Cats

Cat update for week ending July 27

Pansy reaching for kibble in the back of the shop:

Pansy reaching for kibble

Raccoons are usually only active at night, but one has been visiting after dawn, raiding the breakfast dispensed for the cats:

Raccoon

Two cats:

Two cats

Two cats drinking from fountain; there are more convenient (and cleaner) water sources, but maybe they like the tadpole flavor:

Drinking from fountain

A cat laying on the ground, and another arriving for dinner:

Two cats

Porcini chasing a bug while waiting for breakfast:

Porcini chasing bug

Three cats at breakfast time:

Three cats

Porcini cautiously watching me as I come out the front door:

Porcini watching me by front steps

A twin relaxing on the front steps:

A twin relaxing on the front steps

Two cats at dinnertime:

Two cats

Two cats the next day:

Two cats

A late raccoon again (probably the same one); licking its lips at the raided food:

Raccoon

Two cats inside; they haven’t been in there much recently:

Two cats inside

One reason why, perhaps: a raccoon inside:

Raccoon inside

Three cats for breakfast:

Three cats

The raccoon again, at 07:23 this morning; I don’t think I’ve ever seen one about that late:

Raccoon

I had adjusted the feeder schedule to dispense after dawn, to avoid the raccoons, but this one seems to have learned that. And learned the sound of food being dispensed; I’ve seen it come back after food appears. I’m not sure what else I can do; I can’t manually dispense food when I see a cat (which is what I often do in the evenings, as I try to avoid leaving anything by dusk). It’s frustrating.

This morning I did keep a close eye on the feeder, though, and rushed out there with Rory to chase it off several times. Hopefully I can discourage it, but I doubt I’ll have much success. I’ve thought about a remote-controlled door to close off the feeder at night, or a door to trap the raccoon, but I don’t want to trap the cats.

I also have a design for a barrier to place in front of the cat house, with a platform to jump into it, that cats should be able to manage, but raccoons and possums shouldn’t be able to do. I might try that one day, though I have too many other projects.

Cat update for week ending July 20

It’s Saturday, Caturday.

Warning: sensitive readers may want to skip this post; a couple of GIFs that some might find troubling.

Let’s start with some innocuous pictures. A staring cat, and a second one in the feeder, probably startled by some noise:

Staring cat

Pansy in the shop:

Pansy in the shop

Pansy in the shop

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

The alien orange cat, Pumpkin, caught a bird below the bird feeders. Rather than include a sequence of photos, here’s an animated GIF:

GIF of orange cat catching bird

One of our feral cats was interested:

Orange & feral cats

Raccoon vs possum at the feeder:

Raccoon vs possum

Another animated GIF, of a rather nasty encounter between Pumpkin and a raccoon inside the shelter. Pumpkin was inside the shelter, and saw the raccoon. The raccoon came running up, and after Pumpkin hissed at it a couple of times, the raccoon dove inside and attacked Pumpkin:

Pumpkin vs raccoon

I suspect that was a female raccoon feeling like she was protecting a youngster:

Big and little raccoons

One of our ferals checking out the shelter after that:

Sniffing cat

Let’s finish off with some more usual scenes. A couple of cats having dinner:

Cats

Three cats:

Three cats

I hope those GIFs weren’t too disturbing. Let me know if you think I should avoid such content in the future. It’s all part of nature, as uncomfortable as it may be sometimes.

Cat update for week ending July 13

Let’s start Caturday with a cat climbing a pole behind the cat house:

Cat climbing pole

A raccoon and possum have an encounter on the deck:

Raccoon vs possum

Three cats:

Three cats

Actually, there were four cats; one more inside the shelter, as seen in this screenshot:

Four cats

In another screenshot, we can see a raccoon in the feeder while two cats are in the shelter:

Raccoon while cats inside

Not content with that, the raccoon came in the shelter with the cats, who gently suggested it might want to be elsewhere, with much hissing and growling:

Raccoon in shelter with cats

Surprisingly, they didn’t evacuate after that; they just curled up for more snuggles:

Cat snuggles

A possum also visited (yes, the same night), and was also directed towards the exit:

Possum in shelter with cats

More snuggles:

More snuggles

As if the raccoon and possum weren’t enough for one night, Pumpkin, the orange cat, also paid a visit, and was more forcefully told he wasn’t welcome; they were more vocal with him than the wildlife:

Orange cat in shelter

Why won’t they be my friends?

