Success!

Yesterday we got T.T. back.  Her surgery was successful, she had a more fluid than what they usually find inside, but the vet said that could've been because she was in heat, it's just how she normally is or something else.   She was extremely afraid when she got home -- I don’t think being drugged earlier helped.  But she's doing much better tonight and I even got her to purr and rub against me for a while.  I'll get pictures tomorrow (I didn't today or yesterday because she was still fairly freaked out) and then post them!

T.T. Is On Her Way

Today I called the vet and asked about their spay and neuter program.  Thankfully they have one and it only costs approximately $150 to get a female spayed!  Seeing as my neighbourhood has generously already covered $100 of the cost, we're doing good!  I've caught T.T. and she's currently in a dog kennel in the spare bedroom until tomorrow when she goes in for her surgery.  I'll let you all know how it goes tomorrow evening!  Maybe I'll get a picture of two as well of her for all of you.

Gender Dilema

Today while I was feeding Kitten and T.T. (I got a large donation of cat food and I would like send a HUGE thanks to Liz who donated all of it!) I discovered some shocking news.  All parents want to know the gender of their baby, and with T.T. sort of being my like my child of course I wanted to know the gender!  Hoping for a boy though because then it would cost less to fix, I was somewhat disappointed to find that she was a girl.  Girls are great of course, except for the fact they can cost twice to triple the cost of a male to get fixed because it’s a major invasive surgery.  Luckily, I still have that hundred dollars from fundraising in my neighbourhood to use and hopefully one of the vet clinics around can give me a discount again.  It'll take some phone calls all around town to arrange everything but I swear I will get this last kitty spayed and end the overpopulation in my neighbourhood!

Wish me luck and remember to vote (look to the sidebar on the right) :)

Voting

I will explain the voting.  So, for blogs there is an option to let ads appear on them.  You can be paid for allowing these ads on your website.  Here is the question for you viewers: do you want ads on my blog with all the money going to the feral cats or would you rather there be no ads?  As the viewers, this is for you guys to decide.  Please vote!  Just click yes or no on the right to let me know what you think!

Unforeseen Issues

T.T. to the left & Kitten on the right.

T.T. and Kitten never seem to leave the comfort of the back doorstep anymore, although I can’t blame them when delicious food scraps are brought to them every morning from breakfast and dinner.  I have no problem with this whatsoever (except maybe the minor annoyance when T.T. tries to bite my toes every time I go out).

One unforeseen issue with them living there is that one of my cats, the ginger tabby Oliver, has been getting extremely frustrated!  As a male cat, and even though he's neutered, he still wants to protect his territory.  He stands there at the window and watches them with unblinking, glaring eyes – sort of unnerving even for me the way he has such a hatred for them.  

The fact he can’t attack them is causing a mess of problems.  The main one is that due to misplaced aggression (he can’t attack those cats so he is taking his anger and territorial frustration out on others) because now he's attacking my sister and chasing the other cat, Tucker, all the time around the house.  I'm hoping when winter strikes the feral cats will move somewhere warmer in the forest and Oliver can have some peace of mind and my sister won’t have to watch her back for a prowling ginger cat who wants to rip her face off (okay, he's not that aggressive, but still fairly scary).  Well, I guess it’s a waiting game now...

The Spy Cam

My spy camera ran out of batteries.  I takes more than one would think it a tiny trail camera would be able to fit, alas it is many many batteries.  Therefore, I must find a copious stash of batteries somewhere in my house to get it back in action.  I shall look tomorrow, wish me luck!

ATTACK!

You may think differently, but if I'm not mistaken that is a rabbit foot and tail.  This picture suggests that either the rabbit:

a) Jumped at the camera and smoked it's head on the pole the trail camera is on

b) Narrowly missed the pole while jumping at the camera or

c) The rabbit was attacking the camera.  

Which do you think it was?  Let me know in the comments!

Cat Pyramid

     Kitten and T.T. seem to live on the back step now.   It’s getting colder so usually they cuddle up together to preserve some sort of heat.  I guess stacking on top each other works too!  This was probably a once-in-a-life-time sort of thing, T.T. will probably never stack himself on his mom again, but I'm glad I got a picture!

     Kitten has grown to like T.T. and shares her food with him.  Before, she'd shove him away and wouldn’t pay him much attention at all.  A great stress has been relieved from me knowing that she'll share food with him and that she cuddles with him as well.

