Queen of the House

This was taken before her injuries.

Nap time together.
This was taken before her injuries.

Those who know even a little about me quickly realize I am an animal lover.  I've posted before about the number of farm cats we have (most are rescues).  This blog post is honor of our miracle cat, Paisley.  She's like a furry member of our family.  Or as our 3 yr old would say, "like a person in a cat suit."

When she was just ten months old she was hit by a car and sustained three broken legs.  After many hours of surgery, ten weeks of cage rest, physical therapy, hydrotherapy, and a ton of prayers our sweet cat was eventually able to walk again.  It took another 4-6 months before she was able to run, climb and jump.  All of this was accomplished through the daily prayers of our young children, my husband's willingness to spend a whole LOT of money on a cat, my dedication to doing the physical therapy & hydrotherapy (it's true that cats really don't like water) and the dedication of the veterinarians at Bit & Spur Animal Hospital.  She not only survived, but has surpassed the veterinarians' highest hopes.  Though Paisley is left with a limp due to her right front leg being shorter than her other legs, it doesn't seem to bother her and it certainly doesn't keep her from jumping on dressers, or climbing around behind the entertainment center.

Just 2 weeks after surgery.

Paisley is now a little over two years old and is living the good life of being ruler of our house.  We love her and in exchange she brightens our days by getting in her favorite "dead cat" sleeping position right in the middle of a walkway so we have to step over her.  She sleeps where she chooses, in whatever position she chooses and brings great comedy to our family.

Best friends watching cartoons.

Her favorite way to sleep post-surgery.  I think she became so
accustomed to sleeping in odd positions due to the external
pins on her front leg that she just prefers this now.

Lying right in the middle of Luke's school work.

This cat truly sleeps where she wants, when she wants.  She was sound asleep in the pictures above until I disturbed her with the camera flash.  Far left she's in the bathroom sink, middle she's on top of my dresser and far right she's laying in a basket of clean laundry (note the paw lifted up to block the camera flash from her eyes).

Kitty Love

Well our youngest has found true kitty love. I knew our daughter, B-Kat had my love of animals from early on, but her ultimate favorite are cats. Big ones, small ones, fluffy ones, shaved ones, she doesn't hold any prejudices against any of the varieties. When we visit people who have a cat she will immediately run over to pet it, while typically the cat looks at her with big eyes and slinks away with a look of, "uh... I don't think so!" B-Kat has also perfected the art of cat behavior which not only includes crawling around on all fours meowing, but also rubbing her head on people's legs and attempting to drink water out of a bowl. I dare-say this child is truly her father's daughter (those who know him will understand). The kitten B-Kat is holding in this photo is "Wubzy" named after the cartoon "Wow, Wow Wubzy". This poor innocent kitten has been toted around since he was 6 weeks old (he's now 4 months old) and he is the most gentle, mellow cat we've had in a long time.

PART 2: How Many Cats Are Too Many?

We have several stray cats that have been hanging around our house the past month or so. One of them has been hanging around for about a year, but recently two more have shown up and one of them has been marking his territory on our front porch (not a good smell). We have a cat trap already, so I set it up and baited the trap with some canned cat food. I didn't have to wait very long, caught one of our own barn cats the very first night! Poor kitty was scared, but I set him free and he was fine. Two days later I was able to coax one of the stray cats into a large dog crate on our front porch with some cat food. It was really amazing because I expected him to be more skittish, but he acts like he wants to be nice though he is just a bit jumpy.
Today I came home from work to find another cat in the trap, but instead of our own this time it was the stray Manx. I was actually surprised to catch this one so quickly because he is really feral. So... two stray cats captured, 1 more to go. Oh, and in case you're wondering what my plans are for these strays, I like to use the TNR program (trap neuter release) because most of these adult cats aren't friendly and if taken to the animal shelter they'll end up being euthanized. I don't mind the cats living in our area, just as long as they aren't reproducing and adding to the overpopulation of cats.

How many cats are too many?

Here on the farm we have problems with rats on occasion. We get the population under control for 6-8 months only to have a huge problem all over again. We've used rat bait and rat traps inside our feed shed where none of our animals have access to it, but our best rat control are our barn cats. We currently have 6 cats. Paisley is our indoor - outdoor cat and is pretty much just a pet. I've yet to see her venture out to the pasture. We have 5 other cats that actively roam our 6 acres and are fed in the barn daily. They're all neutered males and most seem to be very good hunters, bringing us moles, mice, squirrels and the occasional bird. I'm not thrilled about the birds, but I've come to realize there's nothing I can do about it. Well, to get to the point, we're once again having a problem with rats. They chew holes in the feed sacks, poop all in the feed shed and make holes and tunnels in the pastures. A co-worker has a litter of kittens so I've decided we need a couple more to grow up and help out with our rodent problem. I've heard from many sources that females make the best hunters, but since the females are triple the cost to get fixed I'm sticking with getting males for now. I've already picked out an orange tabby and a cream colored one. You might be wondering what does it matter what color they are? Well if I'm going to be adding more cats I might as well add pretty ones. :o)
So, as I've titled this blog "How many cats are too many?" this begs the question, will 8 be too many? Seriously, I really want to know. We're currently going through about 16 pounds of cat food every 2 weeks. Keep in mind we have 6 cats total, even though only 5 of them are barn cats. I like to keep our cats sleek and trim... you won't find any fat, chubby ones around here.
Let me know your thoughts and I'll share pictures of the kittens once they're old enough to leave their mom.