20 Friday Nov 2015
Posted in adoption, black cats, Uncategorized
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Celebrating National Black Cat Day brings awareness to the difficulties black cats have of finding forever homes and of superstitions that perpetuate it.
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Feral Cat Love 
We luv ’em all. Black, white and all da colors in tween.
Luv ya’
Dezi and Lexi
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Last April I started a loft apartment in a barn my sister has on 52 acres up in the WNC mountains; my son saw 3 kittens one day. So in July I decided to trap one – it wasn’t the one I had seen most frequently – instead it was the solid black kitten – the runt of the litter. I am glad to say Owly is pretty much fully domesticated now and loving life as an indoor cat. I trapped number 2 a couple of weeks ago – a multicolored much larger than Owly that I named Marble – Marble is still hiding out occasionally comes out. I have started the spay/neuter process and plan on trapping number 3 this week. I don’t know who’s luckier me or my BLACK CAT Owly.
Peace – David
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How wonderful! I’d love to see pictures of Owly, Marble, and “number 3”.
On trapping number 3 and helping Marble to warm up to you, always remember that a little tuna can go a long way! 🙂 (best packed in water, not oil).
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How do I send/post you pics?
I caught no. 3 this morning and took him/her straight to the spay neuter clinic – 35 min away – pick her/him up in the morning. No. 3 is orange – very consistent coat – I had never gotten a good look at her/him over the past months and really wasn’t sure what his/her coat was like – she/he was quite calm on the way to the clinic – a patron at the clinic suggested he/she knew my smell and accepted it.
Knowing these 3 are siblings I have kinda wondered if it wanted to be caught.
Owly is jet black, Marble is multi colored big time – with 4 light brown paws and apparently pretty shy – Marble has been in the barn loft apt for going on 3 weeks – comes out overnight but otherwise hides out – I occasionally go sit near her/him – without looking at him/her – and talk gently.
I’ll remember the tuna (in water) advice.
LOVE & PEACE
Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays
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That’s a good question! 🙂 It won’t let me paste a picture into the comment box, so I’ll have to figure out another way. If you post your pictures to something like Flickr, you can post a link. Or you could “direct message” me on Twitter.
Yay on number 3! 🙂
When we had an orange stray show up a few years ago we named him Mr. Orange (from Reservoir Dogs). He was obviously a lost house cat, not feral, so I immediately posted flyers looking for his people and letting people know he would be up for adoption if he wasn’t claimed. We couldn’t keep him because he was aggressive toward our cats. No one claimed him. We adopted him out on the conditions that they return him to his people if they did eventually call and that they return him to us if it didn’t work out. It didn’t, and they brought him back, but another guy called and adopted him as a Mother’s Day gift for his wife. They were just crazy about him, and they gave him a new name.
For taming with tuna, with really standoffish cats, I start with the tuna away from me. Sometimes really far away at first. Depending on how skittish they are, it can take many sessions, sitting with them like you are now and gradually moving the tuna closer to you each time. If you are sitting Indian style, with your forearms resting on your knees and your hands just kind of hanging there, you eventually get the tuna dish up against your legs where their ears and head will brush against your hand as they eat.
That process took a couple of months with Spot. She was the first feral I was able to touch. That litter was very, very skittish! It sounds like yours will warm up to you much faster!
That’s why I say “tuna + patience = taming” But, do go in small amounts of tuna so it doesn’t upset their bellies! A quality (and preferably stinky) wet food may work in your case, too. It just depends on how excited they are about it.
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Also, I forgot to mention “The Hand”. I need to write a whole post on this, but the bottom line is that they don’t like it.
Approach from behind the line of sight with your hands, or have passive hands that they approach, or kind of tuck your hand in and approach with your arm or elbow (that’s kind of hard to describe).
For years I thought it was fear of being grabbed, but Mr. Tom taught me that it was more a matter of etiquette. It was an “Ah ha” moment. or maybe a big “Duh!”
Mr. Tom was an old and jaded feral cat who was finally treating me like an equal and accepting me. Which meant he was treating me like another cat! He had spent his entire life negotiating with other cats. He didn’t do the human scene.
I suddenly saw my hand in a whole new light. A paw toward the face, especially with open fingers, is not the signal you want to give. It can be playful, but it can be aggressive or a “get out of here” motion. At best, it’s a challenge of some sort, not “I want to pet you and give you love”.
Mr. Tom will follow me around like a puppy, and he loves getting love, but he still finds the hand toward the face to be rude if it’s not done just right.
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No. 3 is back from the clinic and now that I have had a good look at HER she is more yellow than orange. She is so beautiful smaller than I originally thought 7 lbs says the clinic – I don’t know how that relates to her age. I think she is going to come around quickly, she’s been very calm.. Owly has been very curious – climbing on the cage and such otherwise going thru her same routine. I’ll let no.3 out of the cage in the morning – needs to stay claim after her surgery… that will be fun.
Marble is still hiding out. Oh I have a tentative name ‘Too” long story I’ll explain later. I can figure out how to send pics by email or text – I’ve never used Facebook or Twitter. After raising 3 boys I leave that stuff up to them.
LOVE & PEACE
David
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