     Unfortunately, T.T. gets very impatient when I'm feeding him.  Just last week I was standing a foot in from the doorway and throwing some sausage pieces out.  Apparently I wasn’t throwing fast enough because T.T. ran inside the house and scratched me.  I couldn't believe it!  This feral cat ran into the house and scratched me!  Anyway, that hasn’t happened since – except he's taken to biting your toes when you walk outside.  He creeps up on them and nips as if to tell you if you don’t put the food down faster, there’ll be dire consequences.  Wearing crocs has saved my precious digits on multiple occasions.  After the incident with Tucker attacking my hands, I'm going to avoid getting cat bites as long as possible!

Shilo Pictures

I promised some pictures of Shilo, so here they are!

This one is my favourtite!

Just relaxing and hanging out.

Whenever she something new, this is how she reacts.

Cartwheel time!

Jumping to get the toy.

What a pretty pink tongue you have there Shilo.

Food = The Way to Tame a Cat

As you can see in the picture, Kitten is back and hungry again!  I can now pet her once more, almost everywhere, without her getting too freaked out.  Another neat fact, she knows her name.  If you stand outside and see her in the distance and call, "Kitten!" she'll come trotting over to you expecting some food for her troubles -- of course.  And T.T. is also coming along.  While he ate at the food dish I managed to get a few strokes onto his silky coat before he got a little freaked out.

Blast From the Past V: Little Birdie

Not very long ago (maybe a couple weeks ago?) my cats where going crazy around one of the windows.  Me, being the inquisitive type of folk, approached the wound-up felines to see what all the kerfuffle was about.  It was not extremely surprising to see a chickadee perched on the windowsill outside stunned.  

Birds hit our window often enough, although usually one of the feral cats takes them before anything can be done.  This tiny little bird just sat there with beady eyes calmly acknowledging the cats and I.  I couldn’t leave it there to be cat food after the way it looked at me.  So, I went outside and then approached the bird, my cats following every movement through the window.  

Holding my hand up to the fragile creature it hopped onto my hand willingly where it perched for an extended amount of time.  I couldn't believe this avian had just climbed aboard my finger and stood there.  I wish I had my camera with me to capture the moment -- but of course when I needed it I didn’t have it!  

After a couple minutes the bird cocked it's head toward me and looked at me with beaming eyes before excreting waste into the palm of my hand and flying away.  Yes, the bird I possibly saved the life of pooped in my hand and then fluttered away like nothing every happened.  Some thanks I get.  Yet I do feel privileged to have held a wild creature that had no contact with humans whatsoever before that point in time perch on my hand.  I hope everybody gets to experience a moment like this at least once in their life.  It truly is something magical.

Kitten Update!

Miley has in fact found her forever home!  She's living with my friend on her farm to be a mouser.  I'm sure Miley won't disappoint.  Toy mice never stood a chance against her fanged jaws of doom.

Shilo is doing amazing.  Every second all she wants to do is cuddle, play and cuddle some more.  I find it amazing that one of the shyest of the feral kittens turned out to be the boldest and friendliest.  I'll post some more pictures of Shilo in the next coulpe days.  Her not standing still doesn't make it easy!

Soon

Hey everyone!  I have a lot of homework I'm bogged down with tonight, but tomorrow I will post an update on the all the feral kittens!  Also, there'll be a "Blast From Past" about a bird I got to hold.

Staring Contest

     Fun fact about cats (and most animals) is that when eye contact is made it's initiating a challenge.  Most domestic animals will stare at you and then look away because they really don't want to fight you.  It also means that they’re accepting your dominance.  

     As you all know, I dislike Tuckercat because when he appears, bad things follow behind him in a trail of evil.  For example: my cats will fight each other if he's at the window, he attacked both my cats and he's the reason my finger swelled up.  Whenever I see him in the backyard I encourage him to leave with a shout and bluff charge.  You may think I'm mean, but if a dog attacked your child, would be so forgiving?  Unless you despise your offspring, you will not be forgiving; my cat is like my son and I love him dearly.  

     Anyways, Tuckercat was lying in the grass beside our deck.  I didn’t feel like going outside – so I just stared at him with an unnerving glare of steel through the window.  Finally he turned his head and glared right back.  We stared for a while at each other until he accepted my dominance and got up and left.  Therefore, we avoided physical conflict.  All in the mind and eyes!  Next time someone I don’t like bothers me; I might try this trick on them as well!

