Thoughts of Feral

[K & L]

Thoughts of Feral
By Annette Easdon
Forwarded By Sheldon Sturges, AzCATs Volunteer

I sit beneath the bushes as she fills my dish each day,
I only venture out to eat when she has gone away,
I know it will upset her when I turn away and hide,
As every day she tries her best to get me by her side.
I wish that I could let her know that I don't want to run,
And hope that she will understand it's nothing that SHE's done.
I'd like to have her stroke me and pat my weary head,
But fear will overcome and I'll run and hide instead.
For all the kindly people who feed the strays each day,
I pray the Lord will care for them as they have cared for me.

* Dedicated by the author to all the kind and caring people who give the lonely ferals a little care, a little love, and a little hope.

[Laura's Babies]

Awe! LES! That is so sweet.

[Cataholic]

LES! How appropos.

[Donnaj4962]

Oh-oh.... LES at the end of the day!

That is so well written. K& L.... you should have that framed and hung on your wall with prode!

[orangemm]

LES is right. Bigtime.

[catmandu]

That Reminds Me So Much Of The Shadow Cats, That I Leave Food Out For.
Who Are Hungry, But Not Sure Who They Can Trust.
As Long As They Get Something To Eat Like The Occasional Scraps Of Chicken, Or Steak And The Dry Food I Am A Happy Cat Man!!!

[lizbud]

It took Momma cat 3 years to trust me enough to bring her last
litter into the safety of my garage. I promised her a better life for her
and all her babies. They were all adopted except the 2 I kept for myself
and Mama's still here.


Feral life is a dangerous & sad way to be.God bless them,

[dukedogsmom]

That is so sweet. Brought tears to my eyes as we have a feral cat like that now. I got a pretty good pic of him tonight but the flash from the camera scares him. He's a beautiful tux kitty and he sits and hides under one of our bushes. I wish he would trust me more.

[AbbyMom]

Major LES here. Thanks for sharing. Here's our little feral in a recent pic. He has just ventured out as I have gone back inside. He has lost part of his tail, probably from frostbite.

[rg_girlca]

Aw geez Lisa. You got us all with LES on this one.

It makes you just want to grab them, hug and kiss them, to let them know that they ARE loved, by at least one person.

[dukedogsmom]

Here's our feral one. We call him B&W. It isn't a very good pic. It was near dusk and he won't let us get too near him.

How we would both love to make him an inside kitty!

[Beauty17]

Thank you for the poem for feral-carers. We have a feral female, whom my son named COTR (Cat on the Roof - pronounced "Cotter"). She is very sweet and spends most of her time on the roof outside our hallway during nice weather. We have not been able to trap and spay her, and she has produced three litters of kittens - which is how my son discovered her in the first place. The first litter was born on the roof outside his bedroom window. There were two tiny kittens. We rescued them and found homes for them. The next spring, there were four kittens and we found homes for them, too. But the third spring, we could not capture the three kittens, and they did not survive - COTR gave up on feeding them when they were about 8 weeks old, and of course they were not able to care for themselves at that age. We were extremely upset. We are hoping that we can capture her this spring and have her spayed. She seems to be the only female in the vicinity, but there are at least 6 males who come around when she is in season. We don't feed the males, and they are not as tame as she is - they run from us. She is our one and only, really, and we are hoping that we can make her life better and keep her from giving birth to more kittens that will not make it past their infancy. Please help us with your hopes and prayers that we will be able to.

[catcrazylady]

Ok, I got goosebumps and LES. That is a wonderful reminder that ferals don't know how to show us that they appreciate all the help they can get but it really does matter.
That was just beautiful.

[Beauty17]

I just wanted to clarify something. When I said we don't feed the males, I didn't mean that we specifically don't feed them - it's just that they are only occasional visitors to the yard. I think they have their rounds. But the female, COTR, though she is feral, is "our" feral. She is somewhere between feral and tame, because she loves our company - especially that of our 14 year old son - and the company (through the screen) of our cats - especially Beauty, who likes her a lot. My son calls the males "Mr. COTRs," and has them numbered - "Mr. COTR the 1st" through "Mr. COTR the 5th." There is actually a 6th, but since my son hasn't seen him, he doesn't acknowledge that he exists. Each Mr. COTR has his own expression and personality. Each one is pretty much of a fraidy cat when it comes to humans - unlike COTR herself, who seeks out our company, so long as we are safe inside. She will even cry at the windows around the house when she sees a light on, and she knows we are inside a particular room. She is a very smart cat. Okay. That's enough blabbering. I just didn't want to sound too cruel when it came to the male ferals.