New Kitty Black Kitty

Tree309

Well, my blog reader probably saw this coming. Yes, feral male black kitty has brought a girlfriend around. She is much less feral than he is, or that may be due to the fact that she appears to be in heat.

She was so starved the first night she came to the food dish with him, she was gulping the dry food so fast she had to lift her head and gulp several times before going back for more.

This afternoon I let Peko out with me as usual while I hayed the goats. He has learned to linger close to the house, since he likes to bark at the goats and that usually earns him a stern verbal reprimand. He always waits with his tennis ball, so I can give him a couple of retrieves before I trade out with the Firebird who has other outdoor chores which follow mine.

Well, today I finished and saw Peko sitting on the back deck very serious, with no ball. I inquired, "where is your ball?". He just sat there, so I started to look around the deck and saw new kitty there, rubbing on the edge of the deck quite near the dog. I started speaking to her, and when I reached out to pet her, she bolted with Peko in hot pursuit.

He only went a few strides, as I was calling him back. I assumed she retreated under the house (black kitty's winter domain), but I could only see black kitty in the gloom. Willow went out afterwards, and came in with a great story of being able to pet her and showing her the fresh water on the deck, where new kitty had a big drink.

In between those two events, we discovered a freshly killed vole next to the deck where I had initially seen new kitty next to the dog. So, she is bringing us presents already in exchange for the dry cat food. Hmmm. I hope she belongs to the neighbor. We'll have to take a walk over there in the the next day or two to find out if they have owners.

I don't mind feeding the odd stray, but I can't stomach the thought of a litter of kittens under the house. And we have plenty of housecats already. :)