Farewell Little Star...Hello Monk

Our little kitty, Star, died in October at the age of 23.  At that age, it was no surprise as she was becoming quite feeble...but we were in England at the time and felt bad to not be here.  I can never thank my friend, Ann, enough to be with Star so she did not die alone.  Now we have one cat, Nimbus, who has been the topic of a few posts on this blog.  She is 22, but in good health.


Star

I have decided not to get another pet after Nimbus dies...which will be the first time since I was two that I will have not pets.  I wonder if another kitty has different plans, though.

A couple of weeks after we returned from England I saw a grey and white cat sitting by the bird feeder.  Hmmmm....smart cat, I thought...but I really did not want to be party to luring prey for it by feeding the birds.  My solution, of course, feed the kitty.  I took a bowl of Nimbus's hard food (she had snubbed it and would not care) and set it by the garage.  The cat disappeared as soon as I opened the back door.  I kept watch to see if the cat would return...and of course, it came a couple of hours later and chowed down the food leaving an empty bowl.


Monk eating some food

Things seemed to be going along fine.  The birds would visit the feeders and bathe in the bird baths and fly into the trees when the cat appeared for her meal.  I decided this kitty was a female only because it seems most feral cats are and often brings litters of kittens with them.  My goal was to catch her, take her to the vet for shots and spaying, and then release her.  So far I have not been able to get near this kitty and I don't want to try to trap her when the weather is so cold.

When we began having below zero days, Ray made a place for her in the shed.  We also got a heated house for her and heated bird bath so there would be water for her (and the birds) during these cold days.

Heated house for Monk and the grackles



I put food inside the shed and house for her...but she prefers to just eat the food and return to wherever she has made her den...probably in the bunch of limbs and brush we have piled behind the garage.  The heated house has attracted the grackles though...they form a line to get in and eat the food.  It makes me smile to see them taking turns or crowding each other...just like kids lining up for recess.  The grackles also sit on the shed door, taking turns to eat the food in there too.



Monk drinking water from heated birdbath

 

 

Grackles getting into the heated house.

I don't know what I am going to do with Monk....oh yes, I named the kitty.  She has a grey patch right below her chin that is off center.  I liked the television show "Monk" where the main character was OCD and had great difficulties with things that were off center.  I thought, maybe this kitty would be good for him to work through his OCD.

 Of course, the kitty does not know her name...and she might even be a he...and she might even belong to a neighbor...but I don't think so...she has not trust for humans.  Maybe she will begin to trust me...but if not...I will be satisfied with watching her from my kitchen window.