Orange cat

Porcini looking at the camera on the way in to breakfast:

Porcini looking at the camera

They’ve been using the shelter more this week, despite the unwelcome visitors:

Snuggles

Cat update for week ending July 6

It’s cat update time!

Here are Porcini and Poppy:

Cats

A nose-sniff greeting:

Cats

Pansy in the back of the shop, arriving for lunch:

Pansy in the shop

Pumpkin, the alien orange cat, is getting more bold. This past week he went into the shelter when Portabella was already there… and amazingly Bella didn’t object:

Pumpkin and Portabella in the shelter

Bella even went back to sleep, with him on the lower level:

Pumpkin and Bella in the shelter

Meanwhile, a deer came by to eat some berries off the tree, while another cat (Porcini, I think) watched:

Deer and cat

Back inside:

Pumpkin and Bella in the shelter

Pumpkin got a bit too close, which Bella wasn’t keen on, but she didn’t run away, perhaps feeling like he’d chase if she jumped down:

Pumpkin and Bella in the shelter

At one point Pumpkin left, ate some food, then returned, again without objection. After both being in there for over an hour, Pumpkin left peacefully.

Then about an hour later, when Bella was by the bird feeders (look closely to the right of the leftmost feeders), Pumpkin again approached:

Pumpkin and Bella by the bird feeders

He got within a couple of feet of her, then she retreated a short distance, till he wandered off:

Pumpkin and Bella by the bird feeders

At least those two seem to be getting used to each other.

Here’s Porcini in the swimming pool area, after I flushed her out of the bird feeder grasses, while refilling the feeders. She was happy to watch me from a safe distance:

Porcini in the pool area

Bella by the cat house:

Bella

That evening, though, there was a less friendly encounter between Pumpkin and one of the twins (probably Spud), where Pumpkin chased him to under the cherry tree by the front steps:

Pumpkin chasing Spud

Pumpkin chasing Spud

Pumpkin chasing Spud

They separated when I came out, having heard the ruckus:

Pumpkin chasing Spud

The alien gray cat:

Alien gray cat

Another nose-sniffing greeting:

Greeting

One of the twins watching birds by the feeders:

Cat watching birds

Cat update for week ending June 29

What’s this? Another cat update?! How unexpected. Or something.

Three cats in the feeder:

Three cats in the feeder

The alien orange cat has been hanging around a lot recently. So much so that we’ve decided to give him a name, in keeping with our convention of giving “P” names to cats: Pumpkin. We wonder if he’s feral, stray, or someone’s pet. Here he’s peeking into the feeder, while Poppy eats:

Orange cat peeking into the feeder

He was noticed:

Orange cat peeking into feeder

A rapid egress:

Rapid egress

He went into the feeder and Poppy came back to watch him:

Orange cat in feeder

Orange cat in feeder

That evening, a sleepy Poppy:

Sleepy cat

We had some other alien visitors, including a raccoon:

Raccoon

The gray alien cat:

Gray alien cat

A possum:

Possum

In the front of the shop, here’s Pepper:

Pepper in the shop

In the back of the shop, Pansy makes a funny face:

Pansy face

A better picture of Pansy:

Pansy in the shop

The orange cat, Pumpkin, in the feeder again:

Orange cat in feeder

And in the shelter, where he slept for several hours:

Orange cat in shelter

Two cats in the feeder:

Two cats in feeder

Pumpkin sleeping in the shelter again; he’s really been hanging out a lot:

Orange cat in shelter

A cat in the feeder, waiting for breakfast:

Cat in feeder

Two cats almost colliding in the feeder:

Two cats in feeder

When I was refilling the bird feeders, I flushed Porcini out from the grass under the feeders. She watched me from under the deck:

Cat under deck

Pumpkin in the shelter again:

Orange cat in shelter

He popped out of the shelter when a feral was eating:

Orange cat and feral

In the feeder:

Orange cat in feeder

Watching a feral arriving to eat:

Orange cat and feral

The feral cat wasn’t thrilled to be watched:

Orange cat and feral

Screenshot of cat cams, with Pumpkin sleeping and Porcini eating:

Screenshot of cat cams

I really think Pumpkin wants to be friendly with the ferals, but they aren’t so accepting. I hope that he doesn’t (unintentionally) chase them away. I don’t mind him hanging around, but would be sad if they left. I’m hoping that they all learn to get along one day, though I know that’ll take a long time, if ever.