Kitten is Back!

Sorry about the long wait for a new post everyone!  Unfortunately my laptop broke and I had to send it away to get fixed.  Fortunately though it's now fixed!

Kitten and T.T. frequently visit the house again to grab scraps from dinner or some dry food.  T.T.'s colouring is very interesting.  It's a tabby colour but with light orange patches all over his body.  Kitten is very skittish now after her surgery -- but I'm sure I'll have her eating out of my lap soon enough!

Beautiful Birds

A pileated woodpecker for those of you who are curious.
It's not the same one as in my yard though.

Green heron

This morning as I was getting ready for school, as I walked by the windows looking out to the forest I saw (to my astonishment) a pileated woodpecker at one of the bird feeders! Surprisingly, it wasn't at the suet feeder but a nyjer and safflower mix.  I've seen little hairy and downy woodpeckers, but they're nothing in size compared to this monster.  The bird was almost as long as the feeder, and when it took off it's wing span seemed huge!  A beautiful green heron was wading around looking for a meal as I walked back from gym outside.  Now I know that the green heron wasn't in my forest, except I still thought it was cool that I had seen two uncommon birds (for my area in Canada) in one day.  These birds made a gloomy day, from the large amount of homework I've been assigned, to a better one.  When you see an animal as magnificent as these, you realize how beautiful this world really is and that we should appreciate the little things more in life.  Next time you see a astonishing bird or animal or something else, take a moment and think about how  fortunate and lucky you are to have witnessed such a thing.

The Release

The release of Kitten more or less was successful.  Seeing as she escaped from the kennel and refused to go inside any other carrier, we had to grab her and take her outside. It went well and as I type this I can see her outside my window relaxing in the grass with T.T. after eating a meal of leftover sausage and fries.

Delay

The release of Kitten back into the wild has been delayed due to weather.  It was raining fairly hard today and I didn't think it fair to make her go outside on a miserable day like that.

Heads Up!

Tomorrow is my first day of school, and also the day Kitten gets released back into the wild!  I'll let you guys know how everything goes with Kitten tomorrow!

The Spay/Neuter Fund

THe fund to spay and/or neuter the feral cats is now up to $110.68!  Thank you to everybody who has donated!!  It's very much appreciated!

The New Tenant

Kitten under the bed.

Kitten still under the bed.

This is where Kitten eats, drinks & excretes waste.

Finally we've gotten Kitten spayed!!  She's been staying the room next to mine (the spare bedroom).  When she was in the kenel I could scratch behind her ear and she would start purring and wanting to cuddle.  Except she escaped from the kennel and now she lives under the bed in there.  But she's healthy, safe and well fed so I think she's doing good.  Kitten is so adorable, I'm happy that she won't have to go through the stress of having more kittens and that now the population will be decreased (which means less kittens dying painful, wild deaths).

Yet Another Reason Why I Dislike Tuckercat

 This story is how I got my swollen finger – and why I hate Tuckercat for another reason.  Let's start at the beginning shall we?

Some of my friends were in the neighborhood so I invited them over for a bonfire in my backyard.  At this point I was the only one home.  So I decided that I should get out there and put some matches and cardboard by the fire pit before everybody came it was chaos.  

*Important note – Tuckercat had been spotted outside an hour before.*

With matches and cardboard in hand, I opened the door at the back of our house to go outside.  Tucker (the housecat) slipped between my legs to get outside.  Seeing as he's a strictly indoor cat (he has no front claws and is fairly fat) he wouldn't do well in the wild.  Usually though when he escapes he nibbles on some grass placidly until somebody scoops him up ad delivers him back to the safe indoors.

That’s exactly what was about to happen.  He was munching on some grass, but when I bent to pick him up he ran towards the forest.  Obviously I ran after him because dark was approaching and this fat cat wouldn't do very well with tomcats, raccoons, fox and coyotes looking for a juicy meal or a fight. 

Unfortunately, Tucker had scented Tuckercat in the forest and didn’t like the idea of this guy messing around in his turf.  I remember hearing them yowling and snarling as they bit and tore at each other.  Tucker chased Tuckercat a little deeper into the forest and I finally caught up with the brat of a fat cat.  At my approach Tuckercat galloped away into the depths of the forest (thankfully).

