petern06
Kayla “Iacovino with an i”This is my new mastodon account! I’m actively migrating from my old geekstodon.com account. I’m excited to get back into the fediverse!
Jared@jared ❤️❤️ they are great! Compton just had SEVEN teeth removed. I’m sure he is feeling better for it - some were in bad shape. Here he is snoozing in my office after getting home from the vet. How are yours?
@kayla always happy to see Compton up(napping) about! Hope he wakes up nice and refreshed.
My kitty count has expanded a lot in the last few months. When I was low on cash over the summer after my disability was delayed until October, I briefly ran out of peanuts for the magpies. I discovered they would happily eat Penguins cat food. The ferals that live in my area noticed fairly quickly and now I take care of 4 extra cats + 2 sometimes.
@kayla The first of my ferals was Dorian Gray who, from what I have been told, has been living in the area for a while. He was the first to notice that I was putting out cat food, as he occasionally stopped by to drink. By the end of August, he was waiting for me most mornings when I put out food. He really really likes Silvervine Fruit, especially in powder form sprinkled on the ice.
@kayla around the same time, but was a little slower at picking up on my feeding schedule at the time, was Inspector Clouseau. The Inspector's got his name because it took him about a month to figure out that I only put out food during the day at the time. He is still the most skittish of the lot as, until recently, he only ever ate here if he hadn't seen me for at least 30 minutes. Can't get as close to him as the rest of them, but he no longer completely leaves when I bring food out.
@kayla the 4th one(I will get back to the 3rd), and currently 3rd member of the group, is Euler(full name "Dr. Professor Euler" with the included period). Euler's status is a bit of a mystery as he has a collar, but definitely hasn't been inside in a long time. He showed up once last May for about 2 seconds, and then suddenly reappeared in early December. He is cautious, but very clearly has been around humans before.
@kayla I originally thought he was just a visiting kitty from the neighborhood. His December appearance coincided with a day I put out catnip, which Euler is obsessed with. However, closer inspection of his collar, the texture his fur for the short period after he started letting me pet him, combined with how hungry he was, I believe I am the only one actually taking care of him.
@kayla the 5th(and currently 4th in the group) is Unicode X22. He started coming regularly in late December, but I apparently took photos of him last spring. I originally thought he was Dorian, as he appeared right after my normal cleanup like Dorian sometimes did. Was shocked when I saw the face in the second picture looking back at me.
@kayla X22 got his name because I thought the markings above his eyes(part of the tabby M) looked like single quote marks. """ is the Unicode Hex character for quotation marks.
X22's origin's are also a bit of a mystery. He has clearly been around humans before, but so far I have not been able to find any information about his activities before I met him. He has yet to let me pet him more than once, but never kept more than a meter distance from me.
@kayla the 2 extra are Ori Chalcos(pictures below), and Carl(Gauss) a long haired tuxedo cat who I don't have great pictures of yet. Ori appears infrequently, with their first appearance the same week X22 showed up. Gauss visits are slightly more frequent, but only averages about 1 visit a week.
@jared This is one of the greatest pictures of all time.
@kayla I wish I had more of him. Most of what I have of Inspector Clouseau is either from the surveillance cameras, slightly grainy quick shots, or from across the yard. First pic is I believe from the first time I for sure saw him. The second is from early January. The best sunlight during the winter is apparently up against the north fence. The little snow we got always melted there first, and they could climb the fence if they needed to get away.
@jared Way too cute 😍
@kayla Penguin and Murphy are doing great as well! Prepping for Penguin's 13th birthday next Sunday. Both of them also got their first Silvervine stick and fruit, which they love.
@kayla and finally, my friend Smeagol the Raccoon. Smeagol is one of the raccoons born in my yard this summer. She still frequents my yard every night, and I have encountered her enough as I stand guard over the cats while they eat that Smeagol has slowly grown more comfortable with my presence.
@jared What a delightful update! So many kitties!! We also have a new outdoor regular, Leo. One of the few my neighbor has been unstable to trap-neuter-return. We had a hard freeze, and I wanted to make the best damn cat house (heated!) possible so no one else could be more enticing.
@jared I had seen him around but never by the door as in the last pic. I grew some fresh catnip inside and went outside one night to pot it. This apparently summoned him. He watched me pot it (wouldn’t come close to me). I let him see it and backed off. He essentially destroyed the thing by rubbing and biting it (I let him)
@jared He the became a regular. So back to the cat house… it is a magnificent creation. Much trial and error. I was worried he would not use it if there was only one entrance (he knows the TNR cages and avoids them!) so had to iterate. But eventually the cold weather made him brave.
@kayla very cute kitty!! I attempted shelters for mine, though only insulated as I have no way currently to heat them. Luckily, it was not a terrible winter as the presences of the raccoons(in addition to Smeagol, the are 4 others born this summer + occasionally their mothers) meant that none of the kitties stay in my yard at night. They still had tons of some fun with the catnip I threw in the shelters.
@jared I could not find the video I wanted to share showing off my creation. I took it apart and insulated it with extra home insulation I had lying around. I even threw a temperature sensor in there, an outdoor cat (low heat) heating pad, hand warmers, and a hot water bottle LOL.
@jared And with all these details about cats, I cannot leave out sweet Kyoshi! I’m traveling for work a lot now. I’m currently away, and I miss them!
@kayla sleepy feral kitties!! I am hopeful spring/summer brings some more napping kitties. The best sunlight during the winter was next to the north fence, which none of my cameras can see. I am hoping that the camp chairs will be enticing enough that they will nap on them not JUST because I all the food was gone before I woke up. X22 was extremely patient with me that day.
@jared By the way, all of these names are incredible! So creative and meaningful!
@kayla here are two of the raccoons from last summer. No way to know if you Smeagol was one of them, though I
I have my suspicions. Two raccoons had children, a set of triplets and then the twins a short time later, which I discovered when I saw one of the moms with 3 children next to her, followed slowly by these 2. I suspect we're woken up unintentionally, and snuck to while their mom was still sleeping.
I have my suspicions. Two raccoons had children, a set of triplets and then the twins a short time later, which I discovered when I saw one of the moms with 3 children next to her, followed slowly by these 2. I suspect we're woken up unintentionally, and snuck to while their mom was still sleeping.
brendan (ジャンク品)@kayla welcome back!
Rizzmaster Zero@kayla Nice to have you here. 👍👍