No pictures this week

There have been complaints that I went a weekend without pictures of cats. There have been demands that I update the blog or suffer death.

Here, at least, is some news.

Blue, the stray that we brought inside to keep from starving, is doing very well and adjusting to the house. We pushed him out the door on Memorial Day, because he has shown interest in going out. He was terrified and ran back in the house after a few minutes. He has not gone close to the door since. He is very much an indoor cat.

The black stray has been sleeping in the cellar. We have a cat door down there. When we do laundry, he runs back out and looks in at us. The laundry room light is on a motion detector so we can tell he's been inside because the light goes on when we are still coming down the stairs.

He spent the entire winter outside and has lost part of an ear to frostbite. I originally thought that he was partially a tortoise shell cat, but the orange discoloration on his side has gone away and it may have been a symptom of frostbite and malnutrition. He is now nice and fat and is getting picky about the food. He looks inside when we open the door and is considering coming in.

The black stray is the spitting image of Max, who was also a stray. He may have come from the Fikes Farm, about a half a mile down the road, where there are dozens of barn cats. I figure that the black cat (recently determined to be male) is probably Max's grandson or great grandson.

Max is gaining a little weight and seems to eat more without being force fed. I dissolve his Pepsid in a little hot water and then mix it with his favorite canned food. He eats this right up without comment. Cats are usually so fussy that they reject anything strange about their food, so the pepsid must not have any taste. Erica still has to feed him his thyroid medicine and antibiotics with a medicine dropper, but seems resigned to this.

Furry was limping around with an infected bite on his leg again. He and Blue occasionally get serious and Blue has bit him hard before. This time, the bite healed up without a trip to the vet. These two big cats are in a war over who is the dominant cat.

Gracie is bringing home ticks. The deer live back in the woods and Gracie is a traveller. Erica has taken many off of her and I took off a couple last week. Gracie sleeps on the bed next to Erica some nights and Erica has had several tick bites, thanks to Gracie.

Willie is as fat and lazy as ever. I take him into the back every day or so and let him run back. It is the only exercise that he ever gets.

Ollie is depressed that the other cats get to go out and he has to stay inside. He is exibiting some bad behavior, like not using the cat box. I hope he gets over it. He runs without thinking and his outdoor behavior is suicidal. If he gets out he refuses to come back in.

Last night there was a bad storm and the thunder-bumpers scared the cats. They all ran into the attic and hid for several hours. It was strange not having them around.