Relieved the fight was over I bent to pick up Tucker and bring him inside, but he had other ideas.  I suppose I should've seen this coming and it was partly my fault, yet it was totally surprising seeing as this cat had been purring beside me on the couch minutes before, but Tucker viciously attacked both my hands when I tried to pick him up.  I'll tell you, cats have a very hard bite.  Never mess with an angry, scared or riled up cat if you can help it.

 

At this point I'm just crouch there on the ground panicking because my hands were red with blood and I couldn't get this stupid cat inside.  He was growling even at me just being near him.  If you have a pet you love dearly, put yourself in this situation:

The animal you love and cuddle has suddenly turned into a snarling beast that viciously attacked you and is growling just at the thought of you being near it and if you touch it, well, it'll attack you again.

I was hysteric.  How was I going to get this cat inside before its very dark without getting myself shredded in the process?  I didn’t want to tell my family that he had escaped and then never see him again.

I sat there, while it was getting dark, waiting until my friends came.  Long story short, they came, except we lost track of Tucker in the dark and couldn't find him.  Despairingly we gave up the search.  When my sister finally came home she sent us all back out to look for him one last time.  

*Note: Tucker has this obsession with those yogurt drops you give hamsters.  As soon as he hears me open the drawer I keep them in, he's all over me begging for them.*

And that was what got the stupid cat back inside.  Yogurt drops.  My sister shook the box and there he was, ready to be fed the tasty treat.  We took him back inside promptly and that was that.

Now for my hands.  I had washed all the blood off, but they still hurt like crazy and had swollen to a ridiculous extent.  My pointer finger on my right hand couldn't bend (it was doubled in size) and my thumb on my left hand was unusable, as he'd bitten the part of my palm just below it and it hurt to move it.  My mom took a look (she’s a nurse) and sent me to bed.

In the morning she woke me up and she took me to the doctors.  I was given the biggest antibiotics ever!   Oh, and the doctor said (and he was totally serious) that if Tucker died in the next 10 days we're supposed to save his head so he can be tested for rabies.  Oh joy.  I was also at risk for cat scratch fever...that's right; it's a real serious problem.  Luckily though, my fingers are usable now and only another five days of giant antibiotics!

Tucker was fine after he attack if you were wondering.  My hate for Tuckercat has been rekindled.  My next goal: take away Tuckercat's manhood.

My huge antibiotic.

Normal finger on below, swollen finger on above.

Normal finger on left, swollen finger on right.

Thank You!!

I would like to thank everybody who donated when I went canvassing!  I really do appreciate your generosity (and so do the cats).  Today $75 was raised towards getting another one of the feral cats fixed.  Again, thank you to all who donated!  You've gone down in my books as some of the best people ever! :)

Plans for Today

Today, I'm going canvassing for money for the Kitten to get spayed!!  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  Once, I'm back I can type up that story for you guys as my finger is now sufficiently healed from the attack.

Cool Story, Bro

I have a story for all you readers!  But because it involved me geting a swollen finger though, I won't be able to write about it until I can actually bend my finger and move it around (yes, it's that's swollen unfortunately).  So stay tuned for when I can tell you more!

Grumpy Gus -- A Life Too Short

Last night I caught Gus (the orange kitten with the suspected broken leg).  My neighbors took him for the night so we could take him to the vets in the morning.  They had him in a mostly empty room (aside for some boxes, a table, an old mini fridge and the such) that they kept him in for the night.  He slept, pooped and ate during the night.  In the morning we went to get him and put him into the cat carrier to take him to the vet.  Suddenly he started jumping around and climbing all the shelves to evade us.  That's when he went behind the mini fridge and got stuck in the coils and wires.  There’s a picture so you can get a better idea.  After trying and trying, and no success, we gave up trying to get Gus out and just decided it'd be easier to take the whole fridge to the vet's.  So we loaded up the fridge and took it the vet’s.  You could imagine their surprise when they heard "Umm, we have a stray kitten with a broken leg stuck in the fridge...” Anyways, the vet got him out easily enough and she said she'd do an examination and that she'd call us back with the verdict.  Long story short, we got the call that the kitten had indeed broken his right front leg.  There was sadly no option for Gus other than to euthanize him.  If we released him into the wild he would've either starved, been eaten, or had the crap beaten out of him by tomcats.  Even if we did have the money to amputate his broken arm (it was $1200) he'd make for a poor recovery because he's so shy of people and frightened by them, and if he got the surgery he'd have to be an indoor cat. I would like to thank my neighbor for paying to euthanize Gus, I really do appreciate it and think that was a very caring thing to do. R.I.P. Gus, you were one tough kitten.

