Mittens stray nuter spay cat kitten Lil Bit

Sorry I have been so long in posting I have had a couple of emergencies with cats and have been busy with them I will post all about it after I finish the introductions. I almost lost one of my cats and had a litter show up and had to take care of them. I have been busy with all that and more. This is the last page of introductions and will get on with the story of my cats.
Well that is the first 3 cats and how they showed up. Mittens was starting to settle in and getting used to not being let out (all my kitties are indoor kitties now). My neighbor was helping me to get all the strays spayed or neutered. She wanted to get all the Toms fixed as they can get more than one female knocked-up at a time. I had 2 that I though were pregnant and one that I was sure was. The humane society had a free day and with her help we took 2 males and the pregnant one in. We arrived 45 min early and wound up being about 15 behind the cut off point. They went through the line taking names etc. We told them that the cats were feral and were able to get them all fixed for free but they tipped the ears. One of these was Tom a complete stray I still do not think he has a home. One was TJ (Tom Jones, not his real name) named by my neighbor because she found out all males were toms and that was the first tom name she thought of. The third had no name, she was blue colored and pregnant. Just a small kitty I thought she got knocked up during her first heat appeared to be about 6-9 months old. Having to give her a name on the spot I named her Lil' Bit. Because she was a little bitty, itsy wincey, teeny tiny kitty, way too small to have kittens. Males need to be kept in for about a week after being neutered and females 2 weeks. My neighbor kept TJ for about 5 days before she could not take it anymore. We let him out as I could no keep him Tom would fight with him. Tom stayed with me for 7 days and Lil' Bit 2 weeks. After which I could not let her go I felt sorry for the poor little thing. Now 3 cats is my max, that gives them someone to play with. Especially with Girl being so afraid and hiding the other 2 had someone to play with. But I just could not abandoned Lil' Bit to her fate so I took her in. I have not been sorry scene. All she thinks of is Play Play Play. If she is not sleeping the she is running after a soccer ball. I have some foam balls from the pet store that are colored to look like soccer balls.
With these 4 as indoor kitties I now keep my back door shut and do not let MY kitties out. But I still have others looking to be fed. Tom can come in any time he wants as he is my favorite of the strays, poor thing. Well 3 of the others showed up pregnant at the same time. Again my neighbor helped me and we took them in and dropped them off at the Humane Society. At $35 a pop this was over $100 she paid $55 and I did the rest. I knew there they had the best chance of being adopted and living. As the local pound puts most anamals down. That was on a Sunday on Thursday they showed up again at my back door. I recently found out that those 3 and TJ belong to my neighbor across the alley. So Blackie Ugly and her twin Pretty came back. Blackie's real name is Fee Fee. Pretty is Precious, and I am unable to remember or pronounce Ugly's name so still call her Ugly. Also found out that TJ was Marvin and one other that I called Bandit until I found Thor on his collar was named Sylvester. I found this all out recently when TJ (Marvin) was sick. One of the issues I recently dealt with.

Intro PT 4

I figured that they had moved and taken Twinkie with them. Now though I had a new problem to deal with. Three cats is my limit, one could get lonely by herself during the day. Two or three would have someone to play with, especially with Girl always hiding. But I was not quite ready for a new cat. Due to some recent purchases I was running a little short on money and Mittens was pregnant. The Humane Society charged $65 to spay $20 if knocked up and $10 a shot, running a little over $120 to spay her. But only $35 to drop off a cat, I managed to scrap up the money and with a heavy hart abandoned Mittens to her fate. She had not been around enough to show her personality and had not gotten her named but with white paws I gave them that name for her. I then went home and told the other two that from now on they were indoor kitties only. It was getting hard to lose cats, Twinkie had just disappeared 2 weeks before. I was going to start to wean off the strays from coming around feeding them every other day and getting longer between feedings.
I was able to keep an eye on Mittens at their web site (http://www.hssaz.org/) to see if she got adopted. This was August of 2008, the following month they had a special on adoptions of older cats (over 5 months) less than half price $25. At the end of September I brought her back home. She has been here since, although I don't think she has totally forgiven me for leaving her. From the second day she showed up she slept with me and was affectionate. Used to purr regularly and loudly, only meowing for food. I have yet heard her purr after I brought her back, and she rarely sleeps with me now.

