Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Oh Good

Last night I dreamed of kittens. There were eight of them in the litter, including a couple of black ones (I love black cats; they are so gorgeous), and one that was this lovely sort of solid roan shade, a color cats don't really come in. When I woke I was like oh no.

Tonight I made (well, I'm still making it) some chicken in my new crock pot what Tara got me for the recent holiday, and took the trimmings out to the feral cats. I wouldn't give the inside cats chicken fat, but I figure the feral ones are out in the freezing cold and need all the fuel they can get. So I took it out there to them, still on the cutting board.

The Grrls were out there, Spot Splotch and Smudge (who sometimes get called Splunge or Splot or Smotch when I get mixed up) as well as The Interloper.

The Interloper lives up to his/her name; The Grrls are not particularly welcoming to him/her, so while the three of them were on the floor by the chow dish waiting for me, The Interloper was up on the windowsill that I leave open so they can come and go and get a bit of shelter.

Now while The Interloper has been more friendly than usual, he/she is still not tame or anything, and so was shying away from me a bit.

But I had a cutting board full of tasty chicken scraps, and well that's one of the best cat magnets there is.

So I held out the board to intrigue him/her. Sure enough, he/she leaned forward, and his/her tail went up in delight at the smell.

And then I finally got a good look at the thing's butt, in decent light, fairly close up, and with my glasses on.

The verdict: The Interloper is very definitely male. Oh golly yes.

Wow am I relieved.

He is still pretty round in the belly though; I'm going to see what I can do about maybe getting an over-the-counter wormer into the poor thing, assuming that's possible. I imagine all of them could use some, so hopefully I can mix it in with their food somehow. Wish me luck.

12 comments:

Claire said...

Yay! I'm so glad you're not going to have to deal with more kittens.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Glad to hear of the Interloper's confirmed gender status! Happy New Year, Thalia.

Thalia said...

It's not gender, Debra, it's sex. I would not presume to speak for the Interloper--that's up to hir.

:)

Anonymous said...

Oh, good. No surprise kittens for now.

I think I got some liquid roundworm medicine at Petco that does a great job - I think I mixed with some wet food and it worked very quickly. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

it's march now....what is new?



a reader from the chicago area

Thalia said...

not much new except snoooowwwwww snooowwww and more snooowwwwwwww holy moly

Actually though I did manage to get one of those liquid wormers into the Interloper and the Grrrls (twice, even, with a second dose two weeks later), so they're all good now.

But snoooowwwwwwwwwwwww blech

Anonymous said...

yea....we here in the suburbs and city of chicago had a record snowfall......but not nearly what the east coast got....geesh....ours is just about gone now with temps this weekend in the 60s!! All that's left is huge piles in parking lots...and gosh, they are so black and gray from dirt. Glad the kitties are all good now...even tho' I am allergic to the cute things!!
once the snow is gone, how much is left in the yard to clear away? you two are goddesses in my book for all the hard work you have done to date!!

the reader from chicago land

pam said...

I hope you haven't stopped the cleanup. I visit often just to see if there is anything new. Keep up the good work.

Catanea said...

We hope all is well.

Anonymous said...

Hey, how are you? Hope all is going well!

maria from new york

Tara said...

heya! Yeah, the yard cleanup has slowed down, but spring is on our doorstep I think we can expect a new posting very soon!

Plus, I had this idea for a new sub category of postings looking back at the years leading up to 2010 when this blog started.

Thalia said...

Watch out there Tara, because now I have it in writing!

heh