Feline prowls – Page 2 – a hippie with a minivan

a new little one in the house…

My Father in Law’s girlfriend (Chantal) had mentioned to us a few weeks ago that they had found some kittens on their property. The mama cat had given birth in the old outhouse that they were about to tear down… luckily it hadn’t been used in a few years and the wood chips made a nice bed… I said that I might be willing to take one since we had been talking about getting another cat or maybe even a dog…

Yesterday morning we got a call from them saying that they were coming in the area to bring a kitten to another family member and asked if they should bring us one also.. we quickly though about it and called back and accepted. The one we would have liked was already going to another family member so they brought us another little one… the kittens are 7 weeks old and were just being weaned, the mom was walking away from them while they nursed and they were out exploring more… I would have like is she was completely weaned but since they are feral and were exploring more and getting harder to catch by the day FIL thought it would be better to get them while he still could.

She arrived yesterday at about noon and she was so scared but also very calm and cuddly.. the boys held her and she licked and nuzzled Khéna and didn’t try to leave at all while being held and passed around…

I decided a while back that we would be raw feeding our next animal… Chantal had told us that they had been trying to feed the kittens kibble and milk but that they were not taking to it very much… but I thought about it and reasoned that because they were feral they were most likely being fed prey that the mama cat was catching so there shouldn’t be much transition to raw… I was right… I didn’t buy kibble at all but instead got some chicken out of the freezer, thawed it and then fed it to her…

We started with small chunks but then I gave her larger peices along with bone and organs and she knew exactly what to do with it and loved it!

Yesterday I portioned food out for the week and froze it in baggies weighing about 3oz each… estimating that she will be about 9 pounds as an adult and needs 2-3% of her body weight in food…

(click to see one larger)

As for litter training… it is also going great… I showed her the litter box a few times and finally she went in it and has been using it with no problem…

I haven’t had a new kitten in 20 years… my last kitten died when I was pregnant with Khéna at 17 years old… Our other cat, Sparky came to us as an older adult cat…so this is such a pleasure for me… We named her Nala… a name that we all agreed on including the boys… she loves to cuddle and sleep on me and I am enjoying it also..

I have a feeling that she is going to have a special place in this family….

I’m Sad….

After supper, Xavier and Simon found Nelson (our older cat) on the stairs outside with something wrong with his leg.

I choose Nelson when he was about a week old. He still had his eyes mostly closed and wasn’t yet able to walk. We brought him home about 3 months later when he had been weaned from his mom. I was 13.

He became very attached to me and me to him, he slept with me every night and was always not too far. He was also Roger’s favorite also and we used to “fight” over who was his “parent”…

Over the years he was just part of the family, my little sidekick, my “gros nanou”…

In his first year we almost lost him a few times due to recurrent bladder stones and he went through surgery three times. We weren’t able to find a food that agreed with him and finally after the third time we finally found the right food and kept him on that….
When I moved in with Simon, he came with me. he became our cat… Xavier was born, then Colin… Nelson saw it all… he wasn’t close to the kids but would come running if they would cry… He would be around my feet looking at me like he was saying “What’s wrong” and would nuzzle a bit…

Simon brought him up the stairs and put him on the ground to see what exactly was wrong, I was thinking a broken or sprained limb at first but he tried to walk and both of his legs dragged behind him. He was paralysed.

I called the Vet and went straight away, knowing very well deep inside that he wouldn’t be coming back. We knew well enough that we let Xavier and Colin say bye and we told them straight away that there where good chances that he wouldn’t be coming back.

I got to the vet and waited for quite an bit being that they were full but had told me to come when I had called. When I went in she checked to see the extent and though we thought that it may have been that he had not landed well during a fall she explained that it was more likely an embulism. Pretty much he had a stroke of the spinal cord. She explained that we could try anticoagulants and wait 24-48 hours but with his pre-existing cardiac problems, his age and the fact that there was no pulse at all in his hind legs and they were as cold as ice, that it would probably not be fair to him. I had to agree with her. I don’t think it is ever in my right to choose the time of death of another being, but I also didn’t want him to suffer and I knew that it was the right thing to do… as hard as it was…

I stayed with him and brought him home after. My mom will be burying him up at my uncles place this weekend along side our dog and another of our dear cats.

Nelson was 15 years old, was still in great shape,was still as loving and cuddly and as handsome as he has always been, he slept with us each night nest to our heads and would groom me often. Today, he stayed next to me all day and even let Colin cuddle and pet him…

Xavier is sad and wants Nelson to come back but understands that he is dead.It seems that he told Simon that Nelson is with his Pops. Though I don’t beleive in such, I still can understand the comfort it brings…

I will miss him…