Yep. Both are guys but patterned one is into androgyny.
Red eyes? Whoa.
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Red eyes? Whoa.
OP
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Yeah, I know a lot more male ginger cats than female. I just googled it and here's a fascinating article about the genetics of it:
Are All Orange Cats Male and All Calico Cats Female?
Why are most orange cats are male and most calicos are female? Learn how the color of a cat’s coat is closely linked to its gender.
be.chewy.com
It may also be why female ginger cats have redder eyes, as you say (my SO's parents used to have one and she had reddish orange eyes too); perhaps the double orange gene expresses that way.
Yup, it's really weird but very cute though! Sometimes it looks like the devil is staring at you if full sunshine is on it, haha
Yeah, I know a lot more male ginger cats than female. I just googled it and here's a fascinating article about the genetics of it:
Basically, in cats the color gene is in the X chromosome. This means females have two, and males have one. To have a ginger coat, you need all of your color genes to be orange; this is why it's more common in males, since they only need to have their one gene be orange. For females, having an orange gene alongside a non-orange gene creates patterns like calico and tortoiseshell, which is also why they're female-only. Pretty neat!Are All Orange Cats Male and All Calico Cats Female?
Why are most orange cats are male and most calicos are female? Learn how the color of a cat’s coat is closely linked to its gender.
It may also be why female ginger cats have redder eyes, as you say (my SO's parents used to have one and she had reddish orange eyes too); perhaps the double orange gene expresses that way.
Hah, was a fun read. I knew a bit about it but never really bothered to look up how / why exactly :D
Adopted her and her sister which is tortoiseshell so they are quite the cute pair!
Friend of mine also has a ginger cat but that turned out to be male after thinking it was female, haha.
Not fat boy coming up to the office door after getting stuck outside last night. You can sense the aura he gave off like " bitch you really left me outside?" 😂
Also I didn't know he was outside until this morning when there was a lot of food left in the feeder.
Also while looking for him I noticed a gray cat hiding under a trailer. Must have been hanging out with that 🐈 all night
Also I didn't know he was outside until this morning when there was a lot of food left in the feeder.
Also while looking for him I noticed a gray cat hiding under a trailer. Must have been hanging out with that 🐈 all night
Hi Cat ERA
Have a few questions for you
Making a long story short, a couple of weeks ago a Cat with her two baby kittens arrived at the warehouse of the company I work at. I've been feeding her and supplying water, as well as a little box with clothes to keep them warm at night, however it's obvious that they need a home. Finding them one has been incredible difficult, the ammount of abandoned pets here in Chile is sky high. I've managed to find a person that can take both baby kitties in for a few days to give them to a final adoptive family, but no one for the mom yet (chances are that by the end of the month she'll find one, but not sure yet), and of course we have to neuter her soon before she gets pregnant again.
The thing is, kitties are eating and drinking water already, so they're ready to go I believe. They must be two months old. My question. If I take the two babies away now, how likely could be that mom cat runs away? I really don't want her to leave before I find her a home.
Other question is, kitties still are very afraid of humans. I get close and they hiss me fiercely and hide. Mom, as lovely as she is, meows and purrs them when it happens to calm them down, but they are very afraid. I've made a bit of progress (can get close with my hand and they get close to sniff me but hiss right away), but not enough to take them so I can put them in a carrier. Any advice to get close to them?
Thank you in advance. This whole situation has my heart broken. It's so hard to find them a loving home, so many stray cats and abandoned babies. Really wish I could take them all in.
Have a few questions for you
Making a long story short, a couple of weeks ago a Cat with her two baby kittens arrived at the warehouse of the company I work at. I've been feeding her and supplying water, as well as a little box with clothes to keep them warm at night, however it's obvious that they need a home. Finding them one has been incredible difficult, the ammount of abandoned pets here in Chile is sky high. I've managed to find a person that can take both baby kitties in for a few days to give them to a final adoptive family, but no one for the mom yet (chances are that by the end of the month she'll find one, but not sure yet), and of course we have to neuter her soon before she gets pregnant again.
