Bad Attitude Farm & Forge LLC

The Herd of Cats – Part I – The Progenitors

If I told you we had more than a dozen cats (I lost count), you might think our house stinks like the crazy cat lady that most urban neighborhoods have.  Not so.  Well, other than the room that just had a kitten explosion and when those kittens are old enough they are out of here.  So let me tell you the story of the Bad Attitude Cat Ranch.  We would like to think of our activities with cats as a rescue effort.  The thing is, it is more of a population control effort.

Trudy – Our first neighborhood cat

When we first moved to the farm, there was a three legged feral cat that my daughter named Aubrey.  If you’ve read some of my other posts, you might recall that my daughter’s name is Aubrey.  So was the name of every animal she named for some time.  Eventually, we convinced her that animals needed a last name and to distinguish between them we should call them by their last names.  Some time later, Aubrey decided Aubrey was every critter’s last name the same way parents give their children their last name.  Our first neighborhood cat became Trudy Aubrey and later we just called her Trudy.

Trudy was completely feral at first.  With a lot of love from Aubrey, she started to trust us.  Gradually, she would come in side for visits.  With no other cats in the house, we didn’t even mind extended visits and started to think of her as a pet more than a neighborhood acquaintance.  In retrospect, if not for the way her children have become a part of our lives, we should have had her spayed the moment she called the farm home.  This past winter, she had a litter of kittens in our bedroom.  We felt blessed that she would trust us enough to choose our closet.

Later we felt cursed.  Trudy had never needed a litter box.  She just went to the door and meowed.  She was the cleanest cat we’d ever met.  Asking to go out rather than needing a litter box is what made us consider an inside cat.  The thing is, after having her litter she forgot that she was house broken.  She started messing up the bed room, then the rest of the house.  At one point, we were so fed up we moved her and her kittens to the back barn.

The next day, the kittens were all gone except one.  We feared the worst, hawks.  Then we found and followed Trudy.  She had carried all but one of her kittens back to the house and hid them by one of the basement windows.  It was so touching that she brought them back to the house that they all came back into the house, back into the bedroom, and back to stinking up the place.  The difference being Trudy had to be in that room or outside; no exceptions.  When her kittens were old enough, they went outside as well.

Abbey – Our second neighborhood cat

Abbey was our second neighborhood cat.  She arrived pregnant.  We suspect Trudy told her a family of suckers moved in down the street and showed her the way.  Turns out, our suspicions were right.  Trudy and Abbey not only knew each other; they were mother and daughter.  More on that later.

With Trudy and her kittens outside, we decided there was enough room inside for Abbey to have her litter.  This time, when ever mama cat left he kitten box we put her right outside so she would understand the rules.  Yes, she made a mess every now and then but for the most part she was much more respectful of our floors than her daughter Trudy.  When her kittens were old enough, Abbey and her brood went out doors.

During the time Abbey was nursing her litter, Trudy became pregnant again.  We noticed the day before she was scheduled to be spayed.  This was out first lesson, fix them as soon as you can.  We had no idea they would become pregnant so soon after giving birth.  Yes, we could have kept that appointment but we didn’t have the heart to end the lives that had already been created.

Cali – Our third neighborhood cat

Cali has been feral since we met her.  She remains feral, although Aimee and Aubrey have managed a bit of a relationship.  Unfortunately, that relationship is not close enough for us to get her to the vet to be spayed.  We don’t expect to be able to manage that for some time.  Fortunately, our battle against the neighborhood cat population has been successful enough that having one breeding cat in the area shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Cali has brought us one kitten.  When I say brought us, I mean literally.  She carried Pumpkin to us over and over again until Pumpkin started staying of her own accord.  We decided her daughter Pumpkin had to be a keeper.  The circumstances by which she arrived were just too unusual to add her to the free kitten category.

Tom – Our fourth neighborhood cat

Like Cali, Tom is completely feral.  He is also the only male cat we have seen in the neighborhood other than the kittens that were born here on the farm.  We are thinking of trying to catch him and bring him to the vet to be neutered, but figuring out a way to catch a feral cat has been a bit rough.  Especially when your own cats are roaming the area.  We think our best bet is to get everyone in the barn, close the door, and set up a live trap outside.  We now believe Tom is the father of just about every cat in the neighborhood.  In fact, we think we have figured out the family tree of our neighborhood herd.

The Family Tree

We think Tom and Abbey are the progenitors of all the cats in the neighborhood.  Before we arrived, Abbey gave birth to Trudy and Trudy gave birth to Cali.  Abbey, Trudy, and Cali were barn cats who lived with the next door neighbors.  Those neighbors have a dog named Luke who plays so rough with kittens that they’ve never established a barn cat population of more than these three.  Tom might live in their barn, but I get the feeling he roams the country side creating herds elsewhere on a regular basis.

Prior to our moving into the neighborhood, Luke was the neighborhood population control.  We think Trudy and Abbey came to us to have her litter because she was afraid of Luke.  We think Cali brought us her only surviving kitten.

Without serious effort, I can’t really say how many barn cats we now have.  I will save the actual number for Part II.  What is important is that the population is stabilizing.