Barn Cat Candidate - Day 101 - Daily Haiku
![20180401_115259[1] - Black and White Kitty.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXpDtKhMChghC7BdR4PGDdLN7kykFQX6V7CRe3ssYSmxK/20180401_115259%5B1%5D%20-%20Black%20and%20White%20Kitty.jpg)
Barn Cat Candidate
sorry I scared you, but your
food is waiting there
Cori MacNaughton
As stated in my last post, I surprised at least seven deer, and likely more in my barnyard yesterday, and spent several moments photographing them before I went to gt the goats.
I was so intent on the deer, and on talking to the goats as I approached, that I didn't even realize that our little white and black kitty was sleeping in the straw outside the tack room, across from the goat stall, until he froze as I stopped about ten feet from him, staring at me, and then limped off to hide under the barn.
But, even though he moved quickly, he was not running, so perhaps he is beginning to get a clue that I mean him no harm, and am trying my best to help.
I didn't manage to get a photograph of him, but I did get a much better look at the left hind leg he favors, which has a circular depression in his fur, making it look as though he may have been bitten badly at some point, and is still limping because it remained untreated, and has thus never completely healed. All this, however, is merely conjecture, until he trusts me enough to allow me to actually examine him/her, which may or may not happen.
I promptly went to the studio, where I had just put food out for him, and grabbed the cat carrier and brought it into the barn, and set it up on a shelf that is tall enough to prevent Lolo from getting it before the kitty does. And while Bear and Musica often accompany me to, and sometimes into the barnyard, they rarely if ever enter the barn itself, so again, he's more likely to have the food to himself. There is a metal wheelbarrow in front of the shelf, that the goats turned over a few days before, which should afford some protection from them harassing him when he's around.
When I came a few hours later to put them back into their stalls, the food and water were untouched, but he has often waited until nightfall to eat in the past.
I was concerned when the food was still untouched this evening, with still no sign of the little guy, so if he has still not touched it by morning, I will put food out again at the studio, while leaving the cat carrier in the much drier barn, but moving it to a more accessible location, while still keeping it hopefully out of the reach of the goats. I don't think they would hurt him, but they have harassed Musica on occasion, and the little guy is already scared enough.
I'm mostly wondering if his injury is preventing from being able to precisely control his jumping, which would explain why he has yet to claim his food, but it is always possible that he has other people feeding him and simply went for something easier, or perhaps caught himself some mice and voles. Anything is possible.
I will set up some sort of accessible platform at the studio, so I can set food out there as well, with a couple of steps to make it easy for him to get up and down, but not to allow Lolo to get at the food. And, as I've been doing, I'll make certain the cats and Lolo are in the house before I come down to feed him.
But in the meantime, I'll keep trying to let him know that he can make the barn his home, and is welcome to do so, and that if he does, he will be continue to be fed and watered each evening when I feed the goats.
I don't think I've seen the last of him.
And I would love to hear your take in the comments.
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The first photo is one of the first I took of the little guy, when he was way across the barnyard from where i was standing in the barn, and I was using my Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
The photo of our dog, Lolo, and our late cat, Miod, I took as they were cooperatively begging at the dinner table, despite our longstanding rule of not feeding them from the table.
You can see how much that deterred them both.
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Just this morning, @Thundergod DM'd me a parable he'd written on befriending wild animals. If he publishes it, I'll make sure you see it. Your little barn kitty sounds so endearing! Alas, much as we want to hug and cuddle these furry creatures, they seem to prefer that we keep our distance.
Yeah, I've befriended more than a few wild animals over the years, and it does take a lot of time and patience. Though my grandmother was the champion in that regard.
She was so still and engrossed while she was reading, even on camping trips, that more than one critter climbed up to check her out. My grandfather took photos of her with a ground squirrel in her lap, as well as once with a skunk, and the look on her face in the latter photo was flat out hilarious. And no, thankfully, it never felt threatened, so no one got sprayed.
With feral cats, generally if they haven't been tamed by eight weeks of age, they likely never will be, though it's still possible that this little guy may just have been dumped or got lost in our area, and started off with humans. Time will tell.
S/he mostly stays out of sight, but I'm pretty sure is observing most of the time when I'm in the barnyard, and when I do spot it, it typically stays put unless I approach too closely, which indicates the beginnings of trust.
Let's hope, as my primary goal at this point is to catch, neuter and release it, so at least it isn't adding to the pet overpopulation problem. And I'd like our vet to check out its bum rear leg to make certain that it isn't infected.