The thing is, kitties are eating and drinking water already, so they're ready to go I believe. They must be two months old. My question. If I take the two babies away now, how likely could be that mom cat runs away? I really don't want her to leave before I find her a home.
Other question is, kitties still are very afraid of humans. I get close and they hiss me fiercely and hide. Mom, as lovely as she is, meows and purrs them when it happens to calm them down, but they are very afraid. I've made a bit of progress (can get close with my hand and they get close to sniff me but hiss right away), but not enough to take them so I can put them in a carrier. Any advice to get close to them?
Thank you in advance. This whole situation has my heart broken. It's so hard to find them a loving home, so many stray cats and abandoned babies. Really wish I could take them all in.
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- Are the kitties eating food and no longer milk from their mom? That's really the sign that they can be separated from their mom.
- Assuming the above is "yes", I would get the mom spayed ASAP. Once the kittens are independant there's no telling how long she will stay with them, especially if she gets in heat again (or worse, pregnant).
- You can get the kittens adopted at the same time that you're spaying the mom. The time window for socializing with humans is about to close if not already closed, but you can probably get around that by having them adopted and having constant contact with humans. Cruel as it may seem, it would actually probably be best to separate the kittens from each other; unsocialized cats have a tendency to stick together rather than go to the humans for their social needs. Ideally this would mean having each of them adopted by a family that already has a socialized, human-friendly cat, but this is obviosly not always possible so an alternative is to have them adopted by someone that will keep them separate for a few weeks.
- If there's no immediate danger to the mom (e.g. she stays at the warehouse and doesn't venture into areas with cars or dogs), then even if she's not adopted she may be OK, as long as you spay her (which again increases the odds of her staying put instead of looking for males).
- Make sure you contact individuals in your area that are into getting cats rescued and adopted. There's usually several of them, especially in large cities, so it's a matter of finding them through Facebook or whatever and asking for help with the cats.
- Thank you for taking care of these cats; you're a kind person for doing this. :) I understand the frustration of not being able to help every single cat but you're already helping.
- Let me know if you have any question that's not covered by the above!
Hey, thanks!
- I haven't seen them taking milk from mom since a few days ago, but I imagine they may still do, it's just that I am not able to watch them enough to see how often they do. I go see them like every two hours or something like that. Up until a few days ago, I found them one or two times with mom taking milk, I haven't see that since tuesday or monday or so
- I found a vet that can take and spay the mom and leave her for a day to recover before returning to her place. The thing is that I have no place to leave her and may be dangerous just leaving her at the warehouse (this place isn't fully closed, it's very open and only protected against human intruders, hence why the mom could sneak in and find a nest)
- I have searched every group nearby, it's just that the situation is very critical. One place is the only one willing to help me with the kittens. And you are right, looks like it's better if I just take them from mom. All that's stopping me is the fear that mom won't stay put like she is doing now and will either return pregnant or not return at all.
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Can you perhaps check if they are able to eat food on their own? It might not be a good idea to spay the mom if they're still nursing, as that'll cause her to stop producing milk.
It's indeed no guarantee that the mom won't leave when the kittens are rehomed, but spaying her should reduce the chances, especially if she's well fed, warm, etc. in there.
I'm looking at cat help pages based on Chile but I see most of them have a lot of "for adoption" cats with few replies. I wish we could be closer to help you rather than continents apart; we do take in adults when needed. :(
Our youngest must have caught a flu bug or something. Two weekends ago my wife came home to a bunch of puke, and our lil kitty was curled up and wouldn't do anything but sleep, drink, and use the litter box for 3 days straight. My wife took her to the vet who did an xray and found she had an enlarged heart, but said that probably wasn't what was causing her symptoms. With money being tight my wife decided to wait on the bloodwork. She took her in this week to get the bloodwork done. Thankfully our kitty seems to be more or less back to normal now, but it was scary for a couple days.
Yeah, they are eating. I left them kitty food because I knew sooner or later they were going to, good thing I did it in time. I'll take the kitties next week for their temporary home. It's just the mom now that it's my focus.
Shelters are packed here. I thank you for taking the time to look for help, but believe me, there is a LOT of pets being abandoned or entire families left in boxes or bags. It's really terrible. I donate to shelters, and really can't blame them for telling me they can't take another cat with this situation.