As I said before she likes to be in the middle of everything, when SK would start playing with her favorite toy MK (Mitten Kitten) would jump right in. SK would back off and leave, eventually losing interest altogether. This is when SK started stalking Girl regularly. I would constantly have to chase MK away, also every time I would open a can of food she would be right there. I would have to chase her out of the bedroom so Girl could eat. As soon as Girl is done and I open the door MK is right there seeing what was in the can. She has to eat some out of every one that is opened. It seemed she was always in trouble for one thing or another. I noticed she likes paper, one day I had put a bill down on the floor and she tore it apart. My personal shredder.
So a lot of time was spent working on getting Girl to open up and SK to stop chasing her. Mittens no longer slept with me, I don't know if it was because she was not allowed out or upset because I abandoned her or because I had to constantly discipline her. Either telling her no or after a while I started using a squirt bottle with water. She is just a big dumb brute, but I love her. When I come in the house I have to almost step on her to get her to move, most times wind up having to push her out of the way. She is stubborn, I pick her up take her to the next room to get her to leave Girl alone and she goes right back. My problem child

Introduction Pt 3

Sometime during the previous events the place had been sold and the new owner decided (after having a couple of the units stay vacant for several months) to allow pets. I no longer have to worry about getting caught with Girl. Also during this time I still had cats come and go with several regulars. When I would hear one eating I would check and see who it was and then make them “pay the toll”. They would have to let me pet them before leaving. Occasionally I would hear someone eating and when I would go to look nothing, just a bushy tail going out the door. My first thought was gray squirrel as that was what the tail reminded me of. I finally caught a quick glimpse of the cat. A few weeks later, after not coming around for several days, she did not run but stayed to eat (probably starved). I had this skinny scrawny kitty (with great big feet) sitting there eating. If I tried to pet her she would back away a couple of feet then back to the food.
I was able to run my finger back of her head near her ears, a couple of times of this she would start to grow and move. She would rotate around the food never stop eating just grow and move, around and around. Then she started to stay in sleeping on the floor or where ever. Spending more and more time in the house. This was Squirrel, I started naming cats again.
After she decided to stick around she started attacking Girl. I constantly had to separate them. They got in to a big scrape, I did not realize how bad it was at first. A few days after I noticed Girl had hurt her self on her tail near her rear. As it was not healing and she would not leave it alone I took her in to the vet. The vet shaved her tail gave her some ointment and some antibiotics for any infections, and told me it looked like a puncture wound. Squirrel had bitten Girl hard. She has healed up and Squirrel has calmed down but Girl still is untrusting of her. Squirrel would spend most of her time inside letting me get close to her but still not pet her.
After a couple of months of this my brother and his wife stopped by to visit, Squirrel did not run outside or go hide like the others did. She came out to see what was going on, but not getting too close to them. It was on this day that she let me approach her and pet her for the first time. There after she enjoyed it, rubbing up against me looking for attention. When I would sit on the floor at the coffee table, writing etc she would climb into my lap lay there. She even started sleeping in bed with me, much to Girl's dislike. Much improvement but still have problems there with those two.
Squirrel likes her toys, I have one that is tear drop shaped with feathers that she really loved. She would toss it 5 feet in the air and jump up 3-4 feet and catch it. She really enjoyed playing with it, until Mittens came along. Things were going good for a while, Girl would even appear in the room with Squirrel in it. SK (Squirrel Kitty) started to fill out no longer the scrawny little thing. She actually started getting fat, then I realized that she was pregnant. I found out cats usually drop within a couple months. I made an appointment at the Humane Society to get her spayed, they were a lot cheaper than what my vet would have charged (close to $500 vs. $70). While I was at it I decided to have Twinkie neutered, as I had come to think of him as being my cat(it being over a year with him living here). Twinkie had shown up with some tar or something on his tail and it was still there so I also had them remove it. They shaved most of his tail, and after 2 years it was gone. The appointment for SK was on a Saturday, of course a couple of days before they found a hoarder in town, over 450 dogs. The Humane Society called to reschedule this happened 3 or 4 times, by now SK was getting close, to dropping.
I barely managed to not wind up a grandpa. I had to keep Twinkie in for a week to heal and her for at least 2. I wound up locking him in the spare bathroom at night so he would not attack Girl, and I could get some sleep. Finally I could start letting him out again. I was starting to think about making them all indoor kitties, better for them, but he would not adjust. It was at this time that Mittens showed up. Came in one day to eat and stuck around most of the day every day. Then Twinkie disappeared about 2 months after getting fixed.

Introduction (cont.)

