Old grey kitty came by today. A good thing too, it’s been brutally cold out, and she’s a feral.
Life hasn’t been easy for her. Originally she and old black were constant companions, sparring with young black.
Someone poisoned old black with antifreeze a few years ago, and we found him cold, in one of the safe spaces we’d built for them.
We brought him to be cremated, and then it was old grey and young black, joined by young grey. Nobody got along, really, though eventually young black and old grey stopped fighting as much. Then young black got sick a few times, then vanished. We know what that means.
Old grey and young grey actively dislike each other, and they fight enough that they come back limping at times. We still feed them both.
At this point old grey has used our yard as home base for .. 3 years now? We’ve had a few heartbreaking moments early on where we saw her sitting covered in snow.. and we started supplying homes. There’s .. 3 wooden cat houses (with foam insulation), 2 insulated boxes packed with shredded paper, an insulated popup cat house, and a cat tower outside — with hopes that these will provide enough chances for survival.
I hadn’t seen old grey much for the last few days though, and the last time she’d come by it was just to have a little water — no food.
Today she stayed longer, and ate some food. It wasn’t as much as I’d hoped, but it was something.
Feral cats have a hard, short life on average. We are doing a little to make those lives longer, and maybe a bit less harsh.
Tomorrow I’m going to see if we can’t get her to eat a bit more. Maybe something warm? I added more padding to one of the houses today as well, and I saw her check it out.
I hope this helps.