Again, thanks for your help. Do you have any tips to get closer to the babies? I can get a bit close, but they are still afraid of me getting too close
Good to know she's better. It's way too scary when they stop eating.
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They're going to be afraid when they're rehomed anyway, so I'd just try to grab them and get them into a carried before they know what's up. Once they're in their new home they'll take a bit to trust humans but probably a lot less than adult cats.
Unless you literally mean you can't physically get close to them because they run (and therefore can't even get them into a carrier), in which case I'd simply use a cat trap (if you don't have one, you may be able to at least borrow one from an association).
I'm making inches progress every day lol One of them tolerates me getting close, but too close and they run. The other kitty just hides. I'll take your advice in any case, thank you very much
I have an alternate take, maybe it's best to do nothing in this situation aside from getting them fixed?
I mean if the kittens are straight up feral and your foster only wants to hold on to them for a few days what are really the odds that whomever the foster finds are going to be happy and willing to work with those kittens? I'll be honest, I was in a similar situation when I found Maze outside and took her in and while I'd say I was able to do ok with what time I had off from work socializing her she's never going to be a good cat for a family or a young person who wants a cat he or she can pick up every once in a while for a tik-tok video. I can easily imagine these cats just getting tossed back out and likely being in a worse situation than before because of it.
Also, if people are outright abandoning domesticated socialized animals do you want to adopt a feral cat out before a domesticated cat?
Of course I don't know what plan your foster has in place, could be he/she thinks he/she can get the kittens into a home that knows what they're getting into or maybe when she says "a few days" she means as long as it takes to socialize them. Maybe they have it all covered, I dunno.
I just feel these things shouldn't be taken lightly and if the people involved aren't fully onboard and there's a high chance these kittens don't get good patient homes that they may in fact be better off staying feral and sticking with mom as long as possible.
I mean if the kittens are straight up feral and your foster only wants to hold on to them for a few days what are really the odds that whomever the foster finds are going to be happy and willing to work with those kittens? I'll be honest, I was in a similar situation when I found Maze outside and took her in and while I'd say I was able to do ok with what time I had off from work socializing her she's never going to be a good cat for a family or a young person who wants a cat he or she can pick up every once in a while for a tik-tok video. I can easily imagine these cats just getting tossed back out and likely being in a worse situation than before because of it.
Also, if people are outright abandoning domesticated socialized animals do you want to adopt a feral cat out before a domesticated cat?
Of course I don't know what plan your foster has in place, could be he/she thinks he/she can get the kittens into a home that knows what they're getting into or maybe when she says "a few days" she means as long as it takes to socialize them. Maybe they have it all covered, I dunno.
I just feel these things shouldn't be taken lightly and if the people involved aren't fully onboard and there's a high chance these kittens don't get good patient homes that they may in fact be better off staying feral and sticking with mom as long as possible.
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Counterpoints:
- Unfortunately people are much more willing to adopt kittens than adults, even if the former are feral and the later are domesticated. That's just a fact you have to roll with.
- Once the mom is spayed she'll care a lot less about the kittens.
- Kittens can quickly get used to humans until about 2 months old. The opportunity window is closing but it's worth taking the chance I think. What age was your Maze adopted?
- If the warehouse is not safe for the mother, it will be much less safe for the kittens, especially as they explore other territories. The chance of them dying is pretty big.
Cat era, we just got a kitty (her name is Nellie; I will reward you with a picture if you help me out! :D) and we are trying to deal with litter. I have both asthma and a superhuman sense of smell/dust, but I also have sensory issues and litter on the floor kills me. So far we've tried crystals and the recycled newsprint litter and I hate them both - the latter leaves her and everything stinky (I'm actually going to have to bathe her and she will hate it).
Nellie is 7 or 8 and very chill (about everything but food, haha), so she's not picky. She was a rescue and got sent across the country, apparently, to balance rescue populations, so I think she's just happy to be in a home with four people who adore her. She likes to sit in my lap or on my shoulder while I'm working and I need her and my house to not smell like shit so I can function.
