NATIONAL FERAL CAT DAY

We would wish you a happy National Feral Cat Day, but there is nothing happy about animals who have no place to live.  No regular meals or health care, no warm, safe place to sleep, no love or scratches.  What they do have are parasites, danger, shortened life spans, uncontrolled breeding, and diseases they pick up as kittens which can affect them their entire lives, even if they are lucky enough to find a loving home.  Of course, these lists are much longer, but its too depressing to dwell on.  Our hope is, one day, there will be only Formerly Ferals, because all animals deserve loving homes.

We have had several feral cats and would like to share some of the joy they brought into our lives.  Our most recent Formerly Feral is Mica Minnie Moo.  She still has trust issues, and because she was a couple years old when rescued, these behaviors may be too ingrained to change, but of course, we hope.

 Mica's first day as a Formerly Feral

 She weighed a measly 7 pounds

Our beautiful blue eyed girl, at 12 pounds, is no light weight any more

Prior to Mica Minnie Moo, we had Toby (the orinch tabby), born in a barn, and Minnie Pumpkin (the tortie) who started life under a porch. They were bosom buddies.  Toby passed away almost a year ago at 17 1/2 years and Minnie Pumpkin died at 10 years from acute kidney failure.  Were her kidney problems so relatively early in life from her life as a feral?  Of course, we'll never know.

Toby was an affectionate boy who loved to hear his voice.  He constantly talked to himself (a bit like WC Fields), sang loudly frequently and carried around various lovies at night while crooning to them.  He had massive man paws cause on each he had 2 extra toes in front, and 1 extra one in the back.  He was also a "wet kitty" - one who drools cause scratches feel so good!

Minnie Pumpkin was a sweet little girl who loved putting her (punky) feet all over your face while being scratched.  Keeping the water dish clean was a problem because she daily dropped items in the water - hair ties, bag twists, cat toys, whatever she found went in.  She would grab a hunk of hair (near the roots of course!) in her mouth and pull for night scratches, or if it was time for breakfast.

A couple other cats may have been feral, but weren't included since we're not positive.  We hope one day feral cats will be a distant memory!  We loved our ferals, and are grateful we were able to share our lives with them.