On the third day after the bath the mother lay down outside her new house and fed her kittens. This was a breakthrough. And she did not leave this day, at all. On the fourth day she washed her kittens a little, and she fed them regularly. She washed herself. She yelled at me for coming too close but then she saw the Swedish cat food on the plate and the yelling turned to this rolling throaty R-sound, the message for her kittens to come eat. On the fifth day ... Read more

The next day I said: I have interfered with mother nature. And I will interfere more. It made me uneasy. The molly wasn't there. I took the kittens and I put them in the sink and I washed them under the tap with soap for humans who have really sensitive skin, and I cleaned their eyes thoroughly. Then I held them in my arms and walked around the yard with them in the glaring sun until they were dry. Then I put them back to their new house. Washing them ... Read more

The next day I saw her sitting outside her entry hole to the shed, quite peaceful. And then two of her kittens were outside also. Then the molly went for a walk and left her two kittens outside the shed. I went inside the shed and I found the third kitten dead. It was the brown one, the weak one. I went outside again and shut the door properly and blocked the entry hole to prevent the mom from returning to the shed. Then I put a table in my ... Read more

I have a rabbit cage in my house, which I use as a recovery cage for sick cats and those that need time to recouperate following neutering. I had the brilliant idea of rehousing the kittens - and I frankly thought their mom was either gone for good or didn't care much. One of the kittens was so weak that it just lay where I put it, without moving. I figured it was dying. I was wrong about the mom. She was at the rabbit cage within the hour and ... Read more

I started to keep a closer eye on the shed. I still said that mother nature should be in control and that I would not interfere, but I was interfering. If I had not cleaned the kittens eyes every few hours all of them would have died because their eyes crusted over every time. I also placed very mushy catfood on a plate in the shed - and amazingly the kittens were mature enough to eat it. In fact, they gobbled it down. I fed them again the next day ... Read more

A day or three later the feral molly sat outside the shed, sunning herself, and through maneuvering I found out that she had removed her kittens from the bucket and placed them in the dirt on the floor, where the ants and the lice live and where the old shit is ankle high. I found a blanket and folded it and covered a patch of the floor, in the hopes that the little family would stay on the blanket. That did not happen. The kittens rolled about in the ... Read more

About four weeks ago a feral molly appeared in my yard. Small, scrawny, scruffy, feisty, malnourished, heavily pregnant. She entered through the hole in the wall and I knew she had come from across the street, where there are some ruins and loads of feral stray cats. She acted in a suspicious manner and was unfriendly and I figured she was looking for a suitable location to give birth. I chased her back through the hole in the wall because I certainly don't need more residents cats in my yard. ... Read more

Outside of my bedroom I have a terrace. This terrace is the roof of the room below, which is part of my neighbour's house. In summer this terrace is bathed in sun from sunrise and through the day but in the late afternoon the shade creeps up. Hannes often goes out there at dusk. He jumps on his pillow on what has become his chair, cleans himself thoroughly, turns this way and that, and then observes the night as it approaches, dozing frequently. I've taken to joining him on the ... Read more

This winter I've been getting up at 4 a.m. I wake up, go downstairs and feed the cats - my cats indoors and those strays that are present outside - then I make myself some tea, go back upstairs and settle down in front of the computer. One by one my cats return from their morning stroll and by 4:30 or 5 a.m. they are all soundly asnooze here and there in our bedroom - on colder days they tend to gather on the bed - and then we ... Read more

Hannes (Hansi, left in the photo) is today (21.04.2012) the undisputed boss of my house and my yard, and this goes for both resident and non-resident cats, strays or not, neutered or not. Interesting as this is, this was not immediately apparent as my kits were growing up. But as we move into the second year of my cats' life, this very thing has become a fact that actually has to be realized and dealt with. But in this photo, and given the expression of my guys on this photo ... Read more

Hannes and Bina are the best of friends...mostly. Mostly they love each other. When they do they will nap together, they will wash each other, they will play together, and they will hang out together - which, all told, about sums up a cat's existance, apart from eating. In these photos we see them napping together. The top photos are taken October 17. 2011 and there they were going through a phase where napping together was the absolutely best thing to do. (As I write this, on April 21. 2012, ... Read more

My cat Mouse gave birth to a litter of six, three boys and three girls. In adopting Mouse I hade in fact made a pact with myself, to care for her and for that litter for the rest of all of their lives. However, my dear Mouse died four months after she gave birth to this llitter, likely from poisoning. And of this litter, my buddy Axl died when he was about 11 months old, probably from some damn internal infection related to his neutering (intolerance to the material used ... Read more

Mathilda was neutered when she was about 9 months old, same as my other girls. These photos show the cuts. What's interesting is that when my girls were neutered in spring of 2011, the doctor told me that they needed 3 days of rest after surgery. But this winter, when I had some of the lady strays of my yard neutered, the doctor said they needed 5 days of rest after surgery, to make sure the wound closed properly. The doctor does not like to keep animals over weekends following ... Read more

This is the summer getup in our house. To the far right we have Mathilda napping on a folded travel bed covered with a bluish blanket. Then we have Bina on a slightly lower shelving unit covered with an orange towel. And to the far left is the window. This window is important. You will notice how impossibly bright it is. This is the morning sun. And you will notice that the window is open. I open it at some point in early April and it stays perpetually open through ... Read more

My house and my yard in the Old Town of the Greek island of Rhodes are surrounded by a 15 foot high wall which on top is about a foot wide. The wall is an excellent pathway for cats to travel around. In the top photo my three boys - from left Bambi, Hannes and Axl - are regarding a neighbourhood stray and wannabe strongman. My boys are 9 months old in this photo, it's taken on May 15 in 2011. I cherish this photo and this series because I ... Read more