Your tips? I will even shell out the $$$$ for the goddamned robo cat box if it will work. She's worth it and so is my head. I've had a head and chest ache for a couple of days and we're cycling out the newsprint litter today so if you have answers ASAP, I will love you forever. If there's already stuff in this thread gimme some keywords and I'll find it!
Nellie is 7 or 8 and very chill (about everything but food, haha), so she's not picky. She was a rescue and got sent across the country, apparently, to balance rescue populations, so I think she's just happy to be in a home with four people who adore her. She likes to sit in my lap or on my shoulder while I'm working and I need her and my house to not smell like shit so I can function.
Your tips? I will even shell out the $$$$ for the goddamned robo cat box if it will work. She's worth it and so is my head. I've had a head and chest ache for a couple of days and we're cycling out the newsprint litter today so if you have answers ASAP, I will love you forever. If there's already stuff in this thread gimme some keywords and I'll find it!
I asked my friend Rachel who's a vet tech and she directed me to Cat litter help blog for natural litters and review of others litters too
I don't have asthma but hate dust when pouring out litter and scooping our cat poopies but best litter I will always use is Arm and Hammer dust free clump and seal. It's made by a damn baking soda co sooo you know it locks in the smells and also little to no dust!
If this works, I demand oodles of photos
Bonus! Need to make enclosed easy to get into cat litter box so kitty doesn't make a mess?
My friend used a semi clear container but you get the picture.
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Seconding clumping, anti-smell litter: good ones work as advertised on both accounts. Always avoid the silica one as it tends to irritate their paws and they often eventually avoid it.
Probably consider a box with high walls to avoid it spilling when she covers her business, but of course not so high that she has trouble getting in and out.
Also people have reported good results on the robo litter boxes so perhaps give that a try, too, especially since she's not picky about litter which tends to be the #1 problem with them.
If you don't have one already, I would try an air purifier. I shelled out the money for a nice one and put it right by our litter boxes. I leave it on Auto to detect poor air quality, and every time a cat uses the littler, it kicks on and runs until the air is clean. Sometimes I just leave it running on low. Either way, it helped a good amount.
Oh! That's a great idea.
Thanks for the help, y'all. I will return with my penance later. :)
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Perhaps you're judging him too harshly and he means Russian blue cat lives! /s
You better. I don't appreciate being held hostage with promise of adorable cat pictures!
A few months ago, my wife noticed a co-worker at the vet clinic was wearing a black and white face mask with a really low % number on it. Thinking it had something to do with Black Lives Matter, she asked her co-worker about it. She responded that it was the % of people who have died from the coronavirus. I guess it was supposed to be a powerful statement about how covid isn't that bad...
Why would anyone where these things to work? I guess I'm glad I found out but wtf?
I asked for oodles of photos, 4 pics is not an oodle!Oh, I got the pics. Here's my Nellie, who has a lot of attitude for a cat who is spoiled rotten.
If I give them all at once, what do I have left to bargain with? I have to save the goodies! But here's my elder child carrying her around on his back because he didn't want to disturb our queen (and you can see her beautiful coat here):
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Oh, I got the pics. Here's my Nellie, who has a lot of attitude for a cat who is spoiled rotten.
She looks a lot like the cat we're currently fostering, a long-haired calico whose family gave up (and that's been pretty obviously been an afterthought for them anyway, including no vaccination, spaying or toys).
FiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiineIf I give them all at once, what do I have left to bargain with? I have to save the goodies! But here's my elder child carrying her around on his back because he didn't want to disturb our queen (and you can see her beautiful coat here):
BTW, the actual litter we use is Arm and Hammer Clump and Seal Multi Cat
Usually $14-20 @ Walmart or Target depending size
Made some progress with warehouse kittens. I am able to be around them, and play with them with a stick. I can get very close with my hands to one of them, they even sniffs me no problem, but touching them still spooks them. The most afraid one, the orange, is very afraid to come close to my hands, but kitty comes to play at least. Well at least they play when mom cat lets them, she's very playful and wants all my attention.
Proud to announce that I've adopted my first very own cat! I grew up with two cats in the house always, and desperately missed them all through college. Life has finally stabilized enough for me, and my partner surprised me last weekend with news that a co-worker's neighbor was looking to re-home her 3 year old ginger boy!
