new fence

The neighbor's new fence is now in. Pierre wasted no time checking it out.

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to talk with my new neighbors about Oliver and his family. I warned them that Oliver can be a bit of a bully. I learned they have a heart for cat rescue, having rescued some 400 cats in their lifetime and they have worked with several different rescue groups. They didn't seem worried about Oliver or his family. I feel better knowing they're advocates for cats.

They have a few older indoor/outdoor rescued cats that will roam their fenced yard. They also have a few dogs that are used to cats. The previous neighbor had a few dogs who I don't think were overly friendly toward cats but Oliver's family knew to keep distance from them.

new view from dining room window

I learned today the neighbor plans to keep the old fence up, to keep the dogs more contained and out of the other section. Not sure which section the dogs will get, but I hope it's the backyard part closer to their house.

new view from living room window

It's gonna take some time to get used to the new view but I don't think our light will be as compromised as I first feared.

the Willow returns

Willow did great with her oral surgery!

The x-rays reviewed a second tooth on the other side that was also in need of help, so she lost two of her beautiful tooths! 

Since returning home, she has been exceptionally affectionate. She even woke me many times in the night needing loves, which of course she got!

no more!

Thanks everyone for your purrs, I'm always nervous about anesthesia, and especially with Willow because of her asthma. But the vet said all went perfectly. How could it be any different with purrfect little Willow?!

ouchy tooth

It's that time of year again, when all the cats head next door to the vet for their annual inspection and vaccines. Willow, Nahum, Theo and Rose got to partake of the adventure. Managing four cats in the exam room is a bit of a challenge, but the bulk discount makes it worth it - they charge one multi-cat exam fee for as many cats as we show up with.

Everyone checked out ok, even Theo's thyroid blood levels were good. Only one issue was found, Willow has an ouchy tooth. She has a cavity that needs attention. How could this be?

I'm guessing it's because she's so sweet and everyone knows sugar causes cavities.

Poor Willow, soon she'll be missing a tooth. I inquired about getting her a crown or implant, but the vet didn't seem keen on that idea. I'm thinking my Willow will still be perfect, even with one less tooth.

She's scheduled to go in Monday morning for the extraction. 

Purrs for my sweet little precious girl.

love

The world needs more love

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Thank you everyone for your ideas and words of reassurance about the fence situation. I'll be talking with the new neighbors about Oliver and The Family at the next opportunity. Once everything is settled with the new fence, I'll see what I can do about making some sort of interesting bird sanctuary. It will be a challenge to get much to grow there as that strip of land between house and fence will get next to no sunlight. This will be my chance to be creative.

change is coming

The older I get the less I like change but this poses a challenge, since change is inevitable.

This week I learned that some change is coming. We've owned our home for almost nine years now.  Most of the houses around us are rentals, which makes for interesting neighbors. The house adjacent to ours to the south is a rental. I learned earlier this week that there are new people moving in next door and they have big plans.

I sort of know the couple moving in, as they were living a few blocks away and I would occasionally say hi when walking by. They have two indoor/outdoor cats, both are mostly friendly. Having two outdoor cats living next door is not going to go over well with Oliver or his family. They consider the neighbor's yard to be their's too. I foresee a lot of fighting in Oliver's future which is making me very stressed.

The other big change is that they are building a new fence. The old one is in pretty sad shape, so it does need replacing.

Believe it or not, I didn't add the cat hole, the board just happen

 to break at the perfect height for cats to walk through!

I learned that the new fence they are installing will go along the property line, which is significantly different than the current fence. The old fence is along the property line in the back of the house but due to the ground contour, it gradually moves up into their property. The new fence is going to be built along the property line for the full length of the lot.

Here is what the current fence looks like (the red house is mine):

And this is where the new fence will go:

Our house, which was built in the early 1900's, is only five feet from the property line. Which means soon we'll have a six foot fence five feet from the house which will block a significant portion of light into the house. This makes me very unhappy. The fence will also block a lot of the indoor cats' view.

Sanborn map from 1902, my house is the one in the middle.

One potential positive of the fence is that the people are considering installing some sort of barrier along the top of the fence to keep their cats in their yard. I'm imagining it might be something like what Kea has on her backyard fence.

Today the old fence was partly taken down, giving Oliver and his family lots of new things to check out.

Pierre

Oliver

Pierre

Pierre

I'm of the belief that good fences make good neighbors. I'm just bummed at the location of the new fence and how it will impact Oliver's territory.

around the cattery

A few scenes from around the hobby cattery this week...

Oliver going furless

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day a little late.

Supervised lunch

Ready to ride!

Have an wicked awesome weekend!!

Award and TNR adventures

Looky what we got? We got another award!!

The Sunshine Picnic Award!! 

With all the rain we've been having, sunshine is coveted! Thanks to sweet Katie Isabella for gifting us with this award (for the second time!) I'll offer the award to anyone who hasn't received it yet, please take and enjoy!

And speaking of sunshine, I had the opportunity to escape the rain yesterday by traveling to another part of the state to teach a TNR class. It was too much fun, I loved it! After the class we toured a TNR site that takes the cake for being the most challenging site of all time. It's crazy! 

I just wrote up the experience with lots of pictures on my backyardTNR.com blog, so if you want to check it out you had better pop over there and take a look. Feral cats rule!