Christy Marx Rambling WriterTilly loves to snuggle into Randy’s armpit. She isn’t a lap cat, so this is special when she does it, and she only does it for Randy.
Tilly morphed from the “donut” sleeping position into the “reverse comma” position.
Tilly being cute in the cat furniture.
Tilly was the first cat in the current batch of cats that loves to chatter at birds. Here she is chattering with a pause for a yawn, then more chattering.
The amusing thing is that after she’d been here for a little while chattering at birds, the other cats picked it up and started chattering when they hadn’t before. Except Obie. He’s the one cat that hasn’t picked up on it.
We have a new stray that’s been hanging around for several weeks. Someone has previously TNR’d him. His right ear is tipped. I checked with a nearby neighbor that I’ve gotten friendly with because she’s another crazy cat lady like me. She was trying to tame him, but he resisted her efforts, so she nicknamed him Grumpy.
Grumpy loves our backyard and is almost constantly out there hunting birds. Unfortunately, he’s killed three or four birds. A few days ago, we found small gray quail feathers all over the place. We wouldn’t normally mind him simply hanging around, but we do NOT want him killing the birds we’ve worked so hard to attract to the yard.
Because of this, every time we see him, we walk outside, which makes him run away. We end up doing this many times a day.
I’ve placed a trap away from the house in the direction he often takes when he flees to another neighbor’s back yard. So far, he’s not taking the bait, literally. He probably remembers being trapped previously and wants no part of that again. I’ve taken to leaving food in the bowl near the front of the trap, hoping to eventually convince him it’s safe, then put the food in the back to catch him. My cat lady neighbor will take him back if I can ever catch him.
Grumpy has come up to the glass doors a couple of times to check out Tilly. We’re surprised at how comfortable Obie is with Grumpy’s presence. Obie doesn’t mind him at all and doesn’t react to him being nearby. I suspect Grumpy could be a nice, friendly cat if someone could tame him. But no, it won’t be us. We’re full up.
Tilly has acquired a nickname: Miss Hot Pants.
Because her dark markings just barely cover her butt.
Yesterday was Tilly’s unofficial “birthday” with WAG birth year of 2023, so the little girl is more or less three years old. She’s been living with us for a year and insists on being adorable. Still skittish, though. She’s still figuring out the whole living-with-humans thing.
We’ve been working for a long, long time on trying to get Ozzy’s weight down. Randy has done an amazing job of controlling the food that Ozzy gets. It isn’t easy because the boy wants to eat every ten minutes. A year ago, Ozzy was 22.8 lbs. I got the scale out the other night and he’s down to 19.7! The vet recommended we aim for 18 lbs and we might just manage it.
While I had the scale out, I weighed Obie. He was terribly unsure about the strange object I kept putting him on, but I finally got a weight: 16.9 lbs. He is one hefty boy. He’s chunky, solid, muscular, and kinda square-shaped. His head and paws are nearly as large as Ozzy’s. We’re going to have to be more careful about feeding him, too, and try to get his weight down.
Then I had the brilliant idea of weighing Tilly. She has clearly put on weight since we took her in. I’m sure she’s over 8 lbs at this point. I picked her up around the belly and walked a short distance toward the scale and she WAS NOT HAVING IT. Blood was shed. Mine, of course. Her weight will remain an unknown as I would have to thoroughly trank her to get her on a scale.
Tilly Long-body. You would not believe how much this little cat can eat. She wants food constantly.
Ozzy laid down next to Tilly and began licking her head. It was adorable. Ozzy is the only inside cat that wants to be friends with her. Obi was friends with her when she was outside and she loves to see him when he comes inside for a minute. We’re hoping that will further encourage Obi to come inside.
Also, have some Tilly toe beans.