We're just about 24 hours in, and things are going well! He acclimated quickly– spent the night under our bed being a little overwhelmed after an initial hour or so exploring... but we let him be and today he has been a delight while I've been WFH. All of the milestones are checked off: this morning he ate a nice meal, around noon he went to town on a whole dang bowl of water, and just an hour ago he used the litter box! I was nervous because I went with a pellet + pad style system to cut down on odor in a small apartment (Tidy Cats Breeze), but he took right to it. He has a huge personality, and has been rubbing all over me and exploring. He comes out for about a half hour at a time, and then brings himself back to sleep in the back of our closet where I put his cat bed. Then, whenever I check on him (usually after about an hour), he wakes up in a purring frenzy and comes out for more playtime.
Wooph, sorry for the novel~ can't contain my excitement!
We're just about 24 hours in, and things are going well! He acclimated quickly– spent the night under our bed being a little overwhelmed after an initial hour or so exploring... but we let him be and today he has been a delight while I've been WFH. All of the milestones are checked off: this morning he ate a nice meal, around noon he went to town on a whole dang bowl of water, and just an hour ago he used the litter box! I was nervous because I went with a pellet + pad style system to cut down on odor in a small apartment (Tidy Cats Breeze), but he took right to it. He has a huge personality, and has been rubbing all over me and exploring. He comes out for about a half hour at a time, and then brings himself back to sleep in the back of our closet where I put his cat bed. Then, whenever I check on him (usually after about an hour), he wakes up in a purring frenzy and comes out for more playtime.
Wooph, sorry for the novel~ can't contain my excitement!
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Excellent news! If they're on solid food and the momo is hopefully getting spayed soon, they should probably be rehomed ASAP so that they have more constant contact with humans.
You shouldn't be sorry for gushing about your cat. This is literally the thread for it. :)
That said, you should definitely pay the cat tax (pics). :D
Aha! Working on it, will report back at the end of the week with the best :)
Operation Treats was a complete success! Bought some Churus to lure the kittens closer, and the little things were so happy licking it. I was able to pet them and even take the most scared one. They still aren't all that trustful of me, but I'm working on it. Soon they'll be happy sociable cat and we'll find them a home.
All that's still pending is a home for mom cat, lovely girl, I'll find her a loving home whatever it takes *avengers music plays*
Do you have the water close to their food or litter box ?
All that's still pending is a home for mom cat, lovely girl, I'll find her a loving home whatever it takes *avengers music plays*
Do you have the water close to their food or litter box ?
Been experimenting with shifting pine litter.
Benefits are out smells fine and is cheap.
Down side is, not all our cats are on board yet.
Benefits are out smells fine and is cheap.
Down side is, not all our cats are on board yet.
Not really. He's getting most of his water from soft food I guess.
Maybe the fountain will get him more interested, but I don't see him him trying to drink from the faucet- although he is occasionally interested in it.
My advice would be to try and leave him as many places to drink water as posible, sometimes cats take water because they pass by and go "hmmm I'm thirsty now"
That's true, but aside from the adopted part do we have any idea about long-term success?
This I didn't know about, I thought they still produced milk after being spayed so would basically hang around as normal.
Maze was in that 6 week or so window when I found her.
I don't disagree with this on its face. That's probably the biggest reason I picked up Maze since we put poison out in accordance with city ordinance outside our warehouse, we're next to a busy highway and have even bigger predators like coyotes out here, not to mention just the obvious threat of getting run over by an employees' car or one of our semi's.
I guess again my biggest worry is the foster and what kind of family they can find. Obviously only the foster and organization really knows and I don't think people willing to foster ever have bad intentions and there's obviously going to be a skill level involved where some are newer than others, others are better because they can put more time into it whatever, I just don't know if many people would actually hold onto a kitten that was feral if the foster wasn't able to really work that out before adoption. Clearly there's middle grounds, maybe the cat could be a farm cat and I know some businesses have kept cats for pest control and while that wouldn't be legal in my city in the US I don't know what it'd be like for Chile, so there's options for cats that are in that middle ground between feral and sociable. And given patient adopters that work with a kitten just spending a day with a foster can be overcome so it's not hopeless. I guess what I'm worrying about is what's the odds that the kittens just get thrown out for being a jerks and die outside anyways just out of the posters sight and is that better where as at least where they are, dangerous as it is if the poster was willing they could have food?