Cat update for week ending June 22

Unlike the flock pics, I didn’t have a huge collection of cat pictures this week, as the cats haven’t been hanging around as much, as is typical in warmer weather. But I did choose some interesting ones. Interesting to me, anyway.

Firstly, the twin cats:

Twin cats

The cats haven’t been spending much time in the shelter, since it isn’t all that cold at night, but occasionally they rest for a bit, especially while waiting for breakfast to be dispensed:

Two cats inside

Hey, is this photo mis-filed?! Sure, it contains birds… but also a cat.  Can you see it?

Cat under bird feeders

Here’s another one, that includes two cats. One should be easy to see:

Cats under bird feeders

A cat less stealthily watching a bird on a feeder hook:

Cat watching bird on feeder

Spud in front of the cat house:

Cat in front of shelter

Three cats:

Three cats

About to leap on top of the camera housing:

Up close cat

Four cats:

Four cats

Two story cats:

Two story cats

Another encounter between the alien orange cat & Poppy, in night vision and color:

Orange cat & Poppy

Orange cat & Poppy

(It ended peacefully enough, when Poppy ran off.)

One more pic of a cat watching birds, from a few minutes ago:

Cat watching birds

That’s it for this week!

Cat update for week ending June 15

Thanks for the nice comments on yesterday’s new feature, Flock Friday. Check it out if you missed it. I enjoy doing these weekly cat posts, so it’ll be good to show pictures of the various birds more regularly, too.

On to the the cats. You know I can’t resist a cute snuggle or three:

Snuggling cats

Snuggling cats

Snuggling cats

A sequence of images of an encounter between the alien orange cat and Poppy (aka mamacat):

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

Poppy expressed her disdain of the orange cat:

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

The orange cat took the hint, and wandered off, but Poppy wasn’t satisfied, and followed after:

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

Poppy swiped at the orange cat… then hid under the cat house until he left:

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

Four cats:

Four cats

Poppy and Porcini watching birds:

Cats watching birds

The twins:

Twin cats

Four cats (can you see all of them?):

Four cats

Poppy & Porcini again:

Poppy & Porcini

The orange cat again, but interestingly one of our ferals walked by, without seeming too concerned; maybe they are getting used to each other, slowly:

Orange cat & another

When we had really hot weather recently, I turned off the heat lamp and opened the vent in the duck house. Then in the evening, around sunset, I went back out to the duck house to turn the lamp back on, and mostly close the vent. On both evenings I did that, cats followed me back to the front door. Here are three cats on the front steps:

Three cats on the front steps

I’m not entirely sure what they were thinking… perhaps remembering when I used to do rounds and give them wet food on the steps, before I built the cat house. That’s been a while, though. Or just happened to be around, since soon before sunset is when they usually turn up to the cat house for dinner.

Similarly, on another day, a cat watched from kitchen garden as Jenn headed towards the greenhouse:

Cat in kitchen garden

It does encourage me when they show signs of being comfortable around us (so long as we keep a distance).

Finally, a fun (but low-quality) GIF of a cat reversing course:

Reversing course GIF

Cat update for week ending June 8

I’m back from San Jose, and catching up with things… including reviewing the cat cam footage for the week (or as many days as the cameras record; it varies based on memory card capacity and camera resolution).

