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

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:

He was noticed:

A rapid egress:

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

That evening, a sleepy Poppy:

We had some other alien visitors, including a raccoon:

The gray alien cat:

A possum:

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

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

A better picture of Pansy:

The orange cat, Pumpkin, in the feeder again:

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

Two cats in the feeder:

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

A cat in the feeder, waiting for breakfast:

Two cats almost colliding in the 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:

Pumpkin in the shelter again:

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

In the feeder:

Watching a feral arriving to eat:

The feral cat wasn’t thrilled to be watched:

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

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.

Welcome to another Caturday. Some new alien cat sightings this week!

But first, a relaxed cat inside the shelter:

Even more relaxed:

Perhaps too relaxed — almost fell off, but scrambled up:

On to the parade of aliens.  Firstly, the alien gray cat (with a collar) we’ve seen before:

A new alien cat; at first glance looks like one of our ferals, but is a bit larger, and doesn’t have they ear-tip marking as a fixed feral:

A possum:

A raccoon:

The orange cat:

Speaking of, the orange cat went inside the shelter, and was followed by a possum. They had a bit of an encounter, and the orange cat chased off the possum:

Another new alien cat:

There certainly are a lot of cats in the area!  We keep our two pet cats (Pippin and Paladin) indoors, for their safety, but it seems many of our neighbors don’t.  Growing up in New Zealand, it was standard to have cat doors and let them go outside at will, but there are a lot more dangerous wildlife in the US. Not only the possums and raccoons, but coyotes and several others.

The outdoor ferals are a different case; they grew up outside; it is their home. But they have a much more dangerous life. I do what I can to make it more comfortable for them, by providing the heated shelter and feeder.

Anyway, enough seriousness; let’s have some cuteness. A peeking cat:

Porcini was early for breakfast:

Four cats at breakfast time (one is mostly hidden behind the others):

A cat nose from above the camera housing:

Four cats:

Mirror images:

Three cats outside. Can’t see the third? look in the field to the left of the cat house:

About half as many photos this week.

A cute cat:

Scratching the wall carpeting. That’s fine, that’s one reason it’s there (also for more comfort & warmth). It is glued and screwed in place, so should be pretty resistant to their attentions:

A possum & raccoon encounter on the deck (no cats home at the time):

A pile of three cats, when another arrives:

Five cats inside:

Five cats downstairs. I love how they lay on top of each other:

A couple of cats waiting for more breakfast to be dispensed:

Cat hugs:

The alien gray cat now has a collar with a bell; definitely owned by someone:

The twins arrive together for dinner:

The twin cats:

Daylight savings has started (unfortunately… maybe one day we’ll abolish it). But the cats don’t care, other than my tweaking the feeding time slightly.

We had lots of unwelcome visitors this past week, starting with a possum, that visited pretty much every day, and even hung out inside the shelter for about an hour one night:

The alien orange cat also invaded the shelter:

The orange cat:

But there was plenty of cuteness, as always. Here’s a sideways cat:

Five cats at breakfast time:

A relaxed cat inside:

Cat silhouettes:

Back to the invaders. A raccoon turned up, and a cat left the shelter:

The raccoon came back about an hour later, and was met with disapproval:

Not to be left out, the alien gray cat also turned up:

And the possum again (or another one; who can tell):

Oh look, another raccoon, this time at breakfast:

Poppy registered a complaint:

Then retreated to the shelter:

I’m getting tired of possums and raccoons turning up, even when there isn’t food there. My main regret about building this shelter is that I didn’t make the entrances in such a way to prevent unwanted guests.  Possums and raccoons can climb very well, but they can’t jump quite as far as cats, so making a higher entrance with metal sides to prevent climbing would enable cats to enter, but not possums and raccoons.

I am contemplating modifying the cat house to give such an entrance.  One idea was to raise the whole thing up, but that’d have some issues.  I’m currently leaning towards enclosing the deck, and making a high entrance in front of the feeder.  But of course I won’t have time for such projects until I finish the duck house.

On happier things, two cats outside, one inside:

Four cats:

Cat snuggles:

More snuggles:

A cat trying to push in at breakfast time, and told to wait their turn:

Comfy cats: