View the "Cats"pphoto album on Webshots!

 

Over the years we have adopted a wide variety of cats. We have all colors, shapes, sizes and personalities. Most of our cats are rescue cats who were formerly unwanted or neglected, or sentenced to death row! Currently, we have 24 cats, all pictured above.

Click on a cat above to read about their story and see more pictures.

 

Cat Habitat

---

We live in Eastern Washington, coyote country, so we practice "coyote curfew". Every evening before dusk we bring all the cats indoors for the night. During the day they are free to come and go as they please through their home made cat-door.

Inside, the cats have an 8 foot high, floor to ceiling, sisal rope scratching post. It is very easy to make one of these. The post itself is made from a heavy cardboard tube originally used for a roll of carpet. A tube such as this can be found at any carpet/flooring business. The tube is coiled tightly with 3/8 inch sisal rope. An 8 foot long tube requires 300 feet of rope!! I have replaced the rope on this post several times - they use their post a lot and wear the rope out until it falls off! They sharpen their claws on it daily, and when feeling frisky, they will zoom straight up the post to the cat shelf at the top.

 

 

The cat shelves are cedar boards, 1"x 8", covered on the top surface with carpet and trimmed along the edges with sisal rope. These shelves line the bottoms of windows and run the entire length of one side of our mobile home just below the ceiling. There is a series of short shelves that are positioned like stair steps which connect the floor to the window shelf and then up to the ceiling shelves. Our cats love these shelves and use them as lookout perches, sleeping areas, exercise tracks, and dining areas out of any dog's reach!

 

The cats also have, of course, the couch, bed, cat-baskets, boxes, paper bags, cat-beds, and any chairs they want! Whenever they want! Not to mention, plenty of home-grown catnip!

"We can do whatever we want, whenever we want to do it!"
- The Cats

Outside, the cats have a plethora of field mice and prairie voles to hunt, as well as birds to watch. We have a very large (approximately 10,000 square feet) area that is fenced with a 6 foot high, wire mesh fence. Most of our cats stay in this area, as well as our dog. However, some of the cats can fly over this fence...the catnip is always greener on the other side! Grasses and shrubs grow high in the summer making an excellent mini-jungle for the cats to explore. Here they make their own tunnels and bedding areas. There is a grove of hawthorn trees that serves as a shady, protected place where the cats like to sleep off lazy summer afternoons. Here they also like to play chase with each other or with the swirling leaves.

Spaz surveys the hawthorn grove.

Sootfoot resting in his leafy bed.

Faith and Spooky playing cat tag.

 

There are lots of logs, posts, and beams around for claw sharpening. A catnip patch dominates the herb garden where the cats can stop and nibble. We harvest and dry the catnip for winter use.

Star, Sun, Moon, Midnight, and Planet live on another part of our 8 acre farm - a little house, art studio, and greenhouse which are about 40 feet down a hill from the mobile home. Planet spends most of his sleeping time in the barn or in the little camper which is heated during the winter for him. Star, Sun, Moon, and Midnight live with me in my cottage next to Planet's camper.

Here the cats have a cat bridge suspended over a pond. Bells jingle as they traverse across it from a teepee frame to the roof of the art studio. Another cat bridge runs next to an aquaduct. This bridge is actually a large amadinda (xylophone) that plays random notes as the cats walk along its length! At night the cats can access a large outdoor enclosure (formerly a chicken pen) where they can hunt small nocturnal creatures. They can roam the art studio and greenhouse at night too. I plan to make a nighttime accessible enclosure for the cats living up in the mobile home as well.

Moon on the cat bridge.

Cat Food

---

We feed our cats home made cat food for their breakfast and dinner. This is much better than feeding commercial cat foods. Commercial pet foods are made from the carcasses of not only hoofed animals, but animals with paws as well. The carcasses are taken to a rendering plant where they are cut up and cooked - complete with intestines full of feces, flea colors, ear tags, Phenobarbital (which cannot be cooked out), cancers, fur, etc. Take a good look at your dog's kibbles and you will find fur stuck all through them. Read eye-opening essays on commercial pet foods at Polluted Pet Food! and WholisticAnimal.com.

