Thank you, bb. Yeah, I had my reservations, but there aren't a lot of people out there, if any others, who know how to get feral cats bonded and I'm overjoyed to know Brigit has a kitty to snuggle with again--it's more than I dared hope for her, but it's a complicated situation--a regular kitty soap opera in the making, and how this develops is going to be a story worth following, but I'm expecting my girl will do well for herself. (-;
It's not a matter of expecting the worst. It's a matter of what I saw, the season, and cat behavior. No, I never found her body, and there's a small chance she could have wandered off, and if it were spring or fall, or even summer in which she went missing, I'd give it a definite possibility, but not the middle of winter, the time of frost and death in this part of the world. Not even a Took makes a start of an Adventure in the Wild at this point in the season. Perhaps if I had lost her the end of February, but not at the start of this month. Any other time of year, a predator might wander off to hunt, away from her known source of sustenance, but not this point in the season. We know this in our bones here.
And I hunted the area pretty thoroughly for 10 weeks. During those 10 weeks, I met many of the townsfolk, and if there were the kind of soul who would put out so much food for feral cats that a small calico, who did not want to fight other cats for her food, would find enough food for herself, so much that she would forgo the wet cat food and Starkist salmon she knew my call promised, it's pretty likely I'd have heard about it in this very small township. Ostra was in no uncertain way tame enough to have moved in with any human. If she were, and she were living, she would have, without doubt, come again when I called, as she did the previous 4 times I drove out to her those 2 weeks we were reunited. And I've been hanging about in that town and keeping an eye out for her the last 10 months as I visited with Brigit. I am sure if Ostra were alive and in contact with her sister, I would have seen her. The last time I saw her she seemed not well. And when you're not well in the Wild here, at this time of year, and you're traveling alone, there's only one journey you are making.
I plan on going up to Warwick 3 more times. Twice more to fill the feeders, because there were other feral cats who were eating from them and it would be cruel to cut them off in the middle of winter, and the third time at the beginning of April, when frogs and baby rodents and birds abound, I will take down the feeders, unless I am able to find someone to take them over. I've got some numbers of cat rescue organizations I'll be calling to try to find someone. But if no one turns up, I don't want to leave a mess in the country for others to clean up. And yes, my peripheral vision will be alert, searching for a little calico, as I drive each time, but I do not expect she is anywhere to be seen So yeah, I could call it a tribute post that is 9 parts a memorial. I'm satisfied that Brigit is living for 2 kitties now, and if she only lives another month, she is at least now living the best life a feral cat can have.
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Date: 2013-02-17 05:36 am (UTC)It's not a matter of expecting the worst. It's a matter of what I saw, the season, and cat behavior. No, I never found her body, and there's a small chance she could have wandered off, and if it were spring or fall, or even summer in which she went missing, I'd give it a definite possibility, but not the middle of winter, the time of frost and death in this part of the world. Not even a Took makes a start of an Adventure in the Wild at this point in the season. Perhaps if I had lost her the end of February, but not at the start of this month. Any other time of year, a predator might wander off to hunt, away from her known source of sustenance, but not this point in the season. We know this in our bones here.
And I hunted the area pretty thoroughly for 10 weeks. During those 10 weeks, I met many of the townsfolk, and if there were the kind of soul who would put out so much food for feral cats that a small calico, who did not want to fight other cats for her food, would find enough food for herself, so much that she would forgo the wet cat food and Starkist salmon she knew my call promised, it's pretty likely I'd have heard about it in this very small township. Ostra was in no uncertain way tame enough to have moved in with any human. If she were, and she were living, she would have, without doubt, come again when I called, as she did the previous 4 times I drove out to her those 2 weeks we were reunited. And I've been hanging about in that town and keeping an eye out for her the last 10 months as I visited with Brigit. I am sure if Ostra were alive and in contact with her sister, I would have seen her. The last time I saw her she seemed not well. And when you're not well in the Wild here, at this time of year, and you're traveling alone, there's only one journey you are making.
I plan on going up to Warwick 3 more times. Twice more to fill the feeders, because there were other feral cats who were eating from them and it would be cruel to cut them off in the middle of winter, and the third time at the beginning of April, when frogs and baby rodents and birds abound, I will take down the feeders, unless I am able to find someone to take them over. I've got some numbers of cat rescue organizations I'll be calling to try to find someone. But if no one turns up, I don't want to leave a mess in the country for others to clean up. And yes, my peripheral vision will be alert, searching for a little calico, as I drive each time, but I do not expect she is anywhere to be seen So yeah, I could call it a tribute post that is 9 parts a memorial. I'm satisfied that Brigit is living for 2 kitties now, and if she only lives another month, she is at least now living the best life a feral cat can have.