I guess it's just the idea of the foster saying they'd only hold onto them a day or two, just kinda rubs me the wrong way, you know. Obviously I can't know the situation but I usually approach things from an if you're going to do something see it through mindset and I think under normal conditions most fosters would probably also really commit to their animals like that, take them back if things weren't working out, give them the time they need before adopting them out but the post makes it sound like the situation down there's real bad so I worry if people further up the chain actually aren't going to commit if it's still really better to intervene anyways. And that's not even meant to be a knock on the people doing the work, everyone in the field's probably doing a numbers game and trying to save as many animals as they can
I bring my cat Maze up because at 6 weeks or so, having to be quarantined from my other cat for another 2 while the tests were being done and then really trying to integrate her more into a domesticated setting, it was a lot of work. If I had sent her to a family the next day the chances are high she would have been brought back to me or just abandoned because she was a little shit. She's still kind of a little shit, lol, both my cats are. 1 that was surrendered because she hates litter so pees around the house and Maze that's insane. But long story short I put in the work with Maze and she's now sociable and at least understands me when I break up her fights with the other cat. I also really think Maze was on her own a lot sooner than she should have been because she's terrible around other cats and with play despite me never playing with my body but these kittens at least being together will probably have a better base to build from than my Maze did in that regard.
'Course several days have past since I last replied here and it seems Serpens007 has also been putting in work too so they may be in a much better spot now if they were caught than, say, if they had been caught and immediately adopted out the next day from the first post.
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There's unfortunately no easy, one-size-fits-all answers regarding what's best for semi-feral cats, and sure, sometimes fostering or adopting them turns out not so great; but with the hindsight of my SO having overseen many hundreds of adoptions and following up on them, I can say the average outlook of adopted cats, even in non-optimal conditions, is a damn sight better than the average outlook of feral cats, even in seemingly safe environments (which usually end up being anything but). Given that the latter isn't even the case in this specific situation, as well as the age of the kittens, I think adoption is a straight no-brainer here.
More to the point, worrying about hypothetical issues with adoption, while straight out ignoring the clear and present dangers from no adoption, makes little sense unless the goal was to 100% ensure not to make the situation worse. That shouldn't be the goal; it should be to make the decisions most likely to result in the best quality of life and safety for the cat. We shoulder that responsibility when things go south sometimes (and most importantly, learn from it to prevent it in the future), because we know that's the price we pay for things becoming better in the other 95%-99% of cases. If one's concern is "I don't ever want to make things worse", then this is definitely not the scene for them.
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We live in a flat and our cats don't leave it, so this has never happened to me. I can imagine the scene being pretty traumatic in itself, but I guess if it happened, I'd try to think of it as opening the fridge and taking out some chicken breast to cook; just with less intermediaries (and more of a mess) involved.
i was like. should i says good boy, stop him, watch him, or take a picture. luckily when i got near him he didn't hiss or growl at me.
hes too adorable to do that.
My cat be so shy. like he would just sit outside his bed because someone else (see above) is sleeping in it. had to move the other cat to his bed and then shove him on the bed.
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i was like. should i says good boy, stop him, watch him, or take a picture. luckily when i got near him he didn't hiss or growl at me.
hes too adorable to do that.
My cat be so shy. like he would just sit outside his bed because someone else (see above) is sleeping in it. had to move the other cat to his bed and then shove him on the bed.
I wouldn't scold him or praise him. Scolding him for doing what's in his nature will only confuse him, but praising him may encourage him to kill more birds which you also don't want. I would just ignore it (clean the mess later if it was in your yard or whatever).
lol if i left it would have disappeared into his stomach or get dragged into the office. at least he was clean about it when he was eating the head off.
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Heh, I thought he had lost interest after eating the head and that's when you found him. Yeah, eating a bird whole is going to make him sick but that's probably not going to stop him.