Sunny and the Sun – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
Sunny, formerly our foster Miss Itty, is feeling a little bit better now that she has the right antibiotic (Veraflox) working toward wiping out her ecoli-infused UTI. After a week of that, she gets another urinalysis to see if the UTI is gone. Meanwhile, we’re studying all we can about her stage three kidney disease so our next conversation with her vet won’t be overwhelming and filled with so many scary words.
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Poofy Pia – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
Pia received her clean bill of health at her checkup two weeks ago and is now sporting a more sleek and cooler, um, backside. No, she won’t show it to you. How undignified! We will say that girl grows the thickest, poofiest pantaloons we’ve ever seen!
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A visiting neighbor’s cat – 2016 @ Colehauscats.com
Last month we sort of introduced you to the saddest little garden panther. We have since learned this loving, snuggly, playful young girl’s name is Zoey and she belongs to one of our neighbors along with her slightly larger and similar looking brother, and a couple other cats who, from time to time, use our backyard as a thoroughfare.
She is spayed and loves to climb around our fountain.. She knows where the food in the feeding stations is and is comfortable using one of the feral shelters at night (her humans believe in leaving cats outside). She prefers the shelter you see in the background of her photo, which is Spitty’s Place (yes, of THE Spitty fame), and that had just recently been painted for winter, is filled with fresh, sweet-smelling straw, and is tucked perfectly into the landscape.
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In the mornings, Mom watches a little bit of news with us cats – usually Quint, Pia, Tessa, and Ruby because we four insist on always being in the know – and around quarter to seven, Mom puts food bowls outside for visiting kitties. Like this newbie to the block:
Chunky, a visiting neighborhood cat – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
The first time Mom laid eyes on him, she thought, “Boy, he’s chunky!” And so, Chunky’s his name. If he wasn’t so…. um, solid and robust around the middle, she would have probably called him Badger Boy for the white stripe up his nose*. But this uber-friendly boy answers just fine to Chunky, so Chunky is what it is.
Now, you might be thinking quarter to seven is pretty late to be setting out food for those starving outdoor kitties, especially since Dad has seen Chunky out waiting at the feeding stations as early as quarter after five in the morning. Dad usually gives the big boy a handful of food to tide him over until Mom gets out there. But he doesn’t set out the food bowls. Why not, you might ask?
Late morning raccoon visitor – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
Late morning Raccoon visitor – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
This is why Dad doesn’t put the food bowls out and lets Mom handle it when the food is more likely to be eaten by cats. Dad doesn’t want to plump up the raccoons and there are already enough neighbors around us who are anti-raccoon. Mom said she was so busy talking to Chunky, who had either been waiting for more food or returned at a more appropriate time of morning, she didn’t notice someone waiting at the fence entrance. When she did, she thought it was another kitty and only after she put out the food bowl, did the raccoon cautiously come in to eat. She said it was very polite and she told it, “Hey, you’re going to come here to eat, you going to be subjected to a photo shoot. Them’s the rules!”
*Our Mom has never seen a badger so she’s just guessing white stripes up the nose is a badger trait. She did meet a moose once, up close and almost personal-like, and though she likes mooses, she’ll assure you no one needs to be that close to one.
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Lastly, and because you know Mom can’t write up an Around Colehaus post without mentioning those feathery, winged things (skip this part, burd despisers!), one day last week, she wondered why she hadn’t seen any birds at the feeders. If she simply would have asked us, we would have told her, oh yes, there’s a bird at the feeders all righty.
Visitor at the bird feeders – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
Do you see it?
Waiting for a “lunch date” – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
Our area is patrolled from time to time by sizeable falcons and though Mom knows this is nature as it is supposed to be, she’s not terribly fond of serving up a smorgasbord for birds of prey.
Visitor Zoey spies a big bird – 2016 © Colehauscats.com
The tipping point in her decision to chase the falcon away was seeing visitor Zoey under the bird feeder looking up at the big bird. Mom said, “Um, no,” and went out there flapping her arms like a drunken goose trying to take off from a crooked runway. And the falcon probably thought, “This place is loony,” and took off.
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Colehaus Cats won’t have a post on Monday so Dad can do a little computer maintenance. We’ll see you again on Wednesday. Have a great weekend and don’t forget Monday is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Argh!
Awww that garden panther is such a pretty girl,Good to hear Sunny is on the mend.And I can’t wait for Monday,Cause its also my Annual Pirate party and Giveaway for Best dressed Pirate,hope you can join in,xx Speedy
That raccoon has a nerve coming and eating your food!
Wow, now that’s a bird feeder visitor!
that bandit needs some manners….hahaha
we are glad Zoey and the others have a safe place with you. while we support community cats and TNR, we don’t understand people who get a cat as a “pet” then leave it outside all the time….sigh
We know! Leaving cats outside is a sore spot with us. There is much more history to Zoey and exactly why she’s outside, but we’re not going to pick that sore any further. We’re just going to enjoy our mornings and afternoons with us.
We enjoy this update. So many things happening at the Colehouse household. Nice to meet your neighbors too.
