food, he will run and often not return until after the food has frozen. The gray one, however, will sometimes meow to get my attention if there's nothing there for him. A few others sometimes come by after we both go to bed, but they never come around while we're up. I only know of them from the cameras that I put up.
During all the years on the ranch, we didn't have strays, just barn cats. They had their own areas among the straw bales that were against the walls to provide insulation for calving season. I never saw a mouse. Mr. B even purchased a heated automatic water bowl for them and put it by the automatic dry food feeder. Feeding them didn't seem to affect their mousing abilities. I frequently saw cottontail rabbit remains, dead ermines, ground squirrels, and feathers. Sometimes I could identify the bird, sometimes not. I always scolded them for killing doves. He had names for all of them, but I just went by color, Black, Orange, Yellow, etc. The exception was Bob, short for bobcat because of his size. We neutered all the males, but the females would disappear for months, then come back with half grown kittens. Bob appeared one day with his missing mother. I suspect he was half bobcat. He was mean and after he killed a few chickens, he disappeared. I never interrogated Mr. B about the disappearance. I suspected justice was served and best to just let it ride. If others were around. he put on a gruff manner, seemingly irritated about all the cats. More times than he knew, I saw him in the barn, drinking coffee from his thermos, reading a book, with several cats snuggled in his lap. I was glad when he finally took all the females in to be spade.