Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Earning my Crazy Cat Lady Status

Hi Guys,

Well, the past few weeks have been interesting and busy. I had my bike fitting/physical therapy appointment, and it was very interesting indeed. I'll write more about that saga later as it's still unfolding, but suffice it to say, my hip and knee problems turned out not to be hip and knee related after all. Turns out I have a lower back problem. Details in a future post...

But for the moment, I wanted to share with you my latest Crazy Cat Lady obsession....

It's the Kitty Cam! (For some reason that I don't understand, I had to click the play icon twice to get the video to play.)


Since there haven't been any more incidents with the (actual) crazy lady down the street, I decided to re-purpose one of my security cameras in order to better keep tabs on my little feral friend.

Try as I might, I was unable to get him to relocate from his original spot in the little un-insulated house that I initially put together for him under the rose bush next to my front porch.


I built a nice insulated house for him, and set it up on the covered back patio with a heating pad in it and everything, but I could never get him to use it. Turns out the back porch is right in the path of the neighborhood raccoons, so that might explain his reluctance to hang out there. Here's one of the little fellows truckin' it across the back yard.


I figured the raccoons were probably attracted by the bird and squirrel food that was all over the place, so I crafted a new system for feeding the squirrels and birds which keeps the food from getting spilled all over the ground. Basically I put the food in some litter boxes so they can get at it, but don't scatter it all over the place like they did with the bird and squirrel feeders. This means I can easily take the leftover food into the garage at night, and this has cut down on our raccoon visitors immensely.

But alas, my little feral friend still wouldn't go near the house on the back patio, and when the neighbor's cat (who is a bit of a pill) started showing interest in it, I decided it was probably best to just punt and focus instead on trying to make some improvements to the house that he does like.

The first thing I did was to put a big piece of plywood sticking out over the edge of the porch to make the area a bit more sheltered by giving the area a "roof." I secured it by setting three large heavy cinder blocks on the part that's on the porch so it can't cantilever over the edge.



Next, I stuffed some straw behind the house, and on the side that butts up against the concrete to insulate it from the cold. Then, I put a flat piece of wood on top of the house, and on top of that I put a square section of a bale of straw, with some Styrofoam and a few bricks on top of the straw to secure it. Finally, I piled up another section of straw on the exposed side of the house, and wrapped some bird netting around it, tucking it under the house to keep it in place.

He happily slept there during our first snow storm of the year, but I still worried that he was cold, so yesterday, with another storm on the way, I managed to get the heating pad from the house he wouldn't use to fit inside of this house.

I worried all last night because he got a little spooked by my disrupting his space and wouldn't actually go back in the house, sleeping in the straw in front of it instead. But then the snow started and voila!


I will sleep much better tonight knowing that he's warm and dry.

So that's the crazy cat lady report. Blogger seems to be having some sort of an issue displaying photos and videos, so I hope you can see my Kitty Cam videos! If not, I guess you'll just have to use your imagination.



10 comments :

  1. Kittycam works a treat" :D ♥nic

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  2. As I look at the videos, I think you're doing a good job of taking care of Feral Kitty because he looks very healthy. Any stray that comes by your house is one lucky kitty.

    There are cameras out there that are trained on everything imaginable. Strangely enough, I find the ones trained on animals fascinating. One of my friends at work watches several bird ones and along with her we follow some pretty interesting things. Sometimes it's like Peyton Place in those nests.

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    1. Ha! Well, truth be told there are dozens of strays in this neighborhood, so you have to do more than pass through, you have to hang around a lot looking very forlorn.

      Anyhow, I hope my little Feral Friend is doing OK. He has a bit of a limp in one front paw that seems to come and go. It's not swollen or anything, and it doesn't really seem to slow him down so I keep hoping it will get better. Anyhow, trapping him and getting him to a vet would be a real challenge, so I guess we'll just wait and see. Hopefully food and warmth will help.

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  3. Thank you for posting these videos. Feral kitty is so handsome, and the nest looks so snug and cozy—especially on a snowy night! You are making a difference, one creature at a time, and I hope you will keep sharing updates. xo

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    1. Awww... thanks for your kind words. There's not much I can do about all of the things that are wrong on this planet, but I can make sure that this one little kitty is warm and fed.

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  4. You sure are nice to that cat! He has a sweet set-up! Your videos displayed well, and I love the one with the racoon trundling around your back yard. And this might be a dumb question, but how does that heating pad work in the cat's cubby? Not electric, but one of those chemical ones? Sorry, just trying to wrap my head around that one.

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    1. Oh, it's electric, you probably just can't see the cord in the video. It's made by a company called K&H - they make all sorts of products for outdoor animals. The one he's got is actually designed for smaller animals, but the kitty one wouldn't fit into his house.

      https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NVC7DO/

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  5. Thank you for making me smile! He's a beauty of a cat, isn't he? My daughter would be right out there with you trying to befriend him. We call her the "cat whisperer". She does seem to work some sort of magic over felines!

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    1. He is indeed a looker! I'm not sure if the ability to woo those of the feline persuasion is a gift or a curse. Honestly, I wish I could take care of all of them, but I'll just have to do my best with the few who have managed to worm their ways into my heart.

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