Wednesday Word—Safe!

Here I am—all safe and warm in my bed which is on another bed in a heated condo. Not all cats are this lucky. I filed this report for Cat Witness News.

Sometimes I write blog posts in advance and then I have to report Breaking News on Facebook. Those on FB know last week we were worried about the Maple Cats. We’d had a big ice storm on Monday and TW didn't leave the condo until Wednesday. When she passed their house, the kitties were both sitting on top of their igloo on the porch. TW promised that she’d feed them on her way home.

When she returned, she had to do a double-take. The igloo and feeding station was no longer on the porch and the cats were nowhere in sight. There was a big bag of ice melt where the igloo used to be. The gate to the back yard was ajar but there were no cats.

A few days passed and still no sign of the cats, which TW called Mama and Junior. She would have thought that even if their igloo was in the back, they’d still hang on the front porch, waiting to those soft touches who feed them to walk past. But no cats were no be found.

Ramona

Finally, she e-mailed UCFCC (Union City Feral Cat Committee), the group who had taken care of getting them spayed and built them the igloo. A return e-mail said there was no information but someone else might know. We were obviously hoping they were in the back yard and had not been brought to the shelter where they’d almost certainly be PTS. As soon as we got the good news, we did a happy dance and shared it with our furrends on FB. This was the reply we received:

"The shelter I built was initially placed in back of the home on a cement slab up against their fence right next to the home foundation. It was later moved to the front porch. Both cats are still around and I suspect that the shelter is, again, at the back of the house.

I also know that Ramona [the one we called Junior] has gone into the home when it gets cold, so they have an open invitation to do so. D, the mother, mentioned she's found Ramona on her bed when she awoke but that Ramona would then jump down. Betsy [Mama] is considerably more feral and although I've recently also seen her, I have no reports of any 'in house' activity related to her. The H.'s are nice people. H, the son, is their care giver."

This month we’ve had a couple of ice storms, snow and the coldest temperatures in years. The wind chills this week have been as low as -15 degrees. You can see why we were concerned about them. TW hasn’t seen the Park Cats either and hopes they’re safe somewhere. Perhaps they can go into one of the park buildings.

That’s this week’s kitty report from Cat Witness News—CK reporting.

So there you have it—good news on the feral front. Bad news for me cos I might have to eat the Tunatopia if we can’t feed it to them. We’re happy to know the Maple Cats are safe and one has even ventured into the house. Last winter another neighbor tried to get them to go into his basement when we had excessive cold and snow but they wouldn’t go inside. Here’s hoping the ferals where you live are warm and well fed too.