Baby Kitty (or Sister) continued.....

Last Monday was when I started investigating baby sister. After that things took a downward turn. We put out food that night and there was no response. In fact for the next three days we didn't see her (or him, who knows) and the food wasn't touched. Cali started getting worried as these were some of the coldest days of the month. I tried moving her food to the other side of the porch just in case she wasn't finding it. We started to think maybe baby sister was gone.

Friday night I took her bowl in and put some fresh food in it. I went out with my brother for dinner and returned late that night. I saw for the first time in five days that someone had eaten the partially frozen food. I went to bed and felt a little better. The next morning all the food was gone. This trend continued through the next several days. She has now cleaned her plate four days in a row.

Last night we decided to grill because the weather was great here. Later I went back out to cover the grill when it had turned dark. Something quick scattered from underneath our porch out into the yard. Baby kitty then turned and stood there. Cali joined me on the porch and I motioned her to shut the door quietly. I couldn't see much but as Cali and I mewed and made smoochy sounds sometimes I could see a pair of eyes reflecting our porch light. This morning when I went out I heard some quiet mewing, but couldn't see anything. I tried to converse, but then didn't hear anything else.

This evening I had one more spotting as she trotted away from our house. When I called she would turn and look each time, but then keep on trotting. I think she didn't like that I had turned on the flood light to the yard. I keep wondering if she and Malachi talk during the night. I mean surely he is aware of her, right? I guess I wouldn't put it past him to sleep through it all.

The Investigation of Baby Kitty

One day Malachi was yelling like he always does, waiting to get fed. Cali was ignoring him until she started hearing an echo every time Malachi was yelling. Somebody was responding outside the door! Cali went to check it out and a small black cat ran off. Since then we have been keeping an eye out for him and today because it is so snowy, I did some research. Here are my findings......

First of all I had to track him and see where his hangouts are. He appears to spend most of time in various buildings formally owned by our neighbor. She passed away and so the house and the surroundings sheds have become the perfect hiding place for baby sister (as Cali calls this cat). Here you see the footprints of baby kitty as I followed them throught the snow.


I next found one of the sheds that they kitty had gone under. You can see where the kitty went under the shed (there if plenty of space as seen below). Cali also maintains that sometimes he/she is sleeping under our porch. She likes to keep the dryer running just in case to provide some extra heat.









The house has not been lived in for at least a year and you can tell by the shape that it is in. The side porch is torn up and there is additional space for a kitty to slip and and sleep for the night.

I decided to talk to the neighbors about this kitty. The neighbor on one side says that she has not seen this black cat, but has seen its paw prints. She also told me about all the other interesting critters she has seen back there. Apparently a family of foxes was birthed under her porch last year and they got footage of the little babies by videotaping from and upstairs window. She also has seen groundhogs and we certainly are aware of moles in the back yard. This woman and her husband say they call it a mullet house, city in the front and country in the back.

When I talked to the neighbor on the other side, he said that he is pretty sure this cat is a stray. He has seen it several times and even saw this cat catch a squirrel! Just as we have been checking out the kitty she has been checking us out. I found several prints around our driveway, front door, and side door. Malachi seems to enjoy watching this cat, although we have only spotted her three times. I put food out tonight on the porch and Cali and I are excited to watch and see what happens.