Welcome Back to Kitty Village News 

 

                                    Happy 4th of July

Well, it’s that time of year. We celebrate Independence Day with cook outs, pool parties and fire works. Unfortunately, the clowder here at Kitty Village does not celebrate this holiday.

 

These are the faces that I see right after the first fire work salvo from the neighborhood is heard.

 

 

They will not be seen for the rest of the day.

 

 

 

Some times they will stay on the porch huddled together under the chair I’m sitting on, but most of the time they are out in the yard either under the shed or under our decked patio.

You think they don’t like thunder?  

Multiply that by ten for fire works.

So we are prepared to feed the Village residents when ever they do show up which will coincide with a lull in the fire work displays. Not much else we can do with our feral cats  here at Kitty Village.

Even Smokey who is indoors with us will hide in her cave or under her bed.

As for our K-9 family, Kiki is not bothered by thunder or fire works. Khaki is very afraid of the noise.

For Smokey and Khaki we spray Comfort Zone pheromone spray on their blankets and try to comfort them by talking to them, which helps.

Can’t wait for July 5th!

Oh, and lastly, Independence day! Smokey united with her son Teddy for the first time since her injury.

Happy Fourth everyone, and thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

Welcome Back to Kitty Village News

 

Well, the fence project is slowly coming along even with all the rain we are having here in south Florida.

The project will use 38 – 4″ x 4″ x 10′ wood posts. Each post takes one sixty pound bag of cement. At each of the corners of the project, the post gets two bags of cement making the total amount of cement bags 54.

There are eight corner post for the entire project, which makes its way from one end of our house to the other through the back yard area.

Each post then gets a plastic sleeve which slides over the wood post and after that a flat plastic fence panel goes between the posts.

Stay posted (sorry for the pun) for more on the fence project.

Now more about the family living here at Kitty Village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is Samantha when she was about a month or two old. She has changed quite a bit. When you look at Sam and her brothers you wonder how they can be from the same litter.

A female cat can remain in heat for up to 21 days. She can mate with more than one male during that period of time and can have a litter which contains kittens from both males.

If you remember, in my past post I spoke about Bandit being very protective of his family and our property from other cats. Or is he also jealous?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This intruder could possible be Sam’s dad who is visiting. We can not be sure of this but, it could be possible.

Well Bandit did stay with the family from the beginning and as far as he is concerned Sam is one of his. The same way when Orangey showed up one day and Bandit did not chase her away, possibly sensing she needed a home.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today you can see when Bandit comes onto the porch, Orangey will run up to him and they will rub heads to greet each other. Bandit is a good step dad to Sam and adopted dad to Orangey.

Our next post will be on how we feed the clowder when we are away during feeding time.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed Kitty Village News and thank you for supporting our cause.

If you wish to donate to Kitty Village go to:

www.gofundme.com/smokeyandbandit

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

 

 

Kitty Village and the Storms,

 

Well, it is rainy season in south Florida again. For us Floridians, our rainy season is like the snow storms in the north. The only good thing is that it usually does not rain all day long. It might rain for thirty minutes and then the sun comes out for a while and then rains again. 

But when it does rain, we are talking about a lot of rain. We can get easily two to four inches of rain in a day and more.

That is why in south Florida we have an interconnecting network of canals for drainage that were constructed in the early 1900’s. Without these canals we would be under water.

Now what does this have to do with Kitty Village?

Good Question.

Because when it rains, it comes down so hard  making so much noise that it in-turn frightens the residents of Kitty Village. Combine the heavy rain, heavy wind, and thunder they all seek any shelter that makes them feel safe.

 

 

Some times that shelter is under my chair if I am sitting on the porch with them during the storm.

 

 

 

 

 

Even Smokey, who is still living inside the house in her enclosure, will hide under her bed when it rains.

That is, even with the pheromone technology we use in her room which is called Comfort Zone.

 

Comfort Zone products release odorless, drug-free Pheromones which are scents that cats use to communicate with one another. Comfort Zone Diffusers release pheromones that mimic a cat’s natural, calming pheromones, signaling to them that an area is safe and friendly, putting them at ease.

 WORK ZONE

 

The Kitty Village construction project is still moving along even with the rain, heat and high humidity.

