It’s time for more cat snuggles!

And a bunch of staring off into the distance:

And playfulness:

But let’s not forget the (disappointed) possum menace:

Interestingly, there was a cat sitting in the doorway, and just watched the possum walk by, without retreating:

There is a water dispenser inside the feeder area, but since it has been below freezing lately, I decided to add a heated water dish outside. This dish warms up the water just enough to prevent it freezing, and only comes on when cold enough to be needed (I have a larger version of this for Rory’s dog water on the deck):

Hey there:

Breakfast queue:

Another visitor, this time a raccoon; again, was watched from inside by a cat:

Stretch and snuggles:

Can’t have too many stretches (watched from the window):

A meeting outside, and an observer inside:

Porcini staring at the camera. Oh, and if you look closely, you may notice an addition to the images from now on: I’ve added a watermark as a copyright notice and URL of this blog. I use the excellent Retrobatch app to convert the large BMP images from the cameras to a more compact HEIF format for importing into the photo library, so I now also add the watermark to ensure the images have proper attribution if shared:

A pile of three cats snuggling, and another greeting with a lick:

Snuggle pile:

Staring off into the distance again:

An invasion this past week: a couple of raccoons went inside the shelter, and one even went onto the upper level (which I hadn’t seen before). Fortunately, no cats were present at the time:

Snuggles:

A couple of cats peering out the shelter windows:

Another raccoon visit, this time with a cat in the shelter doorway:

I added a second screw to each of the thermal mats on the upper level, to stop them flopping down over the edge:

With the sub-freezing temperatures overnight, the cats have been spending a lot more time on the lower level recently, directly on the heating pads:

Kisses:

All five cats inside:

A sequence of three stills of Portabella falling down while playing; always impressive the way cats twist around to land on their feet:

Did you watch her playtime in the YouTube video?

A deer walks by, watched by a cat in the doorway:

More playtime:

And more snuggles:

Portabella looks at the camera while waiting her turn for breakfast:

And Porcini:

Porcini and Pommie (or Spud… but I think Pommie?):

Portabella is ready for her close-up:

Sleepy cats:

That’s it for this week!

For those in the US, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Among other things, I am thankful that Poppy chose our property to raise her kittens, and thankful that they continue to enjoy the shelter & feeder I spent many hours building for them.

One thing I’m a little embarrassed to admit is although I can recognize Poppy, Porcini, and Portabella, based on face and paw markings, I still can’t tell Spud and Pommie apart, unless I see their nether regions (since Spud is male, and Pommie is female). Their fur markings seem pretty much identical to me.

Here’s a picture with Spud, Portabella, and Pommie. I know that Spud is on the left only because I saw him jump down from the top of the camera, so I could see it was a male cat; otherwise I’d have no way of telling the left and right cats apart.

Here’s another shot, showing Spud coming out of the feeder:

Compare with this one, of Pommie coming out of the feeder:

They do look a little different, but I think that’s mostly differences in pose; watching video of both, I can’t identify any noticeable difference in markings.

Oh well, I’ll keep looking, and may spot something eventually. Most of the time it’s easy enough to tell who is who, based on behavior. Spud is more active and playful, as is common with boy cats. He also often snuggles (and play-fights) with Porcini:

Stereo yawns (Poppy and Porcini — Poppy has only a little white on one paw, and Porcini has a white stripe on her nose):

Snuggling inside, when alerted by some noise:

Stretch! (See the white stripe? Yep, Porcini.)

Porcini (again) looking at the camera in the feeder:

Porcini on the awning, Poppy on the deck, enjoying some sun:

Spud or Pommie; who can tell?

A non-cam photo of the shelter side, showing the “Cat House Saloon” sign:

And the “Mercantile” feeder side:

A cute cactus ornament inside the feeder window:

Porcini watches someone (probably Spud) on top of the camera housing:

Two mushroom girls looking at each other at breakfast time; probably negotiating who is next in the queue:

Pommie and Spud again; spot any differences? I know that Spud is on the right.

A cat watches through the window as a disappointed raccoon visits:

Watching from the doorway as a deer walks by:

Porcini and Spud snuggling:

Double-decker cats as another walks by:

That’ll do for this week!

Nothing too dramatic happened at the cat house this past week… but here’s a very “dramatic chipmonk” look:

This look from a few seconds later is amusing, too:

We did have a few un-dramatic visits by disappointed raccoons (notice the cat peeking from inside; didn’t even run away):

And a slightly more dramatic visit by a disappointed possum (with a cat in the doorway, who did retreat, and another inside, who didn’t):

Look closely at this picture; sure, there’s a cat on the awning, but do you notice the paw sticking up from under the deck?

