"Betty's Tails" is a collection of cat tales sent to us by cat lovers where ever they are.
If you have a "tail" to tell, you can send it to us via email link at the bottom of this page.
If you have a "tail" to tell, you can send it to us via email link at the bottom of this page.
What do you know about cats being able to tolerate the cold? Is it
possible for them to find a hide-out where they're protected at least
enough to survive the freezing temperatures? Your ferals must find some
way to survive. I've wondered about that forever. I can't bear the
thought of them freezing.
I guess Beau and Natalie can't either. They've been feeding a stray for about a year now and have set up a little shelter for him. He sometimes is afraid to be in the little shelter because there is no back-door escape when the big neighborhood bully cat decides to pick on him and eat the food. Beau, who works nights and gets home about 6:00 in the morning, always feeds Loki (the stray) when he gets home. When this cold weather started, he came home, fed Loki, and then woke Natalie to ask if SHE was just going to leave Loki outside. He does it that way because he wouldn't want anyone to think HE was the softie. |
Natalie has never let Loki in the house because she feared that would cause problems with their cats and Kenzie's little dog, and she thought Beau would be upset if she let Loki in and he picked on particularly their shy cat. She could tell Beau was really stressed about Loki being out in the cold and figured that was as good a time as any to try to bring him in.
They did. Loki and the other cats, and even the puppy, took to him immediately. Loki has been sleeping with them, cats, puppy and people (except for Beau who is allergic to cats, especially if they sleep with him), moving from bed to bed, and there have been no problems at all.
Natalie has never let Loki in the house because she feared that would cause problems with their cats and Kenzie's little dog, and she thought Beau would be upset if she let Loki in and he picked on particularly their shy cat. She could tell Beau was really stressed about Loki being out in the cold and figured that was as good a time as any to try to bring him in.
They did. Loki and the other cats, and even the puppy, took to him immediately. Loki has been sleeping with them, cats, puppy and people (except for Beau who is allergic to cats, especially if they sleep with him), moving from bed to bed, and there have been no problems at all.
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I wonder if their pets could somehow sense that Loki would be in trouble if he didn't have some real shelter and warmth and decided it was okay to share their space with him. Everything has been fine with all the pets ever since, and Beau is probably sleeping better too, knowing Loki is okay.
So now they have another cat. They can't take in every stray, so that's a worry. Loki was left behind when a family in their neighborhood moved away. How can people do that? That's quite an upscale neighborhood. Those people should certainly have been able to do something other than just abandon him. Maybe it was a foreclosure situation. I guess lots of pets are being abandoned in those situations. People piss me off when they have no regard for the poor little critters. This cat is a very, very nice cat. When I stayed with them last winter after my surgery I would go out to the front porch to smoke. Loki always heard me, came running and kept me company. It was cold and I hated to leave him out there by himself when I went in. They think he has been neutered, but he's going to have a vet visit to make sure and to also make sure he isn't carrying something he could pass on to their pets. This cat business is really distressing! |