ONE,TWO,FOUR now ONE

Historical Photo:

Historic Galveston ( and I think of Glenn Campbell singing Galveston!

Now there is one again.....

The life of the Feral cat is freedom. They wander, fend for themselves and beg a lot. But they are self-preserving, seldom will you touch one. They shy away at the slightest movement. If there is a predator near their eyes will not leave them. I have never been around cats much...

I have learned a lot from Blackie, the little pregnant cat I half adopted. My neighbor Michelle says Blackie is the last of a litter of feral cats. Blackie didn’t seem old enough to be carrying kitties but the more I could see of her teats, I could tell they were filling with milk. The daddy, a stray striped Tom was always in the distance and once food was out and I was apparently gone, he would come over and help himself. Several times I stepped out of the motorhome, knowing he would scamper and allow Blackie to eat her fill, then I would leave and allow Tom to eat. 

When she dropped her litter I did not know until they were about 4” high.  I learned a lot watching the little mother. Before going off she would make sure the ‘puppies’ were well hidden. They would not move until she got back.

I loved to watch the little ones wrestle each other. It was fun to watch them pounce on mama’s tail when she would ‘fan’ it.

She had sort of a throat meow to call them from hiding to eat food I had put out. I watched mama teach them to catch bugs. Blackie (mama) has gotten so she will let me pet her. She loves me to rub her head. But she still shies away when I approach her, she has to decide to ‘let’ me touch her. She is okay as long as she is in control. I picked her up once, she did not like that.

About three days ago I missed seeing the Tom. Then two days ago I did not see the ‘puppies’. Now today mama is looking under the coach and with that deep throat meow, seems to be calling her kitties, but they are not showing up. She looks so sad.

Even my Sherry who has sorta ‘smiled’ at my attachment to the wild ones, feels sad for the young mama..

Blackie seemed to take good care of her brood. I am sure she would have fought tooth and claw IF she had seen a predator. I am writing like they are gone for good, and of course I do think they have met with mischief, but I cannot imagine the end. I hope someone trapped them for the animal folk, but it is so hard to believe since we had never seen them go past 50 feet from the coach. 
 
But after three days now, the kitties will probably not return. I am sure they were too small to be put out on their own. The cycle of life for the wild ones....

Nite Shipslog

Don't you love the 3- d garage doors.