We are almost ready for the gate to be installed for Kitty Village. We will keep you posted on our progress.

 

 

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

 

How can you sleep with all the work going on inside the village?

We are almost finished with the main entrance into Kitty Village and have started the fence posts for the east side.

 

 

 

 

At this rate, we are setting two post per day and only have 25 post to go.

Weather has not been bad considering it is south Florida. Yesterday was 94 degrees with 78% humidity. Hate to see what August is going to be like this summer.

Teddy snuck into the kitchen to cool off. Only Teddy and Orange will come into the house and Teddy will not go further then the kitchen entrance way.

 

 

 

Two customers waiting at the back door for dinner at Kitty Village.

 

 Every day Twice a day Kitty Village residence are served meals. What happens if we are not here to serve them. We will tell you in a future post.

Lastly, Smokey is doing great and has adjusted the best she can with her handicap. 

Smokey was afraid during thunderstorms inside her temporary home so we gave her a cave to hide in.

 

 

 

 

Again, thank you all who have contributed to Kitty Village and Thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B

 

 

 

 

Here is more information about cats so you can learn to understand them better.

Cats can sleep 16 to 20 hours a day and it’s not always a deep sleep. They spend a lot of time taking “cat naps” that build their energy. While taking these short naps they are alert enough to jump up the moment they sense danger or excitement. They sleep so that they are ready to hunt at any time.

 

 

They are not lazy or bored.

 

The cat’s genes tell them what to do. Genes are the tiny instructions built inside the cells of all living things. This makes a species look and act a certain way. These tiny instructions get passed down from the parents to the kittens. So their genes tell them to sleep a lot, especially during the day.

Ferrel cats live in the wild and don’t live with humans. These cats had to hunt to survive, and they needed a lot of energy for that. Just like lions and tigers, cats sleep more during the day so they’ll be ready to hunt at night, especially around sunrise and sunset.  Most house cats no longer have to hunt, but just in case they do, their genes tell them to nap often so they’ll be ready.

The Kitty Village Enclosure is making progress even with all the rain we have been getting.

 

 

We are almost finished with Kitty Villages main entrance.

 

 

Once again, thank you for supporting our cause for these wonderful animals that came to us one day and thank you for reading,

Kitty Village News

S&B

How’s Smokey doing?

Everyday she gets better. She is adjusting nicely with her depth perception due to having only one eye.  Because of Smokey’s condition it would be very dangerous to let her back into the wild. As my last post stated, these wonderful animals have a very hard life on their own.

Without human assistance, feral kittens have a high death rate, with approximately 50% dying within the first year.

 

 

 

 

Feral cats who survive kitten-hood have an average life span without human care of less than two years.

Smokey and Bandit are almost three years old due to human assistance.

There are wildlife sanctuaries all around the country like Busch Wildlife Sanctuary and Flamingo Gardens here in south Florida. These sanctuaries take in wildlife that are injured, sick and orphaned trying to rehabilitate to release back into the wild or it can be their forever home. Feral cats are like wildlife animals.

This is why I am building Kitty Village to make it a Sanctuary for Smokey and her family and any others that might show up. Here they can be kept safe and can live a decent life with medical care if needed.

We are still building the new Kitty Village Sanctuary and it is starting to take shape.

 

 

The Double gate entrance will ensure that one of our guest can not run out while we are entering Kitty Village.

 

Our dream is to someday be able to obtain a large piece of property to become a sanctuary for Feline and Canine who are not wanted. Like Kitty Village it would be operated as non-profit surviving on donations and fund raising just to give these animals a fighting chance in life.

Once again, thank you for supporting our cause and thank you for reading,

Kitty Village News

S&B

 

 

This post is to teach you about feral cats.

A pack of feral cats is called a clowder or a glaring with the male called a tomcat and a female called a queen.

Feral cats are misunderstood because they are not abandoned or homeless. Abandoned cats will still remember and may even need human contact. Feral cats are literally born in the wild totally disassociated from humans.

It is estimated that there are well over a million feral cats living in the US.

The meaning of the term feral cat varies and they are some times called free-roaming cats, street cats, alley cats, and community cats.