Shilo

Shilo has found a home on my friend's farm!  Miley is still available though if there are any takers :)  Just comment below if you're interested!

Be Awesome, Adopt A Kitten!

~Shilo~

~Miley~

Hey!  The kittens are becoming way more accustomed to people and are looking for a home!  Shilo and Miley are both girls and live in Ontario, Canada.  They'd make great mousers for barn cats, or even an amazing house cats!  So, if you want one of these amazing kitties, please comment below with your email and I'll contact you ASAP.  Please, please, please comment because they're free and need loving caring homes! You'll also be my hero and I'll admire you for being totally awesome!  And who doesn't love having a good ol' cat to cuddle with?!  Just click the place that says how many comments there are at the bottom of this paragraph and then you can leave your own comment! :)

Miley & Shilo

The kittens are settling in well.  Shilo has become very bold (and we discovered that it's a girl).  Miley is still very skittish, but not as afraid anymore.  My sister and I even bought a bunch of toys for them to play with!  Shilo loved them and Miley even played with them too.  I'll try to get some more picture soon!

Big News!

Finally took some initiative and caught Miley (left) and Shilo (right)!  At the moment they're a little scared, but soon the taming will begin!  Wish me luck!

Procyon Lotor (Washer Dog) -- Otherwise Called the Raccoon

Driving down the highway, it’s midsummer and the heat is sweltering.  Quickly you roll down the windows to let the cooling air flow over your hand and whip your hair around.  Farmers’ fields roll by and the occasional cattle are seen.  A rancid stench abruptly hits your nose, interrupting your thoughts of swimming at the beach, and you see a furry heap on the side of the road.  As your car flashes past you turn your head to get a better look as the flies buzz madly around it to see a raccoon with it guts spilled out.  You contort your face into one of disgust, but it soon passes.  It’s just another raccoon.  No big deal.

Or as you walk to get the mail, keys jingling in time with your stride, you hear some kids in a small field squealing with either joy or fear – it’s always hard to distinguish with them.  Almost instinctively you turn your head to see a group of children crowded around something on the ground.  Sticks clutched firmly in hands, they prod a heap on the ground at they’re growing feet.  As you get closer you can hear the cries and words of the young ones.  “Look at its guts!” “Ew it smells bad.” and “What’s up with its face?”  As the crowd shifts for better poking opportunities at the rancid flesh with the sticks you can see the tell-tail, well, tail that has the distinct brown and black rings.  You could stop the kids and tell them to respect the dead, but you don’t.  It’s a raccoon – a dirty, filthy, fleabag of a creature.  You continue to the mailbox, the episode soon forgotten in your busy world of facebook and twitter updates.

But have you ever asked yourself how the raccoon feels?  The raccoon that is shot without a thought?  The raccoon that is poisoned?  The raccoon that is trapped, skinned, beaten, abused, frightened, hungry and out of options?  I wouldn’t be surprised either way if you have thought of the raccoon or haven’t.  Whatever you feel about them, please just let me enlighten you on how fascinating this wonderful creature is.  So sit back in your desk chair, get comfy and learn something new about the underestimated creature of North America.

For starters, the raccoon is one of North America’s most adaptable animals.  It can live in the mountains, cities, forests or farms.  Really anywhere.  The only other wild animal, in my opinion, that’s as adaptable and versatile as a raccoon would be the coyote.

Many people who’ve had raccoons as pets have found them to be VERY intelligent.  They learn to open doors, turn on faucets, open latches and control various other household devices at their disposal.  All in all, they’re much smarter than any dog or cat (sorry you all you dog and cat lovers, but scientists have proved it).

And then there is curious, but adorable, habit they have of washing their food and paws.  The scientific name of the raccoon literally translates into “washer dog.”  Instantly the humans relate, thinking how cute and clean they are.  Although, nobody really knows why they do this (but most scientist’s agree it’s for cleanliness).  Still, who doesn’t love an animal that’s polite enough to “wash” its hands?

  

The playfulness of these furry critters is another charming feature.  They’re forever getting into trouble by exploring places they shouldn’t, or messing with people’s garbage.  But when you have the curiosity like that of three year old, everything becomes a toy.  A stick, a hollow tree, a rock and maybe even they’re mother provide hours of play.  Who doesn’t love to see the antics of young raccoons playing about when it reminds so much of our own races offspring?