Jumping down from the top of the facade:

All five cats snuggling inside again; makes me happy to see that:

A bit later, some cute licks:

All five for breakfast a couple of days later:

Did you watch the video of this on YouTube?

Enjoying some sun on the deck:

Spud and Porcini doing their play-fighting thing, while Poppy sleeps below:

Spud (front) and Portabella (back) nuzzling with their mother, Poppy (left):

I can’t decide if that or this shot from a couple of minutes later is more cute:

Preparing to jump up on top of the camera housing:

Levitating cat!

Another levitating cat; jumping up to the facade, the reverse of the shot earlier:

(Rather thick fog, too.)

That’s it for this week.

Happy #Caturday!

I have three cameras constantly watching our outdoor feral cats (plus one for the shop ferals), and I review the recorded footage each morning to see if there were any issues, and let’s face it, to capture pictures and video of them being cute. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. I often end up with hundreds of pics each week. This past week, I count 96 photos and videos.

But fear not, I wouldn’t subject you to that much cuteness. You’ll just have to make do with the following 22 hand-picked selections.

First up, enjoying the deck of the cat house:

Enjoying a good stretch inside:

Last Sunday the food dispenser ran out during breakfast. Porcini came up onto the deck to let me know (though I already knew, since I had been manually dispensing food via the WiFi-connected food dispenser):

She watched me refilling it from a safe distance (might be hard to see; look above the rock in the center of the picture):

Hail:

A bit of play-fighting:

Portabella brought a snack home; a mouse or vole:

Which wasn’t dead, so gave a couple of them some fun chasing it around the house:

Some disappointed visitors; the alien gray cat:

And a raccoon:

Breakfast rush:

Did you see the YouTube video that included that, and all five cats at breakfast? I’m not a professional video editor, and usually don’t bother adding a music track, but I did do some basic editing, transitions, and titles. I just use Apple’s iMovie app, which is very basic in what it can do, but good enough for me.

Back to the pics. A sunbeam through the window:

Sun on the deck:

Big yawn:

And stretch:

Three cat snuggle:

A screenshot from my iPad, showing cat(s) in each of the views. The upper-left camera shows the inside of the workshop, where two other feral cats live; this is Pansy:

More snuggles:

Another screenshot, this time showing all five cats; four in the shelter, one eating:

Breakfast queue of four cats, keeping out of the rain:

Pretzel stretch:

Yet more cute snuggles:

That’s it for this week!

Cat update time! Actually, two weeks worth; I wrote a blog post last week, but apparently forgot to publish it! So I’ll start with that, and add on photos from this past week.

A young possum visited last week the previous week:

And a raccoon:

And an adult possum:

Did you see the Stretched & Vocal Cats video on YouTube?

Four cats:

Standing on the deck and eating:

More standing around:

Kisses on a leafy deck:

Lots of fall leaves in the feeder (which I’ve since cleaned out):

Snuggle pile:

Jumping down from on top of the camera housing:

A raccoon has turned up much later than before, after the breakfast is dispensed. So time to move breakfast to later:

Poppy and Porcini:

Did you also see the More Cat Snuggles video?

Ha, disappointed raccoon!

The cats aren’t disappointed:

Porcini looking at a bug:

Hug:

One cat watching out the front door, one in the window:

Four cats at breakfast time:

Hey there:

Enjoying a sunbeam:

Three cats outside:

Apologies for missing a week! I’m going to try to post every Saturday starting today… aka #Caturday.

For your weekly feral cat update, a few encounters with raccoons, a spot of rain, and a lot of sleepy cats.

Looking at the camera:

Four cat snuggle:

Face-to-face with raccoons; the cat hissed, and the raccoon wisely backed off submissively:

Watching a bird:

Peeking out the door of the shelter at the rain:

Sometimes ya gotta step over to get to the food:

Ready for her close-up:

Oh look, more snuggles:

Breakfast queue:

Another raccoon visit, and quick egress:

Another breakfast queue; they’re so polite about taking turns (usually):

On rare occasions they have a brief disagreement, but it is always quickly resolved in the cat way (de-escalating by looking away and ignoring the other, until they settle down again):

Looking out the window:

Can you see four cats? Look closely:

Watching a deer walk behind the cat house:

A raccoon invaded the shelter, but retreated after being hissed at by the cat:

Finally, another snuggle pile:

Just a very quick cat update this week.

We’ve had the usual visitors, the raccoons:

And possum:

And the recent addition of the orange cat:

Plus a new one last night, with a collar:

Your moment of cuteness:

That’s it for this week.