It has been dawning on us lately that we have neutered everyone! We have a largely stable colony of mature cats – mostly males – who are all neutered. And we have helped our neighbours neuter their barn-full as well. Of course, there is the odd incursion, more on that below.
Further afield in town the other day, I looked for Massy, the elderly ginger female who we helped some months ago, and was pleased to see her lying in the sun, seemingly quite content. I wanted to give her the flea treatment that I have in my glove box (doesn’t everyone drive around with spot-on in the glove box?) and gave her a cuddle and applied that. She seemed fine, purred loudly, and her fur is still soft. She still has the pink diamante collar we gave her, looking rather less pink. Here she is:
Further afield in town the other day, I looked for Massy, the elderly ginger female who we helped some months ago, and was pleased to see her lying in the sun, seemingly quite content. I wanted to give her the flea treatment that I have in my glove box (doesn’t everyone drive around with spot-on in the glove box?) and gave her a cuddle and applied that. She seemed fine, purred loudly, and her fur is still soft. She still has the pink diamante collar we gave her, looking rather less pink. Here she is:
Back in the village, we had been worried about Bandido who we hadn’t seen for a couple of months, but he turned up earlier this week so that was a relief. But we are still worried about Ronnie who arrived recently with what looks like gingivitis. This is sometimes a sign that one of the killer viruses has taken hold, so that is concerning. I gave him antibiotics for a couple of days and since then we haven’t seen him, so can only hope he is fine and eating elsewhere. There is nothing else we can do. Ronnie is very feral so if he gets very ill, I suspect he’ll keep away from us.
2CC is trying to join the musketeers but they are having none of it and there are skirmishes and howl-oriented face-offs between him and Husky quite often in the courtyard. I guess they are still figuring out the pecking order, but for now 2CC gets his meals in his own hut, away from the others.
In addition to the stable 8-12 feral cats we feed, there are a couple of unneutered males who drop in from time to time, and again it is Husky who takes on the role of “guardian of the Butterfly Cat Project” (he’s keenly aware of the relationship between supply of cat food and demand for cat food!) and tries to turf them out. We watched with amusement an altercation – one that did not come to blows or even physical contact - the other day in the finca where a horse is kept. Husky and this unknown white and tabby tom were within millimetres of each other’s faces, backs arched and tails fluffed up, ready for action.
She (the Galician mountain horse – see picture below) was munching away seemingly oblivious to the drama a few meters from her, and I was thinking how good it would be if she broke up the flight. After all she’s quite large, presumably they’d run if she approached. As if she had read my mind, she sauntered over to them and put her nose right between them, with the desired effect. They scarpered. Thanks Loretta. The carrots are on their way!
Speaking of the horse, she is a major curiosity to the London 4. They have never seen anything like her. Is she a large cat, a placid long-legged dog? What on earth is she, and how does she get by eating grass?
2CC is trying to join the musketeers but they are having none of it and there are skirmishes and howl-oriented face-offs between him and Husky quite often in the courtyard. I guess they are still figuring out the pecking order, but for now 2CC gets his meals in his own hut, away from the others.
In addition to the stable 8-12 feral cats we feed, there are a couple of unneutered males who drop in from time to time, and again it is Husky who takes on the role of “guardian of the Butterfly Cat Project” (he’s keenly aware of the relationship between supply of cat food and demand for cat food!) and tries to turf them out. We watched with amusement an altercation – one that did not come to blows or even physical contact - the other day in the finca where a horse is kept. Husky and this unknown white and tabby tom were within millimetres of each other’s faces, backs arched and tails fluffed up, ready for action.
She (the Galician mountain horse – see picture below) was munching away seemingly oblivious to the drama a few meters from her, and I was thinking how good it would be if she broke up the flight. After all she’s quite large, presumably they’d run if she approached. As if she had read my mind, she sauntered over to them and put her nose right between them, with the desired effect. They scarpered. Thanks Loretta. The carrots are on their way!
Speaking of the horse, she is a major curiosity to the London 4. They have never seen anything like her. Is she a large cat, a placid long-legged dog? What on earth is she, and how does she get by eating grass?
I leave you with Feeder of the Month of December 2019 – my sister Anna. Anna and Jason have become the latest sponsors of the Butterfly Cat. Many thanks both!
They were visiting from Australia where, dear reader as you will know, there are catastrophic fires in the south east which have been burning for months. A recent report from the EU https://www.eea.europa.eu/ predicts longer droughts and longer summers in Spain, and at the same time an increase in ‘heavy precipitation events’ in areas such as Galicia – which I think we saw a sign of in November/December. I guess the problem with too much rain at any one time is soil erosion and that you can’t capture it all. However, I think the dams are full ready for our own fire season. I wish I could send some heavy precipitation over to south eastern Australia.
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