Fascinatingly, most of the raccoon’s techniques for eating and handling various foods and devices are learned usually from its mother.  They’re not born with instincts that know how to eat a watermelon or open a door, they have to learn either from their mom or on their own.

But the noises they can make are incredible.  Several times when I’ve left my window open at night I can hear the raccoons growling, hissing and screeching at each other as they argue over the food I’ve left out.  They also have a softer array of noises that include purrs, whistles and a type of whinny.

I can’t forget about their hands either!  They so resemble a human hand that its crazy.  I love to watch raccoons as they nimbly hold pieces of food and munch on them.  I remember once I had put a pizza slice outside and a raccoon was holding it like a person would while eating it!  The little hands though are so nimble that can untie shoelaces and pickpocket things like dimes from people’s pockets or click a brick wall (as I’ve learned when I woke to one on my windowsill).

So what do you think of raccoons now?  Still the same old pest or do you have a new appreciation for these critters?  I certainly do hope that you see these animals more for what they really are – incredibly adaptable, intelligent, curious and adorable animals!  I’m also thinking of having a ragtag raccoon trained to be a thief might not be such a bad idea when they can pickpocket, open doors, are much smaller and quieter than people – and they even come pre-equipped with a slick looking mask!  Hmmm, maybe that’ll end up on my bucket list – better watch your pockets in the future! 

Best Morning of the Summer!

This morning I went outside to feed Kitten and Miley some dry food.  I'm sitting there on the step watching them eat when Kitten abruptly stops eating and looks towards the forest.  I thought maybe another one of her kittens was coming so I watched the forest as well.  After a while nothing happened so I looked down at Miley who was still munching away.  Looking up again to see if Kitten was still watching the forest, I could see a deer poke its head around from behind a tree!

I know my forest has deer, but rarely does one ever come out of the forest so close to the house.  Especially when a person is outside (and I know for a fact that it saw me).  I was absolutely astounded.  As it came into clearer view I could see that it still had the faint spots of a fawn even though it was approaching adult size.  Still amazed at the fact this deer was there, another fawn the same size/age as the other came out of the forest as well.

My surprise was probably clear on my face when I saw TWO deer standing only meters away!  One of them even went up on the lawn to my right, which meant it was only around two and a half/three meters away from me.  Quietly it sniffed the grass and then walked back to the forest.  Once back in the forest it bounded away with it's sibling into the depths.

The whole time Miley was half under the deck staring cautiously at the large grazers and Kitten was in the same state.  

Deer are just so beautiful and graceful; I don’t see why anybody would want to shoot one for fun.  

I'd have to say that this was the most amazing morning of my whole summer.

A Broken Leg, A Broken Heart

In one of my previous posts I briefly mentioned that the orange kitten, Gus, had broken his leg.  I haven't seen him yet myself, but my neighbour told me.  At first he just said to me that the orange kitten had hurt it's leg.  I was sitting there thinking to myself, "Oh it's probably just a sprain."  So I questioned a little further.

"Is it visibly hurt, or just limping?" I questioned.  He didn’t reply immediately and before he could my father spoke saying that it was broken.  I was bewildered, how could this happen?  Again, I questioned my neighbour.

"How do you know it's broken?" His reply was one I was not hoping for.

"Well, it's visibly bent... in a wrong place." That made my heart drop to my feet.  The only thing I kept thinking was that a) at least the bone isn’t sticking out from the skin and b) at least it's not Will (he's the only one that's likely to adopted out because he's the friendliest).

My neighbour continued on saying that he found this out when his daughter (who is much older than me) came to him freaked out about Gus.  He went outside to try and scoop up Gus to do something, but Gus scampered away before he could, unfortunately.

I have not seen Gus since before I left on my vacation and he had two good legs.  If I do recall correctly this discovery of my neighbour's happened either Wednesday (15^th) or Thursday (16^th).  I'm hoping that Gus is still alive at this point.

The plan is to go canvassing on Monday (the 20^th) and try to raise money for spaying/neutering the feral cats.  Except, if I do catch Gus, without a doubt I'd take him to the vet and use the spay/neuter fund for him and also put my own money towards it as well if needed.  

Of course though, there is nothing I can do for poor little Gus until I see him.  Until then it's all a bunch of thinking, wondering and hoping.  Wish Gus luck and I'll keep everybody posted if I see him.

Names!

