On my arrival home from California a few weeks ago Moon was nowhere to be found. Which was not a worry as he is a stray and an intact male and they do tend to wander. He had arrived out of the fields at Christmas time and had been visiting with my barn cats on and off since.
Before I left for California a few weeks ago I booked That Cat, my big ginger Tomcat, in to be neutured, so I also booked Moon in as well. Moon is a mature and quite smelly Tom with all the noise a male cat makes.
So, of course, he disappeared until the morning after his appointment date. And now here he is.
I had told Our John that I had booked him in then cancelled him because we had not seen him for a few weeks (thinking what a typical and funny story) and Our John was appalled that I would take someone else’s cat in to be neutered. (Actually he was also upset that I would consider paying for someone else’s cat to be neutered – it costs 120 dollars after all). It is true that he appears well fed, though he has returned limping, But he was here for months before that. I assumed, correctly I think, that he was a stray – possibly dumped in the area at Christmas time.
So now I have a moral dilemma. When is a stray and stray and when do you have ownership over a stray. How long must an animal live in your barn before you can amend his anatomy. And what if he is from a local farmhouse? It is not like he travels with a suitcase and papers and can prove that he has no address.
The leghorns are growing nicely. They are a beautiful flock of chicks. Soon their door will open and they will be allowed out in their yard.
Alex has taken on the shape of a wine barrel and I think her udder is developing but she never had much of an udder anyway and as you know now: with a cow (a cow has had a calf before) most of the changes happen in the last two or three weeks. I need to look up her earliest date. She still has at least a month to go I would think. But she surprised us last time – remember? Txiki was the cutest wee calf – smaller than TonTon.
I will get back to you with her earliest date in the comments.
I don’t know why I think this but I have a feeling one of my calculations had Molly and Alex having their babies at the same time. I have no idea where this memory of an equation comes from but it niggles at me – being that they share the same barn. Alex was field bred so she has no conclusive date. But then so was Molly (the sow).
Alex needed no help last time and was with an even smaller bull this time so if the calf is properly positioned she should be OK if I am busy elsewhere.
Sunday today. What a week!
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
47 responses to “Canny cat”
oh those cats! what would be do without them for entertainment.
A vet told me, when I brought in a stray dog, that after 2 weeks she was mine and we could go ahead and spay her. Now to set a live trap for Moon and Snip!
Having spayed and neutered over 20 cats who showed up on our property, I have done it the minute I could catch them. And yes, it’s expensive. But, so worth it to cut down on the fighting and also wanted no more cats from the females.
Too bad you do not have “A Big Fix” clinic in your area. The one here provides low cost spay and neuter to any body. Although, I’ve never been able to benefit from this because they are only recent to this area.
Sometimes vets, will reduce spay and neuter costs to help people who rescue.
I may be a day late (and possibly a dollar short) on this thread but your situation with Moon mirrored one we have experienced. Our neighbor allows their cats to breed with abandon, and also be killed by predators and illness, due to lack of concern about their well-being. One such litter of kittens used to visit our farm for treats and attention, which we have plenty to give. One by one they stopped coming over, presumably due to death (see above), until just one was left to visit. One day this kitten, about a year old, presented himself on our porch with TWO broken legs. We know this because we took it upon ourselves to pack him up to the vet and have it investigated. The vet offered to put the poor thing down, since we explained it was not our pet and the neighbor would not intervene on his behalf. The vet also gave us the option to perform a very expensive surgery to rebuild the legs. Suffice to say we had the surgery performed. Generously, the vet threw in the neutering service for free. That was six years ago and the kitten (now cat) has resided in our home ever since. When does the animal become your charge? When it holds a special place in your heart.
I had to come back to tell you, 1 of the 2 neighbors cats that stay at my house more than their’s has finally has gotten pregnant.
I begged the neighbor who rents her mother’s old trailer to the people to make sure they have them spay and neuter the cats when she let them move in. Of course they have not.
I caught that pregnant cat and another one that I don’t know who it belongs to last night. They will bothl go to the clinic tomorrow at our expense to be spayed. Otherwise, we will be flooded with cats and kittens again.
Oh dear – but there really is no choice – i am terrified of having the barn overrun with smelly tom cats. Marmalade was allowed kittens just the once – then off she went.. c
In my town, if you feed a stray cat for 4 days, it’s yours.
He’s mine then!!
I’m a firm believer in desexing animals .. important for their own safety also. He’s yours Celi .. 😃 Best thing to do