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The Sweets

May 18th, 2013

A few of you have been asking about the little black feral cat that made the trip with us.  She was kept in the house for two weeks after we arrived before being transitioned to the garage. She adjusted very well, making herself right at home.  We didn’t see her much at first, she was a tad timid in her new environment.  After a month or two she was back her usually self.
sweets
I’ve been seeing little offerings of moles in the driveway and tiny mouse heads in the garage, so I know she’s working hard.  Now that spring is here and I’m working the garden, she’s usually close on my heels hoping to get some attention while I’m working.
Sweets 6
While she’s partially tame, she still retained her wild feral roots. If you’re just visiting you’ll probably never see her, in fact she’s even timid around Mr Chiots. She is tame enough to want to sit in my lap on a rare occasion.

Have you ever had a feral cat?

18 Comments to “The Sweets”
  1. Marina C on May 18, 2013 at 6:13 am

    So nice to see The Sweets, and how beautiful next to your compost…black gold, it looks like…
    We had a feral cat once. We unknowingly adopted her from an agency who trapped feral cats in NYC and set them up for adoption without telling they were feral. She hid all over our house, once in a blue noon would cone for a pet and after a few minutes would leap and run off as if she had been stung by something.
    She promptly disappeared when we moved to Vermont, never to be seen again.
    She was a beautiful Maine coon type!

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  2. Marina C on May 18, 2013 at 6:15 am

    PS:
    What is the tall frame we see in the background for?

    Reply to Marina C's comment

    • Misti on May 18, 2013 at 9:40 am

      That looks like the trampoline? Maybe?

      Reply to Misti's comment

    • Susy on May 18, 2013 at 12:09 pm

      Yes, it’s a trampoline frame that we’re going to use to contain our chicks & ducklings when they’re big enough to stay outside but not quite big enough to range freely.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. Lemongrass on May 18, 2013 at 9:40 am

    That’s a beautiful black cat. I love black cats. Don’t have any cats right now, but will someday.

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  4. Misti on May 18, 2013 at 9:42 am

    You know my story with our ferals. Some of them let me get close but the only time I can pet is when I feed them. Recently the momma came over limping. I didn’t see her wound but my neighbor finally saw it and said it looked like a gun shot. I saw it yesterday and she is right, maybe a bb gun. Neighbor also heard a gunshot too recently which isn’t legal in our little town (we may be kind of rural but we aren’t that rural). So, I’m a little concerned for my feral friends. I really wish mine would curl up with me, but they do follow us around the yard.

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  5. Maybelline on May 18, 2013 at 10:02 am

    Yes. Pumpkin was a feral kitten that never quite became tame.

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  6. KimH on May 18, 2013 at 10:47 am

    My grandparents had lots of barn cats that were feral.. One bit my brother when he was about 8 years old and my grandpas coon dog killed it.. and they had to take it to the vet to get it tested for rabies.. so sad.. and no it wasnt rabid.. my brother was probably just being a pest.

    I’ve fed some feral cats over the years but none really came to stay..

    I had a couple feral half wolf-dog pups though They would let me pet them occasionally but only if I was alone or anyone else was far far away from us. Not sure why some of them were tame as any dog (as was the wolf) but 2 of those pups (had em till they were almost a year old) were just as skittish as they come.

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  7. Deb on May 18, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Have feral cats a round here or maybe just abused and dumped as many are in our area. Hard to tell why they weren’t tame. I have worked hard to tame some and have accomplished that for some but others you never touch. Glad yours likes you and allows you to pet her. Sounds like she has adjusted well. I feel so good when I’ve finally managed to tame them enough to pet even if I can’t hold them. I see dead partially eaten birds or mouse type critters so know either my tame or the feral cats are hunting.

    Reply to Deb's comment

  8. Molly Severtson on May 18, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    She looks JUST like my Bella!

    http://mollysevertson.blogspot.com/2013/04/kitty-bliss.html

    Enjoy her. She’s a beauty!