My sister and I have devised names for all the kittens! They are as follows:

• Black and white with half pink nose: Will (because he's like a clone of a cat we used to own named Bill)
• Totally tabby: T.T.  (stands for totally tabby)
• Tabby with white markings: Miley
• Black and white with full black nose: Shilo
• Orange tabby: Gus (because he's a grumpy Gus)

Bad News

I have some bad news everybody:

1. Ghost Cat hasn't been seen in awhile

2.  One of Ghost Cat's kittens (an orange tabby) has a broken leg.  I haven't seen it myself, but my neighbour told me.

I'm going canvasing this week (hopefully) and if I raise enough money I will do my best to try and help the orange kitten.

The Video

Sorry everybody, but I cannot seem to get that video working!  I'll try again to reload it when I'm back from vacation, maybe the problem will be fixed by then (I'm 99% sure that it's not my computer and that it's Blogger).

Sorry!

Hey everybody!  I would like to thank you all for reading my blog!  I've heard that the video isn't loading properly that I posted under "Peanut Butter", so I'll try reloading it again soon.  Sorry that I haven't been posting a lot lately, I've been petsitting and getting ready for some vacation time.  I'll be gone for around week, but I'll have some stories to post immediately after I get back (there's no wifi where I'm going!).  One of the stories involves Kitten's kittens, stay tuned until next week to find out more about it!  Have yourselves a fine day my blog readers!

Peanut Butter

The peanut butter thing was successful!  Except I don't think it's as funny as a dog.  Anyways, it's still pretty cute.  Hope you enjoy the video!

This Will Be Funny

Most of us have all owned a dog at one point, and have tried this with it (or maybe even a friend’s dog); letting them eat peanut butter.  Something about the dog's tongue flicking in and out like a snake smelling the air while it tries to dislodge the peanut stuck to the roof of its mouth amuses humans tremendously.   I've heard that the same thing happens when you feed a dog raw potatoes.  If you don't have a dog, you could try it with a cat (I know I have), although it's not nearly as funny as the dog's messy attempt because cats always do things with a certain finesse.  Now, why in the world am I blabbering about peanut butter, potatoes, dogs and cats when they have absolutely nothing to do with the forest?  Well, that's the catch; tonight I'm putting out some peanut butter and raw potatoes. And my trail camera will be set on video to capture all the action.  Hopefully we're in for laughs with the raccoons!  I'll post about if I was successful or not tomorrow as soon as I awaken from my slumber!

Double Trouble

Turns out the skunk has a baby!  Let's hope nobody make them both spray at once.

Gobble Gobble

Hey guys!  Sorry I haven't posted in a while; I was on vacation.  But I'm back now!  One of the first things I did when I came home was go through all my trail camera pictures.  There were around 1100 pictures that I had to go look at and delete all the bad ones and save all the good ones.  After about 20min, to my surprise, I came across some pictures of turkeys!  Where I live turkeys are fairly common, except I hadn't seen any all year, so it was quiet nice to catch some pictures of the fine fowl.  

A Dance with Death

Mr. Turtle & I just before I released him.

Today, my dad's friend offered to take my dad, sister and I sailing.  Of course we agreed, and in the afternoon we set out to our meeting place.  On our way there though, we stopped at a 4-way crossing to see a man run out into the middle of the road grab something and then place it at the curb.  Soon we realized this man saved the turtle from the dangers of the highway.  But my family being my family knew that on the edge of this highway, this turtle was probably going to plod back onto the road and eventually face death in the form of a tire wheel.  So, my dad pulled over and I jump out and grab the turtle (which we named oh-so-cleverly "Mr. Turtle").  This whole time the guy who first moved him saw us take the turtle away.  I'm sure he must've thought we were painted turtle smugglers or something.  Anyway, after a nice little car ride with Mr. Turtle and my older sister taking him (or stealing) from me we finally pulled over by a bridge.  We made the journey through the long grass (there were more weeds than grass though) to the river below.  At this point my sister returned Mr. Turtle to me and told me to go down to the water and put him into his new home.  Unluckily for me, it was the hard part considering the bank was non-existent and more like a two-foot mini cliff and then the deep water below.  I did manage however to get Mr. Turtle into the water unharmed, and I'm sure now he's having the time of his life in the nice clean water free from cars and roads living out his life like he's supposed to.  I feel good now knowing I saved an animal's life.  Something is just so gratifying about saving a turtle.  Try it out if you haven’t already!