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When you get a chance, could you please refresh my memory about the invisible fencing you have for your permanent residents? Thank you!
It’s the Purrfect Fence – we use the conversion system and it works great. We have chain-link fence around 3/4 of our back yard, and wooden privacy fence on the 4th side, and we have never had an escapee since we’ve lived here.
Having said that, I will say that if a cat wants IN the back yard, they can climb over the fence and get into the back yard, but then they’re stuck and can’t get out. For that reason (and because possums and skunks are able to get through the fence with no problem and I would rather not have a possum or skunk in the house) we bring the cats inside at dusk, and they’re not allowed outside at night (though they can still go out on the screened porch.)
I made this picture at the last house that explains how the Purrfect Fence works.
What it looks like.
How it works. (If that’s hard to read, it works like this: there’s a brace bolted to the fence. A spring-loaded arm fits into the brace. Mesh deer fencing is stapled to the wooden fence and attached to the spring-loaded arms with zip ties. If the cat climbs the fence, the spring-loaded arm bends under his/her weight and drops them to the ground. (With the chain-link fence, the deer fencing is attached to the fence with zip ties.)
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Hi- it seems Kirk is always tackling his siblings, more so than the other kittens. Is it a boy thing? Dominance thing? Or just plain normal kitten behavior? Do kittens try to establish a pecking order like their more wild cat cousins do? They are all so adorable.
I think it’s just a Kirk thing – he’s very exuberant and excited (while also somehow being a very chill dude), so he’ll jump on anyone (including his Mama, which is so ruuude). That said, kittens do have a pecking order that changes a lot, so one day one kitten might be at the top of the heap, the next it’s someone else entirely. (I think we all know Troi rules the roost a lot of the time.) But mostly, it’s just how kittens are.
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You had made up a chart detailing your permanent residents and their personalities, including likes and dislikes and different traits or quirks, etc. That was almost 10 years ago, and I have to say it’s rather sobering to this long-time reader (I think I started reading in 2009 when the True Bloods were in residence) to look at it and realize how many on the list have gone over the Rainbow Bridge since then, wow. Anyway, having said that: Would you perhaps be willing to update that spreadsheet with entries for your current clowder? No great hurry or anything, but I’d be interested to hear about Dewey and Khal and Charlie in comparison.
I actually looked at that when I was putting together the post, and it’s utterly amazing to me how many cats have come and gone in that time (I keep saying that one day I’m going to put together a timeline of permanent residents through the years; perhaps that will happen… SOME DAY). But as far as an updated personality chart, yeah – I can do that! It’ll be a while, probably (it’s about time to start putting together the calendars), but it shouldn’t take too long to update it.
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Did the Star Trek theme get chosen because the mark on Uhura’s face look like the badges they wear?
Yep! She came from our local animal control, and they were calling her Swiss Miss. We were kicking around names of hot cocoa brands for her kittens (and there are not many!), when I looked at a picture of her and noticed how much that spot looks like the Star Trek insignia. So it seemed like an obvious (and better) naming theme!
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Kirk’s so sleepy he didn’t even make it into the pie plate.
Spock’s still lovin’ that cat tree.
Uhura looks very serious, doesn’t she?
I’m getting a little bit of attitude from Kes, here.
Nap time for Janeway and Troi.
Janeway’s keeping an eye on me.
Kes is all “Going into space, don’t hold dinner for me.”
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Charlie (aka “Charlesburg” (Fred), “Charlie Bear” and “Charlie the Bear” (me) and “That [expletive] who always yowls at me” (Trixie and Rocco)) still loves those crocheted beds.
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Posted on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr) yesterday.
It’s Thlurrrpsday, so please admire this quadruple-thurrrp situation. From left we’ve got Kirk and Spock thlurrrping, Janeway with the face of “not gonna do it, and you can’t make me”, then Troi and Kes with their own thlurrrps.
Throw Back Thursday: I ran across this in blog post from 2006 (when we were fostering our very first bottle baby, Maddy), and the post made me laugh, so I thought I’d share it with y’all. (Sugarbutt, the orange tabby who belongs to that tail, was a permanent resident).
The absolute best moment of the day came when I was just hanging out with Maddy, and Sugarbutt and Tom Cullen came in to hang out, too. Sugarbutt got into one of the cubes that stays in the kitten room. His tail was hanging out one of the holes, and Maddy saw it and became curious (she’s turning into a real little CAT!) and ran over to sniff his tail. I snapped a picture of that moment.
And one instant later, Sugarbutt realized that Maddy was sniffing his tail, and he simultaneously hissed and levitated out the hole in the top of the cube, and he hung there for several long seconds, then pulled this running-sideways Matrix move, where he ran along a part of the wall and out the door. This act scared Tommy, who was hanging out in Maddy’s cage, so badly that he hit his head on the side of Maddy’s cage with a resounding ::clang:: and then tore out of the room so fast that he was nothing but a big black portly blur.
I called Fred to tell him about it, and ended up laughing so hard I was crying and he couldn’t understand what I was saying.