Here’s Portabella requesting breakfast:

Portabella

Another encounter with the orange cat; it’s being quite a menace:

Orange cat encounter

A good stretch:

Stretch

This is a funny expression; she looks startled, but is actually just in the middle of licking her lips after eating:

Mid-licking lips

One of the cats threw up outside the feeder, and a scrub jay was helping itself:

Bird

However, things didn’t go as planned for the bird; a cat was inside the shelter, and chased it. Here’s a sequence of motion-blurred images, of the bird flying into the feeder, chased by the cat, then out again between the cats legs. Don’t worry, the bird got away:

Cat and bird

Cat and bird

Cat and bird

Cat and bird

A few hours later, another bird, a steller’s jay, came to finish off the food; I guess it didn’t see what happened to the other one:

Bird

It was more successful, and also helped itself to extra cat food. They are such pretty birds:

Bird

Two cats eating breakfast:

Two cats eating

Two cats inside the shelter:

Two cats inside

Four cats inside; three upstairs, one down:

Four cats inside

Three cats snuggling on the heating pad:

Snuggles

One cat scratching the tree, while two are in the feeder, and one on the deck:

Scratching tree

I hadn’t seen all five cats for a while, so was pleased to see them here (one outside, one in the shelter, three in the feeder):

Five cats

Three cats inside when another arrives:

Four cats inside

Snuggle pile:

Snuggles

Cat update for week ending June 1

We may have new chicks and ducklings, but let’s not forget the cats! A Caturday between the Hawaii and WWDC trips.

Four cats on a foggy morning:

Four cats

Three cats inside:

Three cats inside

Pepper in the shop; this is the last shot of her from this camera, as it has been moved into the duck house, as was originally intended; I was just using this for her until it was needed there. (There’s another lower-res camera over by her food, but it doesn’t record as reliably.)

Pepper in the shop

An encounter with the alien orange cat:

Orange cat encounter

Orange cat encounter

The orange cat in turn had an encounter with an inquisitive deer:

Orange cat and deer

A cat in the feeder:

Cat in feeder

One eating, one waiting on the deck:

Cat in feeder

A sleepy Poppy in the shelter:

Cat inside

A cat arrives while others are eating breakfast:

Cat arrives

A comfy Poppy again:

Cat inside

A scrub jay keeps visiting the feeder and taking food (could be multiple, who knows); one day it might end badly for it:

Bird in feeder

Two cats in the feeder:

Cats in feeder

Another orange cat encounter. It arrived (barely visible off to the left):

Orange cat encounter

And four cats scattered:

Orange cat encounter

There’s the bird again:

Bird

Cat update for week ending May 25

Just because we’re in Hawaii, doesn’t mean you need to suffer the loss of a Caturday post! Here’s a post with pictures from the few days before we left.

It’s bothered me since building the cat house that the signs weren’t very readable, as they just had a stain without any color difference of the carved lettering (you can see them towards the end of this construction post). So I recently used a marker to color the lettering, making them much more visible:

Cat house

Here’s a closer view. The coloration of the scull shape is just natural weathering:

Cat house

Breakfast time:

Breakfast time

A scrub jay has visited several times to grab some kibble out of the feeder:

Scrub jay

Going back for more:

Scrub jay

A squirrel:

Squirrel

The squirrel leapt onto the camera housing. Flying squirrel!

Squirrel leaping

Oh yeah, this is supposed to be a cat post. Here are the twins:

Twin cats

Two happy cats inside:

Cats inside

The alien orange cat has been visiting a lot recently. Here he is inside the shelter:

Orange cat inside

Another time, the orange cat arrived when a cat was inside. Harsh words and swipes were exchanged, and the cat rapidly exited through the back door:

Orange cat facing cat inside

The next morning, the orange cat arrived when Porcini was obliviously eating in the feeder:

Orange cat with cat in feeder

Orange cat with cat in feeder

They didn’t exchange any words, but the orange cat wandered off after a minute:

Orange cat with cat in feeder

Then he ate a bit:

Orange cat in feeder

But was startled by more food dispensing:

Orange cat startled

Pepper in the shop:

Pepper in the shop

The alien gray cat also stopped by briefly:

Gray cat

Another squirrel:

Squirrel

And scrub jay, with food in its beak:

Scrub jay

That’s all for now. I may include some pictures from while we’re away in the post next week; most cameras record about a week’s worth, so I’ll review them when we get home.