Fixing the ferals
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (60683)
United States
October 16, 2009 4:18pm CST
As most of my friend's know, I took in 3 feral kittens in June. They were then about 8 weeks old.
Well, the time has come to fix the little darlings.
Up until now, we've had a problem telling the 2 tabbies apart - tho recently the one has gotten a LOT bigger than the other, making me suspect that one was male.
My suspicious were correct, the larger tabby was a boy, now called Elmer, the girl is Emily and the black one, who we've called Brat is now Elizabeth. All three of these names come from the ITV show, The Tomorrow People. Since we called the mom, The Momma it seems fitting that the 2 tabbies would have the names of the children of The Momma - and, for those of you who don't know, Elizabeth on the show is black.
So,now all the cats are fixed and these 3 will be able to go out to the horse barn in the next few weeks and we will be back to 25 cats, all over a year...
5 people like this
12 responses
@Zenstrive (239)
• Indonesia
16 Oct 09
Good to know that they are going okay. I always have a soft spot for feral kittens, but don't know how to raise them properly.
3 people like this
@writersedge (22579)
• United States
16 Oct 09
I don't know how you can take care of 25, two are driving me crazy.
@tamarafireheart (15397)
•
16 Oct 09
Hi Elic,
Awwww, if I had to have them, I wouldn't be able to give is away, but with 25 cats you have, I do understand, I have two cats, both ten yearss old and all they do is sleep although the male on whose name is Tom can bew palyful when he wants to. love kising his tummy and he loves that too.
Tamara
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (60683)
• United States
17 Oct 09
I know, we've gotten fond of them, but compared to these cats, Star is affectionate, and Gizmo is approachable - I think we ALL will be happier with them in the barn. Took a little convincing that a fed cat hunts better, but we wouldn't let them take mom until they understood that
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (19044)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
16 Oct 09
Do you ever get stumped as to what you should name a cat?
Hope the Tomorrow Cats like their new home in the barn.
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31556)
• United States
17 Oct 09
How in the world can you afford to feed and care for 25 cats?! I'm glad you're taking care of ferals but good grief, the expense that must be!! At least you have them all spayed and neutered and are responsible pet owners, thank you! 
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (60683)
• United States
17 Oct 09
its about $150 for food, $60 for litter, and a very inexpensive vet
sure, there are some problems, like Taj, Pong and Solo's teeth that we have to spend more on, but they are worth it
I fix cats & dogs, I fully believe that there are too many animals now, if everyone with a non-breed pet got them fixed, we'd be much better off all around
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31556)
• United States
17 Oct 09
You are SO right! If I were rich, I would go through vet's school and fix animals for free for anyone who wanted it. It would be such a kindness to the animals. I hate to think of all the starving little kittens and puppies out there with no shelter, all because a human was too stupid to get their parents fixed.
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15899)
• Australia
17 Oct 09
Twenty five cats are a lot of felines! I have two and me though I had my work cut out for me! How do you remember them all? I am pleased to her that your latest are going to be okay and great to see they are getting ‘fixed; that is the responsible thing to do.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (60683)
• United States
17 Oct 09
the hardest part of remembering them all is recognizing the ones that look alike - Ping and Pong were very close as kittens, but Ping was a little smaller and a little more tan than orange - but so very nearly the same we put a collar on Ping...
Flower and Blossom are both black and white short haired cats, but Flower has white edges on the outside of her ears.
Booboo and Gizmo are both brown tabbies with white, but Gizmo's left leg is dark and he has a smudge on his right cheek while Boo's leg is white and he as a "beauty mark" on his nose.
The problem with the ferals was that the 2 tabbies were so close in looks that unless they were together it was hard to tell them apart, and until recently when the male started out growing his sister, they were hard to tell apart when they were together! Now Emily's left ear is notched while Elmer's right ear is notched!
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15899)
• Australia
17 Oct 09
Let's see...Ping and Pong,Flower and Blossom, Booboo and Gizmo, Emily and Elmer...My goodness how do you do it? That is so lovely that you care for them all though Elic!Good on you!
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (34724)
• United States
19 Oct 09
Sounds like you did a Good thing to keep more Cats from eventually being around there for sure. You have more Cats that we even did even when I was growing up but I do know that living in the country having a lot of Cats around is a Good thing for sure. Wondering how you keep tabs on all of these now for sure?
1 person likes this
@Hatley (164777)
• Garden Grove, California
17 Oct 09
hi ElicBxn I really admire you for what you are doing
for these feral cats. When I was a kid I was raised on a
farm about a mile from my hometown.people would drive
out into the country and just drop off their unwanted
kittens, cats,and puppies. we always ended up taking
in strays, getting them well then finding homes for
'them with town and farm people who really wanted a pet
and would take care of it. A lot of farm families always
had several dogs and a passel of cats. Now in town it'
must be a whole new set of problems with feral cats.
1 person likes this
