Our humans really love kitties, and kitties love them. I am not jealous because I find humans’ demands for interaction overwhelming. The more kitties they interact with, the fewer demands they make on me.
There are lots of feral and stray kitties in our town. Over the years, quite a few of them have found their way to our house. Kitties in need usually find some good stuff here. The cast of characters has changed periodically, and from time to time one of the Garden Kitties comes inside, like Petunia and Reggie and, well, me.
When Mystery first came, we thought he was feral, he was so wary. Upstairs Human had to walk wide circles around him or he would run away. As the months passed, and Mystery kept coming back to eat, he also warmed up to UH and started weaving around her ankles. This summer UH and Robin trapped him and took him to be neutered. After the operation, it was as if Mystery was relieved that he didn’t have to deal with that stuff anymore. It’s like he thought, “They love me so much that they gave me an operation, I’m staying with them forever.” He has been so happy here at our house. Mystery helps with gardening and picking up pecans, or just anything.
Mystery is also a father-figure for the kittens, Huck Finn, Mack Gray and Sparkle. Mama Kitty had her kittens somewhere else and brought them here to raise them. Mama Kitty, she’s spayed now, so Robin changed her name from Sexy Mama, still comes to eat but she has a lot of trouble with humans. She’s a true feral kitty. She’s so quiet! She used to hiss at the humans and never, ever meowed. Now, she has learned a little bit of meowing from Mystery. Mama Kitty doesn’t hang around much now that her kittens are self sufficient. For awhile she would play with them, just like they were all peers, but she got tired of them.
Mack, Sparkle and Huck all volunteered to go in for their operations. (Only one of them bit Robin hard enough to draw blood when she captured them.) Mama Kitty taught them everything they need to be able to take care of themselves and now UH and Robin are helping them to trust at least some humans. Huck lets UH pet him. In fact, sometimes he demands a lot of pets. UH has touched Mack when he’s not paying attention. He is very curious about what goes on Inside and looks in the front door. Sparkle is the wariest of the three. She’s kind of a loner, too.
In addition to Purina, which satisfies Mystery, the kittens get a can of tuna in the morning and another one at night. UH won’t give the boys the tuna until Sparkle turns up.
All four of these guys mostly hang out in back of the house or on the porch. We look at them out the window and they look at us in the window.
wow! such a great story.
OMC – dey are such bootiful kitties too. Your has a good mama for always taking care of dem – good care of dem. he he – maybe they spread the word in the neighborhood.