Each week we prepare a week's worth of cat food for our 24 cats. They consume 160 lbs. of meat, mostly chicken, combined with about 50 lbs. of vegetables per month. The cost is about $100 per month ($4.00 per cat per month). We find that home made cat food is cheaper than commercial food and much better for our cats. We have been feeding our cats home made food over 5 years. We have noticed a big difference in their behavior and energy levels. They are much happier cats. We have had full blood tests done on several cats and found that all their nutrient levels and organ functions were normal, showing that the home made cat food is adequately providing the nutrients they need. Some of our cats have also been x-rayed for bone evaluation, which proved to be normal as well. See where our cats go for their check-ups with Dr. Becky Elfers.

We give thanks Pet-Grub.com for their wonderful website on how and why to make home made pet food. The recipe for our home made cat food is as follows. For a complete list of recipe ingredients, please refer to Pet-Grub.com.

Home made cat food recipe:

---

1. Remove most of the fat and skin from meat.
2. Chop some of the meat into small 1 inch pieces so that there is something for the cats to chew which helps to keep their teeth
....clean.
3. Grind the rest of the meat with an electric or hand grinder. If using chicken, the bones may be ground as well which provides
....vitamins and calcium/phosphorous. If using meats with large bones that can't be ground, add powdered egg shells.
4. Grind vegetables and carrots.
5. Mix everything together. Water may be added for a wetter consistency. Transfer mixture into ziplock freezer bags (a one gallon
....bag will hold about 4 lbs.) then freeze. One cat will consume approximately 1½ - 2½ four lb. bags of food per month.


Before serving, warm cat food by submerging bag in warm water. Do not microwave. Microwaving kills essential digestive enzymes.

The Story of Star, Sun, and Moon

---

Star, Sun, and Moon are 3 beautiful little cats who were born as a result of a 'spay'. Their mother was spayed far too late in her pregnancy, with only a few days left before she would have given birth to her three kittens naturally. Cats should not be spayed if they are pregnant or in heat because of the risks involved. When a cat is in heat or is pregnant the blood vessels that are cut during the spay procedure are enlarged and may cause internal bleeding if a spay is performed. If a cat is spayed during pregnancy the kittens usually die, and it is traumatic to the mother cat. Cats should be spayed before they become pregnant and not while they are in heat.

Despite my pleas, the spay procedure for Star, Sun, and Moon's mother was performed as scheduled. As I watched the operation unfold, I could hardly take a breath. I knew there were live kittens, far along in their term, inside. The blood vessels lining the uterine wall began to hemorrhage after the first uterine horn and its accompanying vein and artery were severed from the body. Then the second uterine horn was severed, cutting the kittens off all life support from their mother. My heart was in my throat. Finally, the uterus containing the tiny bundles of life was removed entirely from the cat. The kittens were to be thrown in the garbage, never to take their first breath of life.

I could not bear to see these kittens die in a trash can. I wanted to save them. Using a scalpel, I quickly and very carefully cut through the uterus and exposed the first kitten, I think it was Moon. The tiny wet body did not move. I thought maybe the lack of oxygen was too much for them. But no! Her little leg twitched! I immediately removed the other two kittens. I began to gently massage them and extract fluid from their noses and mouths. They were still under the influence of the anesthetic. It was a long half hour of frantic massaging and fluid removal before they started to cry their first 'mews'. It was a joy to hear, and indicated that their little lungs were working and they were strong. Within a couple of hours they drank their first milk, and did so every hour 'round the clock for the first few weeks!

 

Star, Sun, and Moon have grown into happy and healthy adult cats and spend their days playing and hunting for mice and prairie voles in the fields of eastern Washington!

Star, Moon, and Sun play a game of hockey.

 

Sun, Star, and Moon make a triangle.

 

Moon, Star, and Sun wondering where the mice are.

 

Chasing the Moon

Burning orange bright full moon
Rising crisp this month of June
Blaze a path across the sky
For tomorrow's sun will surely rise
To follow your trail along your wake
Always providing the light you make

And if someday there was no moon
Someway, somehow, some month of June
No wane nor wax, no crescent, half
The sun would surely then turn black

And if someday the sun should fall
No light to shine above us all
The bright moon's glow would then turn gray
Its ghostly face would fade away

A star in the night would shed its tears
A million bright for a million years

But every morning the sun still glows
Its radiant light to all below
Still chasing the moon July through June
Dancing the same celestial tune

And a star in the sky with a wink of an eye
Twinkles as the sun and the moon race by.

---

"We like to do it!"
- The Cats