Sunday, May 24, 2009

Urban Jungle Cats

Here's Tigger doing his urban jungle pose just for the camera. He's a good hunter and loves to catch mice. He eats them too. He hunts rabbits too, along with Tom so both cats now wear collars with bells.

Tom is showing his age a little bit more since his adventure/disappearance over a month ago.


He's recovered from starvation and is more like his old self.

In fact he's recovered enough that he's gotten into a few scraps with cats outside, landing himself a few good scratches around the neck.

I've been cleaning the cuts and a couple even got septic so I cleaned them out and I keep a steady eye on him. Maybe I check him too much because the last couple days he's run away from me when he sees me coming.... he knows it'll be a hot wash clothe on his cuts and that smelly ointment stuff.



Tigger is the male version of a diva. Whenever Tom gets attention he must have some too. If Tom is on my lap, then Tigger must be higher up and tries to sit on my chest.


He's a big suck and his favourite thing is to be scratched and admired. Next to that he loves children and dogs!


Mommy, who we are calling Beauty is a foster cat from our local animal organization http://www.animalert.ca/.


Her kitten, first named Clouseau, changed to Tarzan, changed to Monkey and now Jay is growing in leaps and bounds, literally.


It's hard to believe that two weeks ago he and his Mom laid completely ill and listless in bed with barely the strength to lift their heads.

I had to hand feed the Mom. She wouldn't eat because her nose was stuffed up with her upper respiratory infection--when a cat can't smell, it won't eat. Despite all my attempts her weight dropped and it was worrisome.


She was on medication paid for by Animalert and with that and lots of love from my niece Amber, she and the kitten pulled through just fine.

Jay is 5 weeks today and I'm now teaching him to lap up milk from a saucer.

He looks a lot like Tom but he's not Tom's kitten. Tom's been fixed for at least 4 years now.

Jay learned in one session how to drink milk from a saucer and I could tell he was feeling very proud of himself, and grown up. Mom joined in too.


His new best friend is the other foster cat Whiz. Whiz is the gentlest boy and a complete sweetie, but looking at the two of them together in play is like watching a Godzilla movie. Whiz is so much bigger than Jay.


But Whiz's heart's desire is to have someone, ANYONE, to play with.
So he plays gently with the baby and I know that in about 3 weeks this little kitten will give him a run for his money!
Oh, and me... I'm back to work on graduated hours, slowly increasing to full-time again. The arm is healing and I'm trying really hard to be patient with the healing process - I'm such a go-getter that this is a real challenge!

7 comments:

Lynn said...

Wish you could wrap Jay in a big box and send him to me. What a cutie!

Barry said...

Poor jay (or is it Tarzan) must be having an identity crisis! lol

But is he ever photogenic! You may be growing still another male diva!

KOSTAS said...

Beautiful post, with marvellous photographs and a lot of information.
Tarzan I liked more!

Jan Mader said...

I love your blog and photos. The Jungle Cats are adorable.

If you get a chance, hop over to my ANIMAL TALK blog. I posted a piece that my niece, Janet, wrote about her cat.

When Janet was barely 15 (a h.s junior because she skipped a grade) she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a deadly bone cancer.

To make matters worse, her love was running. She was a nationally ranked athlete and training for the olympics. The cancer was in her knee. Long story short, instead of amputating her leg, they did limb salvaging surgery. She'll never run again, but at least she can walk.

She spent a year in the hospital with horrible horrible chemotherapy. Now she's 18, and just finished her first year of college with a 4.0.

I'm so proud of her and blessed by the inspiration of her courage. I save everything she writes and wanted to share.

Janet has bone scans every three months. So far, everything's okay......

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

Your "wild ones" are beauty's!!
I love cute little Tarzan. Look at his sweet face :)
Hope your weekend is filled with love, joy and laughter and.......

Steady On
Reggie Girl

d said...

there's been talk around our house about getting our 9 year-old female cat a friend (she's always been an only child). do you have any commentary as to male/female or kitten/adult? her personality: loves mommy & daddy - not overly friendly to those she doesn't know (don't pick me up). i think i should be looking for a cat without personality "issues" - what say you?

Bee Magic Chronicles for Kids said...

Hi D. I find that girls are much more fussy about their friends than the boys. I think it's competition. I find the girls get along with the boys much better than another girl. The most non threatening cat of all is a nuetered male between 1 and 1.5 years old. The gals barely hiss at these young males and the fit in very nicely.

If introducing another girl, make sure she is younger so that your gal can be the senior and the boss.

Normally hissing and complaining goes on for around 3 days but I have seen it continue for a week to a lessoning degree.

I do think they enjoy having a pal, even if they aren't the best of friends.