We had indoor/outdoor cats from 1966-1982 (when we lived in NY state) and from 1982-1993 (when we lived in Raleigh, NC). After our last cat died, we decided not to have any more cats. We moved to our current house in WV in 1997 and a couple feral cats showed up in 2003. We fed them on the front porch and put out a dog house so they would have some shelter in the winter. Over the years the feral cat population grew and shrank. At one time we were feeding 20-25 cats. It was hard to tell exactly how many were around because some of the males would only show up when the females were in heat.
Cutie, one of the current females, introduced two of her kittens to the food on our front porch in mid-September of 2016. They were about 7-8 weeks old at the time. The kittens liked to hide in the amaryllis that Nancy had in pots around the cold frames behind our house.
In mid-October of 2016 we had a few inches of rain from Hurricane Matthew. Nancy walked around the yard after the rain stopped and heard a kitten crying. She found the smaller kitten inside the garden fence. He was really thin, soaked, suffering from hypothermia and too weak to climb out. With Nancy's TLC, the kitten survived. Nancy named the kittten Matty (for Hurricane Matthew). We decided that Matty and her sister would be lonesome without each other so Nancy caught the other kitten and brought her in the house. I named that cat Taffy (because of her coloring). Both kittens shared our laundry room for several days. When we took them to the vet we learned that they are both males so Matty becaame Matt. We didn't change Taffy's name. After the first visit to the vet, we allowed them in the kitchen, living room, foyer and hall during the morning and afternoon/evening when we are home. We keep the doors to the bathroom and bedrooms closed. We sometimes put them on our screen porch and in mid-November we started letting them roam in the back yard for short periods of time.
We started this web page to showcase our West Virginia Cats.
Click on a photo to see a slightly larger image and/or to scroll through the photos.
2016 (Matt & Taffy are adopted) |
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January - August, 2017 (The Arrival of the Eclipse Kittens)We love to eat our meals on the screen porch. Matt has learned to watch when we are getting ready for a meal. If we put any food out before we are ready to eat, he will reach onto the table and grab a piece of lettuce from Nancy's salad or a bit of ham from my sandwich. Their mom, Cutie, has also come onto the porch while we are eating. She won't let us get close enough to touch her, but she learned to beg for a salted peanut or two. Our goal is to be able to befriend her so we can get her spayed. Cutie (one of the feral cats) gave birth to 4 kittens on Eclipse Day (August 21, 2017). She wasn't taking care of them so we "adopted" them when they were about 2 weeks old. We called them the "Eclipse Kittens". Eventually we named them Big Boy, Callie, Tippie (because of the white tip on her tail) and Little Gray (not to be confused with the big Gray feral tom cat). Big Boy is the only one who is a male. Around September 1st Matt had sudden onset seizures and was crying in pain. He also could not stand up and maintain his balance. We rushed him to Nicholas Animal Hospital and they drew some blood and kept him over Labor Day weekend. While there, they started him on an antibiotic. On Tuesday, September 5th we were told that he has Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). He may or may not get over it. We brought him home with the remainder of the antiobiotic and instructions to give him a dropper full twice a day. We are hoping that he will get better soon. |
September, 2017Our mission in late 2017 and 2018 was to trap as many of the remaining feral cats as possible and get them neutered. Unfortunately, we were not able to trap one female (Tigger) and she gave birth to 6 kittens on August 3, 2018. One kitten disappeared a few days later. We made friends with the remaining 5 kittens (3 girls and 2 boys), but their mother (Tigger) won’t come near us. She has been good at taking care of the kittens and even better at avoiding the live trap. We finally were able to trap Tigger in early and have her spayed. At that point all of the female cats had been spayed and all but one of the feral tom cats have bhaven’t given up though. Meanwhile, the 5 kittens have been to the vet for their vaccines. They were all neutered in early December. We would love to have someone adopt one or more of the kittens. The kitten’s names are Socks, Toby, Rosy, Lily and Chrissy. Socks and Toby are black with white paws. Toby has black fur on one of his front toes. (Toby disappeared in late August, 2019.) That left us with 8 indoor/outdoor cats at the end of the year.
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October, 2017 |
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November/December, 2017 |
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January-February, 2018 |
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March-April, 2018 |
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May-August, 2018 |
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September-December, 2018 (The Arrival of Tigger's Kittens)Tigger, one of the two feral female cats that we were not able to trap and get spayed, had 6 kittens while we were out of town. They were born on August 3rd on our screen porch. When we got home a couple days later, the kittens were on a throw rug on the porch. We thought that they might want a bit more shelter so we brought the cat house up from the basement at set it up. Tigger didn't like us interfering with her kittens, so she moved them under the storage shed for a while. Tigger eventually brought five of her kittens back on the porch. (We don't know what happened to the 6th kitten.) We continued to feed Tigger and, when the kittens were old enough, we fed them too. Nancy made friends with the kittens, picking them up and getting them accustomed to being held and petted. We took them to the vet in October for a check-up and vaccinations. At the time, they were called the "5 kittens" by the vet. They received their first rabies vaccination in November and were officially given names. All five of them were neutered on December 5th (two days after they reached 6 months of age). Ever since then, they stopped being feral cats. We now have 11 indoor/outdoor cats. We finally managed to trap Shadow (Tigger's litter mate) and get her spayed in late September. It took us until January 18, 2019 to trap Tigger and get her spayed. She and her two sisters remain feral cats. |
January-April, 2019 |
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May-August, 2019 |
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September-December, 2019 |
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>January-June, 2020In January of 2020, we had our back porch enclosed and added a small pet door in the outside storm door so the cats could come and go. All of the cats now have access to our back porch which we had enclosed in early January of 2020. (Unfortunatley, the raccoons have also learned to use the swinging door to get to the dry cat food on the porch.) We put a small heater on the floor to keep the porch cozy for the cats. In early September of 2020, a little kitten showed up on our front stairs, looking for food. We guessed that she was about 6 weeks old at that time. She was also pretty thin. After a couple days, Nancy made friends with her. Eventually, the kitten would come to Naancy to be petted and held. Nancy was sitting in the open doorway one day and the kitten walked right in the house and made herself at home. We named her Pepper, a name that Chuck changed to Sweet Pepper because she is so sweet. She been to the vet for her injections and to be spayed. As of the end of 2020, we have nine indoor/outdoor cats and we are feeding 7 additional feral cats. At the end 2020, we have 9 indoor/outdoor cats. We are also feeding 7 feral cats.
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July-December, 2020 |
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January-June, 2021 |
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