    Reply to Molly Severtson's comment

  9. Michelle on May 18, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    She is so darling…she has such a sweet look about her. I’ve not had a feral cat…but one of my cats, Pablo, earns his keep around here, too…nothing like finding mouse and bird heads waiting for me on the doorstep! lol

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  10. Lexa on May 18, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    So glad to hear that your little Sweets has settled in. Since I have been fortunate to have always lived in the country, I have always had feral cats. My current crew is one feral Dad and three of his kids. You wouldn’t know that he was wild at all, except that he does “need” to be outside a lot in the Summertime. I lost the Mama two Summers ago, I am sure to a local Bobcat. But your quote about “ships are safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ship are built for” has given me a lot of comfort Susy. The ferals are use to being outside and free. If I tried to keep them in, they would go crazy and so would I. All I can do is get them spayed/neutered, keep them happy and healthy, and do a little praying for their safety.

    Reply to Lexa's comment

    • Susy on May 19, 2013 at 9:07 pm

      Love this quote, and so true for our outdoor feline friends. I’d rather they live short, happy lives than long miserable ones! Thankfully, most of ours live fairly long, happy lives!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  11. amy on May 18, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    I have only ever had one and he showed up here about 3 years ago…..absolutely covered from head to toe in engorged ticks….blind in one eye…..tail gone….feet frost bitten….He was a very large orange marmalade…..I was terrified of him as were my other cats…..I felt he needed to be gotten rid of…but my husband did not concur:) He de-ticked him……resulting in many lacerations for the husband…..He then promptly contracted a very bad case of maggots…..which my husband also cured…..Absolutely disgusting….Seriously. We called him Scabbers affectionately and to my husband’s co-workers he was referred to as Lazarus…because of his near death encounters. He became without a doubt the most loyal and loving creature our family has ever had the pleasure of knowing. He was so full of personality and when he passed away earlier this year,,,,we buried him under our magnolia and were truly grief stricken for quite some time. We were so glad he came to stay and so glad we took a chance with him. I know this is a long comment and I apologize but once I got going I could not stop.

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  12. Trish on May 18, 2013 at 5:36 pm

    My husband calls the feral cat that lives in our barn loft ‘Will Feral’. Will gets his own food and water supply in the loft.

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  13. Lea on May 18, 2013 at 8:31 pm

    The closest I have come to feral is finding my most recent kitty in the sewer drain. She still had claws and apparently had been dumped in the neighborhood on garage sale day. I let her out all the time ( she likes to hunt bunnies; good for my garden) and she always comes back to my house with her “treasures”. Sometimes I have to call her in at night, which can be rather comical for the neighbors. She is all white and we named her Luna. So when I call for her in the evening I’m the crazy neighbor lady yelling at the moon in Spanish. ;)

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  14. Nessy on May 20, 2013 at 5:50 am

    Awww she looks well cute! We’ve had a couple of feral cats, the first being Felix he was as feral as could be wouldn’t stay in the house, only came to get food ect ect though he did start to get very friendly in his old age and would always spend time with myself and the other half in his last years. We also currently have another feral cat (caught at the horse stables, we have one brother and my parents have the other) he again is quite feral and only come in to get fed apart from Winter when he comes in and staying in the lounge because its warm!! Somehow with these cats we’ve manage to train them to come in at night as we currently live in a housing estate close to a main busy road.

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  15. Sincerely, Emily on May 22, 2013 at 4:22 pm

    So glad Sweets has adjusted. Our two girls are/were feral. They are almost 13yo and it took years and years for them to get more comfortable. One is still very skittish. 4 years ago, my mom coaxed the black one onto the couch for some attention and she now demands it. Quite comical really. They both snuggle with me at night, but only recently will lean up against my husband. They are not lap cats at all and absolutely hate to be picked up. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I wish they were more comfortable outside. They hardly leave the house since we moved to TX.

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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