One of the woodpile kittens is off to get depommed

Eros, one of the kittens I found last year, under a pile of wood in my neighbours backyard, was taken to the vets tonight, to finally get neutered. His siblings are Zuzu (a longhaired tortie) and Zoe (a short haired tortie), Eros also had a brother but unfortunately he did not make it past 4 months of age. I named him Guinness, a gorgeous chocolate brown tabby like my Mocha Latte, but sadly he became gravely ill, was not thriving and unresponsive to vet care and medications. It broke my heart to lose the little tyke as he was so adorable and affectionate. The woodpile kitties momma is still outside and have not been able to trap her despite several attempts to do so.

This would have been about 9-10 months ago, I guess, with them being about 4 weeks old. It was quite fortunate for them that I was out calling for Sawyer and the new neighbours said my kittens were in their yard, I laughed, stating no, that all my cats were fixed, but I went in to the yard with a carrier anyway and piled them all in and the rest is history, as they say.

So that leaves me with Eros being the sole male that needed to be neutered and four more girls, Rosie, Fifi, Zuzu and Zoe left to be spayed at the earliest opportunity. It was not a priority before as Eros was still a young kitten and the 4 girls had been too young to go into heat. But the last few days or so, chaos has reigned around here, with Eros chasing Fifi, the last of the kittens rescued of my colony. Her surviving siblings, Soleil, a male, already neutered and Ranee, a female. There was Minouche, a grey and white twin to Ranee, but she also became gravely ill,losing weight, and had several seizures before I had to help to the rainbow bridge, like my little Guinness.

Fifi being in heat, was not necessarily a happy recipient of all this sudden attention, she was not having any of it and there was plenty of hissing last night, while I was trying to both sleep and sleep in.

However, like most cats, Eros was not not carrier friendly when it was time to send him off to the vets and have a few scratches to show for it. He is normally a tame little guy but it's like they know it's time to go to the vet like we have a sixth sense about doom and gloom, so he was a kicker and scratcher all the way. Anyway, the hissing is now replaced by plaintive meows of a cat in heat and all the males are trying to accomodate her of course, but thankfully with Eros at the vets, Fifi will be kitten free but next on the list to go to the vet, once she is no longer in heat, that is.

Then there is Lucy, who I thought was a she, was happily humping Fifi. Now that would be a first. a female humping a female? This is one of the earliest rescues from my colony and my fellow rescuer, felt since she was feral, would do better at my place, as most of ferals are not hiders, like Lucy was at her place. Well, Lucy will now be renamed Luke. It's been almost 2 years since he/she was rescued and spayed :)

My other colony kitty, Florida, was happily chewing on my bookmarks belonging to my new library books that my brother was kind enough to pick up for me from the bookmobile. So happily, I have some reading to do.

On my reading list are:

Patricia Cornwell. the Scarpetta Factor
Faye Kellerman, Blindman's Bluff
Tainted by Ross Pennie ( an author I have not read but it is a medical mystery which I enjoy)
James Patterson, Alex Cross's Trial

See a theme here? I love psychological or medical mystery and suspense.

But I also have Alicia Silverstone's new book, The Kind Diet. She is a vegan and I am a vegetarian, aspiring to become a vegan again. I have been a vegetarian for two years and last year reintroduced dairy back in my diet, along with fish, but I felt better when I was a vegan and also managed to lose about 30 pounds. So far her book seems pretty good. I am already 80 plus pages into it.

Then of course there are the animal themed books:

The Cats' House, based on that famous house designed for their felines. They have a website too. Very interesting and if I am feeling DYI, maybe I will get some ideas into action.

and finally, Animal House Style, people living with their pets and noticeably very minimalist, which my place is not. Maybe something to aspire to though.

Anyway, I think I am going to make myself a hot chocolate and curl up with one of my new books. Tomorrow is cleaning day.....

Meow for now <<..>>