We trapped this gorgeous calico on Tuesday. She’s not becoming tame as quickly as the orange tabby, but she was sitting in my lap and Cathy’s today for several minutes. She has a very strange, gravelly purr. Sheila from Campus Police came up with the name; it just popped into her head.
This male tabby was a fast trap-neuter-vaccinate-release. He’s very cute, but nowhere near tameable. The crate we put him in to recover from the surgery looked like it had been hit by a tornado the next morning.
We had adopted out this little girl about a week ago, but the person who had taken her in turned out to be highly allergic to this particular cat, so she came back to us.
Luckily, a lady named Jenny was looking for a kitten, so the tabby now has a new home.
This was a busy day for the kitten. One of the professors came by with his daughters and their dog, Missy. Missy and the kitten were quite interested in each other, as you can see from the picture below. The pane of glass between them probably helped matters greatly. The girls ooh’ed and aah’ed over the kitten for a while, and one of them noticed something we hadn’t seen before–the kitten’s eyes are almost the same color as her fur. (It really shows up well in this picture.)
Our orange tabby is already incredibly friendly, at least with Cathy. She purrs, does the “happy claws,” rolls over for tummy rubs, and even gives head bumps when being petted. She will allow me to hold her in my lap, and she did purr quite a bit. It’s hard to believe that she is a feral cat who had never had contact with humans before Tuesday. She’ll make a fine pet for somebody.
On July 4, Cathy and I went to the school to watch the fireworks from the hills in back of the campus. (It was an absolutely spectacular view). When we left, we saw Misha and a small kitten which appeared to be yellow under the street light.
Summer school is winding down, so we decided it would be a good time to set the trap again. We set it on Tuesday morning and an hour and a half later, we had the kitten we had seen earlier. She’s actually orange rather than yellow, and has the “classic tabby” pattern.
The pictures below were taken this morning, when she was still fairly frightened [she really trashed the crate we had her in last night–she spread the water and litter all over]. Later on today she started getting acclimatized to humans, so pictures that we take tomorrow should show her in a much more photogenic mood.
The calico kitten won the heart of everyone who saw her. To get her adopted, we put a picture of her on Craig’s List, and within an hour we had a call and an email from two women in San Francisco who drove down to San Jose. They were thrilled with the kitten, and she was thrilled with them. The women have renamed the kitten Cammo, and she’s doing great.
Last night, Cathy and I set the trap, and within a few hours we had a calico kitten, whose age we estimate at six to eight weeks. Here are pictures of Fiona (one of the teachers on campus named her already):
After a few days in the cat office down at the school, Big Tony came home with me so that I could foster him. The first night was not an easy one; Tony was yowling like crazy because I had him locked in the bathroom. After a second night of yowling, I decided to let him out into the bedroom. Wherever he lived before wandering off or being dumped must have had a cat door, because he knew how to use it to get out to the enclosure.
Marco was not amused at having another cat in his territory, and there was a great deal of hissing (from Tony) and growling (from Marco) for the next two or three days. There were only a couple of occasions where their ears were flattened back, and no teeth or claws. After that, they looked like they were getting used to each other, so I decided to adopt Tony.
Tony spends most of his time outside in the “cat tree.”
That isn’t to say that Marco never goes outside any more; after all, the whole house is his territory. Tony also comes in to eat, drink, and use the litterbox. When I’m out for the day, I keep the bedroom door closed so that Tony can’t get out into the kitchen (where Jeffery doesn’t want him) or upstairs (where Jeffery would freak out if he saw Tony).
Marco and Tony are now playing with each other. When I bring in the cat dancer, Marco goes nuts and leaps all over trying to catch it. Tony just gets a goofy look on his face and bats his paw lazily at the toy. Marco likes to groom Tony, who seems to just put up with it. (I haven't been able to get a picture of that yet.) They're using the same litterbox, and are also eating from the same bowl at the same time. Here are some pictures of them together.
