Kittens

[Spardo]

Of the 2 Hugh mentions 'never been outside', how on earth do you go out and come in without them squeezing past?

Can't speak for Hugh but when we have to keep a cat indoors we use what we call the airlock system. Always two doors between the cat and freedom and at least one has to be kept shut.

So if the cat is shut in one area, before opening the door to that area, all escape routes from where you are to the outside world have to be shut off. You open the door and go in. If the cat escapes from the holding area, then they are still contained and you go around and collect them up and return to the holding area.

Goodness gracious Andy, what a palaver. Wouldn't work in this house because in summer we often have all the doors open, mainly for the dogs of course but also for us. Even in winter one patio door is always open in the daytime with a dogflap, a heavy duty curtain across the gap.

[Sparkle]

@manonthemoon2 I remember saying when he was a smaller kitty what big feet he had - has Sherlock grown into them or are they now becoming man size?

his feet are still huge with hairs inbetween his toes

are you sure this is going to grown into a cat

[exile]

Of the 2 Hugh mentions 'never been outside', how on earth do you go out and come in without them squeezing past?

Can't speak for Hugh but when we have to keep a cat indoors we use what we call the airlock system. Always two doors between the cat and freedom and at least one has to be kept shut.

So if the cat is shut in one area, before opening the door to that area, all escape routes from where you are to the outside world have to be shut off. You open the door and go in. If the cat escapes from the holding area, then they are still contained and you go around and collect them up and return to the holding area.

Goodness gracious Andy, what a palaver. Wouldn't work in this house because in summer we often have all the doors open, mainly for the dogs of course but also for us. Even in winter one patio door is always open in the daytime with a dogflap, a heavy duty curtain across the gap.

It's not as bad as it seems. If we do need to keep a cat in, it will be for very specific medical reasons (most common post op after sterilisation). We can therefore chose an isolation area that we don't need to go to frequently during the day - indeed probably only need to go to in order to check on the patient.

So most of the time doors can be left open. Windows can be left open if the shutters are closed or if fly screens are in place, which you probably want to do anyway in the summer.

[Sparkle]

@manonthemoon2 oh my now that I've got to see the photos - wow wow wow I'm in with Sherlock first, Sykes second

[Spardo]

We have a similar 'airlock' system now @exile, for the dogs. Our rear veranda and its ever open patio door nevertheless doesn't totally exclude cold air ingress and warm air loss and, because it has a doorless entrance to the kitchen, and therefore living room, I bought some curtains for there too. They needed to be exactly the right length, not too long which would allow the dogs to step on them and rip them down, or too short, defeating the object. So I found a seamtress (couturiere) in the village who charged just 18 euros to do the, excellent, job of shortening them.

[manonthemoon2]

Sykes, the red Norwegian has settled in well today. Sherlock is a bit put out having a new friend and he thinks he is the boss. They are both gorgeous.

[exile]

How are your boys dong MotM2?

I hope you don't mind me highjacking your thread with some snaps of our new arrivals. None as prestigious as your boys - more Heinz than pedigree.

Charlie 1.JPG

Charlie was brought to us in mid-August. She had been found in a neighbour's potager and was obviously ill with cat flu. We had a few torrid days when she would not eat and we had to syringe mashed up cat food in water into her mouth. We and the vet think she has been weaned too early - perhaps the mother died or perhaps someone just turfed her out at about 4 weeks. Eventually she was sitting beside a plate of food sniffing it and watching one of the others eating but not eating herself. So I grabbed her by the scruff, picked up a single bit of meat from the plate and stuffed it into her mouth. It went down well so I repeated. Then a third bit and suddenly she grasped the idea and started feeding directly from the plate.

Charlie 1.JPG

Around 5 weeks ago Charlie was seen playing with our other cats in the garden and when they came in for supper, she followed and has stayed ever since. She is much more timid than Charlie, who follows my OH round the house (surrogate mum). Sophie is very nervous of being toughed, stroked or picked up but if you do pick her up and stroke her she quickly relaxes and quietly purrs away.

Lightning 1.JPG

We are not sure exactly when Lightning arrived but he has been here at least 10 days. At first sight he is a dead ringer for one of our other cats - Thunder - hence his name, It was only when they both appeared at the same time to be fed that we realised that we had gained another mouth to feed.

Not sure why the pictures are not loading as I expected so sorry for the duplications.

[Sparkle]

aaaah bless you for taking them in. I'm sure they'll reward you with the odd gift as does ours

[Pathca]

@exile reminds me of the story of the guy whose cat went missing,a few days later he saw it in the neighbourhood and took it home ,all was fine ,until a few days later his cat turned up
To be fair looking at the picture you couldn’t have told them apart

[Quiksilver]

Beautiful cats, @exile And very lucky ones!