YouTube link
Throw Back Thursday: Someone recently asked how I get line-up pictures of the kittens, which made me think of this video I made back in 2018, when we were fostering the 9 Mainers kittens, in answer to that same question. I obviously need to do an updated video of how I do it now (short answer: Churu and feather teaser, and a desk that’s high enough that they hesitate to jump down from it).
Throw Back Thursday: I have shared this picture like 7 million times, but I’m sharing it again since it’s been 18 years (!) since I took it, and it remains one of my most favorite pictures ever ever ever. That’s foster kitten Bear/Barrett (who became permanent resident Tom Cullen) jumping up after the feather teaser, his brother Sad Eyes (these kittens came to me pre-named)(who became permanent resident Sugarbutt) cheering him on, and their sister Little Cal.
YouTube link
Kes has a purrrr.
YouTube link
Kirk versus Spock, versus Kes, versus Janeway, versus… well, really, everyone versus everyone, including Spock versus the rug, who was just lying there minding its own business!
Good night innernets. (Spock and Kirk)
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Previously
2022: Saul with the crazy eyes and the crazy whiskers and the “What you DOIN’, lady?!”
2021: “These kids want my pie plate, and I ain’t movin’.”
2020: Good ol’ Featherlips.
2019: “Where did the milk bar GO, I could swear it was RIGHT here!”
2018: No entry.
2017: Hubble selfie. They learn so young!
2016: Does it make anyone else dizzy, or am I the only weirdo?
2015: Don’t you just LOVE a happy ending?
2014: “What can I say? Whiskers is tasty!”
2013: No entry.
2012: No entry.
2011: If dogs could purr, that’s what he’d be doing.
2010: Meet Starsky and Hutch.
2009: Six of the six!
2008: DISAPPEARING UP THE CHIMNEY.
2007: No entry.
2006: This can’t end well.
2005: Nas. Tay.
I had to laugh about your comment that “these kittens came to me pre-named,” since one came with the name Sad Eyes, and became Sugarbutt — neither are what you might call “mainstream” cat names! Also, what became of Little Cal?
I haaaated (still hate) the name Sad Eyes, I think it’s absolutely awful, which is why I always point out that I didn’t give him that terrible name. 🙂 (At least the name “Sugarbutt” has a reason – his back end was swollen, someone told me that sugar on a damp cloth held against the swollen tissue would help reduce it. So I tried it, and he became Sugarbutt. Side note: the office staff at the vet we were using at the time absolutely refused to call him Sugarbutt, they always called him Sugar.)
Little Cal and their brother Smitty (who looked almost exactly like Sugarbutt) both went to Petsmart and were adopted.
Thank you so much for the detailed description of the fencing. It is very informative and helpful.
Also…While I’m here and have your attention. The two neighbors cats(Trixie and Rocco)that hang out at your home all the time….Do you feed them as well? How do the permanent residents feel about them? Do they ever engage and interact with them?Just curious. Another thing I’ve wondered about is how do the permanent residents feel about all the fosters? Do they ever act jealous or resentful of all the time you spend with them? Do they still play with you and expect and get massages,belly rubs,etc. or are they too busy doing their own thing since they have so many indoor and outdoor options and things to do?
We feed them a little (the occasional snack), but not reguarly. Every once in a while Fred will let one of them (usually Rocco) in for a few minutes, never when the permanent residents are around. Charlie absolutely loathes them, and the other permanent residents dislike them as well (but not as much as Charlie does.)
The permanent residents don’t really have contact with fosters unless their mother is gone and we’re letting them run around the house. In that case, they mostly ignore them, unless the kittens get right up in their faces, in which they hiss (and smack, if need be) and make it clear to the kittens that they don’t want to be friends. And yes, they still want (and get) love and attention.
Believe me I wasn’t implying that they don’t get attention and love. I know you have enough to go around. Our four are VERY high maintenance,spoiled and demanding and would never accept sharing us with fosters. They are already upset enough that we help the strays and homeless outside that we do. You,the fosters,permanent residents and neighboring visitors are very fortunate to have the best of both worlds. Bless you for all you do.
Oh no, I didn’t think you were implying that at all! 🙂 I will say – all of our cats grew up with us fostering (except for Khal, who was an adult when he joined us), so they’re used to kittens coming and going, it’s always been that way as far as they know. They usually don’t want anything to do with them at the beginning, but after a while they at least tolerate them.
Thank you for always bringing smiles to my day. How do Rocco and Trixie get in and out of your yard with the fencing?
Rocco and Trixie don’t go into the back yard. They stay on the front porch, for the most part.
Thanks, Robyn–and no worries on the timing, I’d just as soon you get those calendars together first as well! LOL (I have a very dear and long-time net-friend who adores cats and has a birthday in mid-November, so I always send her one of your calendars for the occasion if I can get it printed and shipped to her in time. Easy for me and useful as well as delightful for her!)
My aim is to get them done by the beginning of November. FINGERS CROSSED.