The zoo is growing.
So, I have a new porch kitty. S/he is a small black kitty with a few little white markings. Unfortunately s/he is just as feral as my other porch kitty (who I haven't seen in a while, but hope is OK.) Other porch kitty disappeared for about a week, some time ago and I was so afraid something had happened to him (I'm quite confident PK #1 is a boy, but I have no clue of the gender of PK #2.) But he reemerged out of the blue, looking for food after about a week of no sightings.
I've decided to name the new porch kitty Ninja. S/he is mostly black, and I swear the cat can disappear while I'm actually standing there looking at it. Because this one is younger and doesn't seem QUITE as afraid as PK #1, I have hopes that s/he may be more easily domesticated, but we shall see. I've been wrong before.
Remember my raccoon? I found out that she is definitely a girl, and she has babehs. So, Bandito is now Bandita. She brought her crew around for dinner the other night and I was absolutely delighted to see the little ones.
Funny story as to how I found out she was a girl (and a mama, no less.) One night...well, MORNING...at 4am, I was awakened by a very loud banging sound. After I realized that my house was not being attacked, and managed to wake up a bit, I set out to find where the banging was coming from. I finally narrowed it down to the cat room, but both of the cats were just sitting there, also half asleep, with this "WTF?" look on their faces. That's when I noticed the window. My raccoon was spread eagle in the window, eating out of my bird feeder. Each time it scooped in, the bird feeder was banging on the window. She had taken the lid off, with her little raccoon fingers and was feasting on bird seeds. The feeder was very close (inches) from the window, so needless to say, it was pretty loud.
(Oreo illustrates the proximity of the bird feeder to the window.)
She had her belly totally pressed up to my window, so I could at that point, see that she was a nursing mama. I didn't want her to break my bird feeder (or my window) and, well...bird seed is expensive, so I was trying to dissuade the continued feeding. I beat on the window. She just looked at me. I got the flashlight and shone it in her eyes. Still, mild annoyance, but she stayed. I put my face right IN the window, so I was mere inches from her and she still just stared back like "can't you see I'm eating here?!" I actually took pictures, with flash. Nothing.
After she pretty much emptied my bird feeder (spilling half of it on the windowsill and on the deck), she finally scooted off, full and happy. The raccoon...a supposedly wild creature...will not leave when I want her to, but a domesticated animal like a cat won't come within 20 feet of me, even though I'm pretty sure that both of them have to have connected the dots that I'm the reason they HAVE food in the first place.
Nature is strange.
I've decided to name the new porch kitty Ninja. S/he is mostly black, and I swear the cat can disappear while I'm actually standing there looking at it. Because this one is younger and doesn't seem QUITE as afraid as PK #1, I have hopes that s/he may be more easily domesticated, but we shall see. I've been wrong before.
Remember my raccoon? I found out that she is definitely a girl, and she has babehs. So, Bandito is now Bandita. She brought her crew around for dinner the other night and I was absolutely delighted to see the little ones.
Funny story as to how I found out she was a girl (and a mama, no less.) One night...well, MORNING...at 4am, I was awakened by a very loud banging sound. After I realized that my house was not being attacked, and managed to wake up a bit, I set out to find where the banging was coming from. I finally narrowed it down to the cat room, but both of the cats were just sitting there, also half asleep, with this "WTF?" look on their faces. That's when I noticed the window. My raccoon was spread eagle in the window, eating out of my bird feeder. Each time it scooped in, the bird feeder was banging on the window. She had taken the lid off, with her little raccoon fingers and was feasting on bird seeds. The feeder was very close (inches) from the window, so needless to say, it was pretty loud.
(Oreo illustrates the proximity of the bird feeder to the window.)
She had her belly totally pressed up to my window, so I could at that point, see that she was a nursing mama. I didn't want her to break my bird feeder (or my window) and, well...bird seed is expensive, so I was trying to dissuade the continued feeding. I beat on the window. She just looked at me. I got the flashlight and shone it in her eyes. Still, mild annoyance, but she stayed. I put my face right IN the window, so I was mere inches from her and she still just stared back like "can't you see I'm eating here?!" I actually took pictures, with flash. Nothing.
After she pretty much emptied my bird feeder (spilling half of it on the windowsill and on the deck), she finally scooted off, full and happy. The raccoon...a supposedly wild creature...will not leave when I want her to, but a domesticated animal like a cat won't come within 20 feet of me, even though I'm pretty sure that both of them have to have connected the dots that I'm the reason they HAVE food in the first place.
Nature is strange.