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.