Mighty hunter

[Jilly_in_VA]

This morning my larger cat, Vicky, came down to breakfast clutching a plump chipmunk in her jaws. Winnie went over to investigate, at which point Vicky dropped it on the ground. Winnie sniffed at it and trotted back to her breakfast, seemingly disinterested, although I noticed she was watching out the corner of her eye as she ate.

I thought the chipmunk was defunct, but it apparently was not as Vicky dropped it and proceeded to bat it around a bit before finally dispatching it. She then came to breakfast without further ado and received her praise. Two things: I noticed that the chipmunk was quite fat (the acorn crop is bountiful) and I was a bit surprised that Vicky had caught anything as I am not sure her vision is up to par. I mean to have that checked out whenever she visits the vet. It may just be that she "plays dumb" with me.

Oh, and I received my very first ever nose boop from Winnie last night. This after being her human for almost a year. I am thrilled.

[Karadeniz]

1. They're coming along! I have had one feral for about eight years... still uncooperative! It took

another cat two years inside... then one day she jumped into my lap, flipped onto her back and demanded belly rubs! She never looked back! They're on their own schedule!

[Random Boomer]

4. Going on six years now....

I started feeding a litter of three feral kittens about six years ago, but despite seeing me twice a day -- with food -- they wouldn't let me get too close and would hiss if I tried. We managed to successfully TNR before the two females wandered away in search of their own territory, but the male has stayed in the general area of our backyard ever since.

He goes through periods where he'll show up on our back porch every day expecting to be fed, and other times he flees at the very sight of us or stays away for days. A few months ago he lost an eye and we managed to trap him and take him to the vet for surgery, then he recuperated in our house for three weeks. He spent the entire time hiding from us. Then within an hour of finally being released, he showed up again on the porch, waiting to be fed. If we left the door open, he would even take a few steps inside and settled down for a snooze.

We haven't seen him for the past week, except from a distance. There's a new stray hanging around our yard and I think his nose is out of joint. He doesn't like a change in routine. Fingers crossed he gets over his snit fit soon and comes back, because I miss the little pissant. (Literally "little" too, he's all of about 5lbs)

[Karadeniz]

5. That's funny!

[Tadpole Raisin]

2. Aren't cat presents wonderful. You are now in good stead!

Can’t wait for her next gift to you!

I received a bat from an attic hunt (ugh!) from my first cat.

She also took every (wet) sponge in the house- she liked to play fetch with them - and put them all on my bed. Not sure how I was supposed to take that…

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. They both demand skritches

and petting around the feeding station when it's feeding time. Nowhere else. They know who feeds them and when. They will take treats out of my hand on the front porch but they get a little "bitey" then and don't really want petting. They were unsocialized when they came to the shelter and Winnie made overtures of a sort to me when I was cleaning the stray jail---she'd come out of her hide box and watch everything I did and finally allowed me to touch her through the bars. The little one-eyed thing won my heart. Vicky was a ride-along, the cat she was paired with in the Barn Cat room. It took her a long time to accept me.