Category: Posts: Hazel and kittens

I’m so pleased with Hazel’s progress! My hands are scary to her, and yet here she is, a foot away from me, playing with her new peacock feather on the chair. Play is such an important tool in gaining a feral or semi-feral cat’s trust. Play is new idea to many of these rescued cats. If they are outside, or even in a barn, they are too busy earning a living to have energy for pure play. I’m sure they play with their prey, but that’s pretty short when what you want is a meal. They certainly don’t have the joy of pressure-free playtime with toys that move enticingly.

Hazel has a game that we enjoy – I swing the little Nubbin toy to her, she bats it back, and will do that for quite a while.

I spent some time sitting in with Hazel this afternoon, which was quite entertaining. She was feeling playful, and just carried on as if I weren’t there. She seems to enjoy the cat tree!

Hazel as made so much progress towards trusting humans – it’s encouraging to think she might become tame and adoptable. She seems to be really sweet, but very used to being on her own and resistant to trusting anyone else. I think she’s about 3 or 4 years old, so she might never be trusting enough to be really snuggly, but I want to try!

Since all her kittens have been adopted, Hazel is a bit lonely and a bit bored. So I invited her to join me in my office/bedroom this afternoon, and she had a good time exploring. I blocked my own cats out of the room, and let her just come in and see what there was to see and smell.

She came near me and I saw her notice the cursor moving on the computer, so I looked up a bird video for cats, and turned that on. She was quite fascinated by it! A couple of times she moved as if to jump at it, but wisely thought better of it.

This is Hazel’s group, enjoying their new jungle gym. That wasn’t what we intended it for, but that’s clearly what it is in their eyes.

The idea is to set the big dog cage up the way we had it when Hazel was pregnant, with a safe “cave” and all the necessaries (food, water, litter box). Then we hope to lure Hazel into it, so we can get her to the vet for spaying. I haven’t been able to get her into a carrier any other way, so she is the only mama who hasn’t been spayed yet.

Hazel, of course, recognizes the cage for what it is, and stayed a wary distance away as George set it up. The kittens, however, had fewer inhibitions. Puck had none! Predictably, he was “helping” from the beginning, and was inside it before the ends were up. The others soon joined.

We set it up with both doors wide open, and the kittens proceeded to have a blast!

Hazel was semi-feral when she came to us, but I have hopes that she will become more trusting and tame enough to adopt. Working towards this, I sometimes give her a plate of food and sit near her, which she accepts.

This morning, I sat with a plate of food next to where she was. She hissed, but didn’t leave, and I put the food in front of her. She was eating with me close by, and I was pretty happy with that.

Then her kittens decided her food must be better than what they were eating, and one by one three of the four came and pushed in to eat hers – even though it was exactly the same as theirs! First Farley, then Charlie Pie, then Smudge. Puck just kept eating where he was – a paté in the paw is worth two … somewhere else.

Farley has learned a new trick. He showed it off this evening, but it was clear that he’d been working on it. He zooms up the cat tree, then leaps across to the grate of the Jiro Palace. He climbed up further, climbed down, then leaped back to the tree. The first time, he landed on the tree perfectly. The second time (video below), he miscalculated a bit and went all the way to the floor. I suppose back at the farm he would have been falling from the barn rafters or hay mow. At least here he has carpet to land on!

Mama Hazel likes toys to play with, which will be very helpful in convincing her that humans have her best interests at heart. She is cautious, but tolerates me being closer if I have a toy.

She is so beautiful! She has a world-class scowl when she feels you’re invading her space, but at play she’s so cute! I think she’s between 2 and 4 years old. She has lived around people, but in a barn situation where it was never up close and personal. She seems to like her new life, and her kittens were born and raised here. Now that they’re older, it’s time to develop a better relationship between her and humans, and then find her a loving home.

Hazel’s family were born here, on April 23. They grew up here, and are very people-friendly, even though she was a semi-feral barn cat and not quick to trust. They fought giardia, which she brought from the farm with her, as well as an upper respiratory infection, and also being bombarded with the medications those required.

Now they are nearly 4 months old, and finally strong and healthy – and ready for loving homes. They are playful, athletic, and highly entertaining! Puck is the most outgoing and adventurous, but Smudge is not far behind. Farley is the strongest and seems to act like the oldest brother. Charlie Pie is the smallest, but well able to run with the pack, and fierce in defending her toy!

We cleaned the “office” today, and had lots of help. Hazel and her kittens live there, and the kittens are getting used to the vacuum and the excitement of things going on. Hazel herself found a place to hunker down, and stayed there. She’s not a fan – but handles it pretty well.

We opened the door to the hall, and even tossed toys that way – but the kittens opted to say in the room. Their reaction varied, but none of them was super freaked out.

The most brave is Puck. He found the vacuum scary, and yet there he was, following it, sniffing at it when it wasn’t moving, and generally enjoying how scary it was.

But everyone’s favorite was the broom. They seem to love brooms! They chew and bite and tug and pounce. When it’s in operation, they run towards it on the pull stroke and dash away when it comes back at them.

My granddaughter recently commented that Puck looks like Gigi, the wonderful cat in the anime Kiki’s Delivery Service. Playing with the broom he really looked like Gigi. So I lifted him up so he looked like he was flying on a broomstick, and snapped his pic.