As the weather gets cooler, the feral cats have been spending more time snuggling in the dry warmth of the shelter, as I’d hoped. At least some of them have spent most of the night, and sometimes most of the day in the shelter, though they typically go out patrolling during the day.

So this week, I’ve captured numerous photos like the following one, of several cats snuggled together inside:

But I do enjoy the odd goofy shot:

Nothing like a good stretch after a satisfying meal:

They don’t always snuggle together; here are four cats spread out inside:

Or sometimes some snuggle, but one prefers to be by herself:

But snuggling together can be dangerous:

As you may have seen in this video.

Another cat pile:

A breakfast queue:

This morning we were excited to see all five cats together; usually we only see up to four at a time, but in this screenshot you can see five: one on the deck, two in the feeder, and two in the shelter:

A later breakfast queue, with a bunch of Fall leaves:

Another week, another cat update! Yay!

This past week had visits from the raccoons and possum on most nights, as usual, plus the alien gray cat, and a new alien orange cat.

Firstly, here are a couple of our feral cats in the feeder, disappointed at the lack of food. I remotely dispensed more shortly afterwards:

Three outside:

Post-eating nap inside:

Watching a bird:

As mentioned, the raccoons have visited on some of the nights; about every second one on average. Usually they’re disappointed to find nothing, or only crumbs:

Too close!

The possum visits most nights… and once lucked out with lots of food, when few cats had turned up during the day. It can be hard to get the balance of food right, when the cats are inconsistent in how often they turn up to eat:

Looking at the camera:

Three inside:

Enjoying a morning sunbeam:

Spud on our front steps, where the feeder used to be:

Stretch!

The gray cat visited a couple of times. The first time, nobody else was around:

But the second time, two of our ferals were enjoying afternoon snuggles inside:

One of the ferals went to investigate, and there was some disagreement. The gray cat felt trapped in the feeder:

Here’s a screenshot of the encounter from my iPad:

As usual with alien encounters, there was some hissing and posturing, some threatening eye contact, some ignoring each other, then they separated without coming to blows.

But wait, there’s more! We also had a surprise new visitor; an orange cat that we hadn’t seen before:

Fortunately, nobody else was home at the time:

Finally, let’s conclude this week’s cat post with a funny pic:

I mentioned in the cat update last week how a possum and raccoons had an encounter, and that I’ve been tweaking the food levels via the new food dispenser to try to ensure the food dish is empty overnight, to discourage the unwelcome visitors. Well, that has been going pretty well in the past week. The possum and/or raccoons still turn up most nights, but so far have been successfully disappointed by an empty dish, and quickly departed. I’ll keep on that; hopefully they’ll catch a clue in due course.

Not much else to report this week. The weather has been more cool and rainy, so several of the cats have been spending more time in the dry comfort of the heated shelter.

Enjoy a bunch of cute cat pictures:

Three cats in the shelter:

Tracking a bug:

Three cats outside:

Kisses inside:

One eating, one looking out the shelter window:

One upstairs, two downstairs (on the heating pads):

Looking at the camera:

Lick:

Sleepy snuggles:

Porcini outside:

Normally the cats are out-and-about during the day, but Porcini spent most of the day yesterday curled up in the shelter, and most of last night too:

Looking at the camera:

Breakfast rush:

Freaking out a little when the food dispenser activates (but they’re slowly getting used to it, and coming running when they hear the noise):

A still of playing outside; see the YouTube video for a fun (silent) movie of them playing:

I hope you enjoyed these pictures.