While Twinkie was the main one other cats would still come and go. Then one night while sitting on the couch I heard a cat meowing, wanting in. I went to the back door to see if the wind had closed it but it was still open. I called and nothing so went back to the couch, only to hear the cry again a few minutes later. Again to the back door and there was Girl (remember I had quit naming cats so she was a girl cat) standing outside asking to come in. I told her to come on in as the door was open she came. For the first several days she would not come in even if the door was open until I invited her in ( a proper little lady). After eating she joined me on the couch bumping up against me eagerly wanting to be petted, if I stopped she would start up again insisting. She was/is very skittish, if I coughed or she heard a loud noise or another cat she would run under my bed and hide. Not coming out for a couple of hours. In the morning when I went to work I would spend up to 20 minutes chasing her to put her out.
Well that continued for a few weeks until I got tired of it, so one weekend I went out and got a litter box and showed her where it was. I made sure that she had used it and then on Monday I just left her in. It was 3 weeks or more before she ever went outside again, she had decided that this was her home and would not leave. I quit worrying if she belonged to anyone I figured she was abandoned or just not being taken care of. Girl could have left any time she wished as the door was usually open when I was home. I did close it if it was raining, if Twinkie was in he would fuss to be let out and if I ignored him or was asleep he would attack Girl. He would get put out right away for that. So the door stayed open most of the time.
Girl was very jumpy if she heard a noise outside or if I moved too quick or made a loud noise she would run and hide. Girl spent most of her time under my bed but would join me when I went to sleep. When she was in the front room with me she would sit on the arm of the couch constantly watching the food bowls looking for other cats, she never seemed to relax. If another cat would come in and eat she would run and hide. I figured that she must have had it pretty hard and might even been abused. She does not like people either, this surprised me at first. Girl was very friendly with me since she first showed up. Girl always wants love and attention but at arms distance, she will not lay next to me or in my lap but always almost out of reach.
So I have always been very protective of her. After I let her stay she stopped meowing never made any sounds. Never asked for dinner barley even purred. Never fully relaxing and would run if I got a string or other toy out and tried to play with her. It was a couple of months before I found out she purred, it was so quite I could hardly hear it even with my ear next to her, only by having my finger under her throat while scratching her hear did I feel it. So I let her hide, keep other cats away and would toss Twinkie out when he went after her. Other wise he was a good cat. He would let me know when he wanted to be feed with constant meowing. After several months Girl finally caught on and started hollering to be fed. I use to feed her where ever I found her and had a place all the others. Sometimes it was under the coffee table sometimes near one of the beds. I finally put an end to it and put her food in my room and would close the door so she could eat in peace. I also got her a separate litter box in my bedroom.
I always through my dirty socks on the floor in my closet and sometimes I throw my shirt on the floor next to the dresser for the night. I started to notice when I would pick them up to wash they would smell and be wet or yellowed. That was when I figured out that Girl was peeing on them. Since I had finally decided that Girl was mine I took her to the vet to get spayed and checked. The vet checked her over and found out she was already spayed and in otherwise good health. Her problems using the litter box was probably related to all the other cats, as she only peed outside of it. I had some old towels so I put them down by her box, wash and change them out twice a week. She no longer uses my socks.

Introduction

Well here it goes, allow me to introduce my babies in order of appearance. First there is Girl Kitty; Girl is a Tortoise Shell, she is very shy, timid and reserved. If you look up “Sacredly Cat” in the dictionary you will see a picture of her. Next is Squirrel Kitty; she is mixed grays and white in coloration, a domestic medium haired cat. Squirrel Girl is cute and she knows it, she is quite the little diva, and my vets favorite of the bunch. She also wants to be number one frequently picking on Girl (a big no no). Then there is Mitten Kitten; my black and white, a domestic medium haired. The big bruiser, fat cat, and bully. Mittens does not know she is a bully, she just wants to be involved in everything always getting in the middle when pay attention to the others. Which intimidates the others, she is unaware just oblivious and stubborn. Finally there is Lil' Bit; the smallest and youngest of the lot. I am not sure if she is part Russian Blue or Chateaux I am leaning more towards the latter. The whole world is just one giant playground to her and everything in it is her toy she has lots of energy. Lil' Bits is very loving and spends a fair amount of time in my lap.
I guess I should give a brief history of how I wound up a proud parent of these four. Several years ago when I moved in to where I now live, the owner had a no pet policy. While there was some wild life, lizards and such I thought I would put out some bird seed. I would regularly have birds around but they were not the same as a pet. Besides I am not much one for birds. This went on for over a year then I noticed some cats starting to hang around my yard. They looked to be complete strays and half fed so I started to put some food out for them. They stayed around and would let me pet them. I could always clam I was just feeding the strays and still did not have pets.
Well some would come and go, a few hung around spending most of the day here on weekends (I did not know about throughout the week). So I started to name them. I had a pair of black and whites and a yellow and white that were always together. The yellow one looked petty ragged, I forgot what I named him (you will see why in a min). One of the B&W's I called Kong because it would chase the yellow one from the food anytime he ate, the other would just walk up and push him away from the food so I had to separate them so that the yellow one could eat. After a cat would stick around for a month or so I would name it. Most would shortly disappear, then the 2 B&W's disappeared after being around for several months. By that time due to the summer rains I had started feeding them inside leaving my back door cracked open so they all could come and go at leisure. The yellow one would sleep in my bed most nights.
After the 2 disappeared I stopped naming cats, it seemed they would disappear shortly after I named them. Having reason to believe that the yellow and white cat had fleas, I bought a flea collar for him. A couple days later he came back with “Hello, my name is Twinkie” written in pink ink on it. I found out from my neighbor that the 3 cats belonged to the grand children of the people across the alley. The daughter had moved out taking both B&W's the yellow belonged to different granddaughter. Twinkie would hang around for a long while almost 2 years. I did not mind him staying around so much as he did not appear to be taken care of or fed. It is because of him that I have such a large family. I do miss him and hope that they are taking better care of him than they use to.