Without human assistance, feral kittens are expected to have a high death rate, with approximately 50% dying within the first year.

Feral cats who survive kitten-hood have an average life span without human care of less than two years.

 

This is not the case with the clowder that lives in Kitty Village. They are well fed and taken care of with medical assistance as needed.

 

 

If you let two cats breed at will and then allow their offspring to breed at will, you could have 49 thousand cats over a ten year period. What?

 

 

Yes the average mature cat can have 3 litters with a total of 12 kittens per year. With 6 surviving kittens of which 50% are female. This is why it is important to get involved in the TNVR programs in your communities. Trap Neuter Vaccinate Return.

Contrary to popular belief, feral cats are quite sociable, forming close friendships with others and collectively rearing their young quite different from that of humans or dogs.

Cats engage in a bonding behavior called “all rubbing”, which can be likened to a handshake or a hug among humans. In cat colonies, members of a group will rub their bodies up against one another to reinforce their group identity by transferring scents. Most of the time you will see two cats approach each other and rub their heads together.

Well that’s today’s lesson.

Thank you for supporting our cause and thank you for reading,

Kitty Village News

S&B

Today’s lesson is “What to expect if you have feral cats”.

Handling and trying to train feral cats is not as easy as one might think. In the beginning, I saw that their instinct to hunt for food is in their nature, especially for Smokey and Bandit. So if you take on this task be prepared, it is not for the faint of heart.

 

What I mean is that we would find the occasional small lizard or snake in our porch that was killed and or partially eaten. Yuck!

But what happened one morning will be permanently imprinted on my mind.

 

Mornings for me here in South Florida begin with a cup of coffee and checking the news and e-mails. Betty will take our dogs Kiki and Khaki outside by way of our rear porch and will greet the outdoor cat clowder. But this one fall morning was very different because I heard a piercing scream coming from the porch!

I spent ten years in the fire department and twenty-six years in law enforcement but nothing could have prepared me for one of the most horrific crime scenes I have ever seen. Warning! if you are bothered by what animals do out in nature or you are a bird lover stop reading right now. Writer is not responsible if you keep reading.

Now where was I, oh yeah, for the rest of you. When I reached the rear porch I observed, scattered through out the porch, what was once a large bird. Feathers were everywhere with multiple cat vomits and multiple weak cat bowl movements beyond the imagination. You see, a horrific frenzy played out on my porch that night for sure.

As I looked over to Bandit, who had this innocent expression on his face, he was brandishing a mouth full of feathers. His son Teddy was sitting on the window sill expressing his thoughts of “I have no idea about what happened here last night.” Then I looked to Sam, who tried to express the same expression as Teddy, except the single feather in the corner of her mouth gave it away.

Needless to say, Betty locked them out of the porch for two days and I cleaned up the mess. You know, it was three weeks later and I was till finding feathers.

The good news to this story is that in time they stopped hunting for food knowing they would always be fed. But on occasion I will still hear Betty yelling at one to let go of that lizard they are playing with.

Thank you for reading Kitty Village News and thank you for supporting our cause.

S&B

And the story goes on.

Smokey is doing fine and has finally started moving around in her larger indoor enclosure I built her. When Betty opens the enclosure, Smokey actually pushes herself up against Betty to greet her. It is hard to believe that only a few weeks ago, Betty could hardly even get close to her, never mind touching her. I wonder, once she is let loose into the outdoor enclosure, if she will still stay this friendly?

Smokey is still afraid of me which is ironic with all I do for her. You see, I am allergic to cats and having one inside the house is not fun for me.

 

 

 

 

There are two more celebrities at Kitty Village you have not yet met. They are Kiki and Khaki who have been around the clowder since they first arrived.

 

The outside fence enclosure is slowly making progress with Betty and I working on it almost everyday, weather permitting. In south Florida, it is rainy season and we have seen rain almost everyday so far. Luckily, here in Florida it does not rain all day long,  so we work in between the rain showers.

Hopefully, within the next week or so the fencing will start going up and I will post as we build.

More interesting, we are almost ready to reintroduce Smokey to the clowder on our enclosed rear porch.

Again, thank you for reading Kitty Village News.

S&B