Photo Essay: Houdini the Cat

Houdini is growing so fast. He feels just like velvet. He's putting weight on now that he gets food regularly. My boyfriend calls him Satan though.

Houdini's First Day

Yesterday we walked over to our neighbor's and picked up the cat she had left for us when she moved out of state. Somehow I thought she'd be there to make sure we all bonded, but I guess she left on Sat. and we were out of town all day Saturday. After we got him home and settled in, she called and said there was both dry food and wet food over there for him, so we went back. The dry food was there all right, but no sign of the black bag with 4 cans of wet food. I'm guessing the landlady took it, since she is taking care of the other feral cats.

Today we had to go to town and we had to leave the  kitten alone. When we got back he was nowhere to be found. So I walked back to his old house and spotted 3 younger striped cats. But no black cat. So I went home and was about to talk to my boyfriend about it, where here comes the kitten from around the container. I think he crawled into our storage area to take a cat nap. He was hungry so we fed him again.

He'd never seen a chicken before. He keeps trying to befriend them, but gets a peck on the noggin for his troubles. He's very friendly and has already figured out how to jump on my lap and knock over my soda and get his paws in the hummus.

Someone on Facebook recommended the name Houdini. I do magic and of course I've heard of Houdini, so it seemed like the perfect name. As you can see from the photo, he is velvety black. Our new Halloween kitteh. 

Chickens and a barnyard cat. Now it feels like a real farmhouse.

Cat Plans

Wallop is still hanging in there. I think his illness messes with his appetite. He is either starving or fasting. Sometimes he'll keep eating if we sprinkle Parmesan on his food. We found that out by accident when he stole a bag of Parmesan out of a shopping bag and ripped holes in it to get to the smelly treasure inside. If that fails, we just feed him chicken or turkey baby food.

We are also keeping an eye on who has kittens available in our area. I was looking forward to having a pet free house, but my boyfriend is a cat person and that is that. He would be miserable without a fur kid around.

Our neighbors lost their cat. They didn't heed our warnings to keep cats indoor because of predators, and about a week ago their cat didn't come back. About once every two weeks I see coyotes at the perimeter of our yard. I hear there are also foxes and bobcats. And I'm not sure a hawk would attack a cat, but we have a lot of those as well.

Catnap

Now that's a yawn.

Naptime

Wallop is an old man now, and needs his nap.

Are you getting sleepy?

Gratitude and Catitude

On Beltane I asked for our cat to be healed or pass on peacefully. Literally hours before we were headed to the vet he started to eat again. He gradually started to gain some weight and get more energy.
We don't know how long he'll hang in there, but we are thankful for each day we have him in our lives.

Farewell Dear Kitty

I am sad to say it is time to say good-bye to our favorite kitty Wallop. I spent half the day crying, and I'm trying real hard not to go there again, and Monday will be his last day.  He's always been an indoor cat, but we will tuck him into the ground in the desert and he will finally be an outdoor cat. Then we will say our farewells and send his spirit off to Bast, the Goddess of cats. At least he got to enjoy his new home for six months. He was a stray kitten we rescued and he had a bad colon so he's had medicine twice a day for many years. Now it is time to let him go. It has been just over half a year that we had to put our other cat down as well.

Okay I'm tearing up again so I'll stop here for now.

When I see these bloom each year, I will think of him.

We Still Have Wallop

Sadly we are down to our last cat. I don't know what to do with this blog after he dies of old age or whatever. I'd like to think we'd rescue more cats, but as long as we are stuck with being renters, adopting animals is tricky. Our new landlady is okay with one cat. Otherwise we wouldn't be moving there next week. I feel a little sad about the whole thing. I used to have so many pets, but in hard times, I can't see getting more.