Emma and Buster
That’s how we’ve acquired Aries; his humans just leave him outside. I keep an eye out for roving raccoons, skunks and other cats who WON’T stay around when humans are out. I like the ‘photo op’ notice!
We have a neighbor who apparently thinks cats should be outside too – because they are always on our property and setting off the security cameras and dipping into my nip garden! My human doesn’t feed them, though, because she does not want to attract other wildlife, especially coyotes. That would not be good for the outdoor kitties.
Mm’s youngest son says a day with a hawk in it is a good day. BUT I agree. Don;t want the birdies being lunch. Please be careful with the raccoons. Here they many times have rabies.
Well we’ll be sendin’ lots of purrayers. Dat evil kidney disease is nuffin’ to sneeze at. Mommy learned so much dat she’d be purrpared ifin it ever happened again, but she purrays daily dat God never allows it to visit much less reside here again. We’re glad to hear da good mews and we luvved all da bootyful fotos. As fur da falcon, mommy much purrfurs da birds of purrey as to da chirpy, poopy, bothersome regular birds. We don;t really care, as we much purrfur action movies on da teevee to bird teevee out da window. MOL Anyways, sendin’ purrayers. And a good place to start with CKD is Tanya’s site, felineCRF.org
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
Sorry about your UTI miss Itty. We hope you feel much better after the medication. The birdie looks very beautiful, but I would never be so near to it, because it frightens Granny. We have buzzards flying over our house and Granny thinks they are coming for me…MOL… 😀 Pawkisses to you all and some Healing Pawkisses for miss Itty 🙂 <3
I hope Sunny continues to feel better! And I’ve glad that Zoey has a nice place with you since her owners leave her outside. That raccoon is so cute. “I’ll just help myself, thank you very much…” 🙂
My dearest Pia, so happy to hear all is well with you, and grateful that your mom chose not to share, um, well, you know… some things are better kept off the interwebs! All my love and nose kisses… your D.
So glad that Sunny is doing better and hope she continues to do better. She sure did find a good home. That raccoon sure has found a good lunch spot. Great seeing all the pictures. That is a scary looking bird.
What a great kitty update!They are all looking so well and happy 🙂
We have the same problem with raccoons sometimes.
We also have birds of prey, but the bird feeder is very close to a big bush so the Chickadees can get to cover quickly 🙂
Purrs Georgia and Julie,
Treasure and JJ
We get raccoons raiding our bird feeders! We’ve never gotten photos because they only seem to come at night. That falcon is something! We get hawks around here. One time the mom put a bunch of peanuts out for the squirrels. About 10 mins later, a hawk showed up. The mom was so afraid that a squirrel would come to get the peanuts and the hawk would get the squirrel, she ran out and picked up every peanut she threw out on the ground. The hawk and the squirrels probably thought she was crazy.
I sure am glad to hear some good health news! Dang, I wish those sweet neighbor kitties had a better owner.
Aw, poor Pia! Cute raccoon too 🙂 And I’m still so, so happy that Sunny is now a part of your family.
We hope Sunny gets better soon. We’re so glad you take such good care of the outdoor kitties.
It sounds like things are mighty busy in your garden! Your yard is an oasis to cats whose families don’t give them the kind of shelter you do, and they must appreciate it.
That sure is a big, bootiful birdie. He could probably run away easily with that little black kitty – how sad that would be. M has problems with how cruel Mother Nature is – she saw too many of her cute little birdies being eaten in our back yard by hawks. That raccoon fellow sure is cute.
I wish everyone would keep their kitties inside, it is so much safer. Unless they go out with them on a harness.
Pia, we’re so glad your hoomins decided to respect your feline dignity! It happens so rarely, we know. PS: we’re excited about getting our next Quint painting.
Have to tell you, are you SURE “Chunky” doesn’t belong to someone? He looks awfully well fed !!! lol
That raccoon is really cheeky ! Purrs
Do you live near THE Spitty? Or did we get the wrong impression from your comment in here? Such a lot of news. We enjoyed the Chunky, Sunny, etc news.
No, regrettably, we don’t live near THE Spitty. Spitty and his wonderful human paid for and sponsored supplies for the feral shelters (including a year’s worth of fresh straw). For that we are thankful and named one of the feral shelters after him.
That falcon is beautiful, but scary! We wish everyone would keep their kitties inside. Purrs for Sunny, and for Pia, too!
You are so good to feed any critter that comes around. Those are good shots of the raccoon. I wish people didn’t leave their cats out all the time. I know we all have different viewpoints, but I think the outdoors-only cats get lonely.
Adorei o guaxinim, ele é um cara simpático!
TBT allus looks stuff up when the Good Vet DR Jeffrey tells him about problems. It isnt that he is second-guessing the problem, but he wants to learn basic stuff so he can unnerstand the problem, unnerstand the vetty terms, and unnerstand what Dr Jeffrey says.
From his POV, he is saving Dr Jeffrey time at work, learning stuff hisself, and looking at alternatives as an informed Being should. Very often, he checks to see what Good Vets are doing about the same problem in a few other countries. He just checks because he cares.
We’re glad to hear Sunny is doing better.
Lots of great big Noodle hugs…
Noodle and crew