Naming Cats

Once I was in and settled, the cats and I began to get into a routine. Walking through the neighborhood in the past I had noticed a family group of black and tan and grey and tan cats. Every Spring they had babies that looked just like them. They were usually around Mrs. D's house because she fed them. I learned the grey and tans were called diluted Calico. They were small, fine boned cats with sweet faces. They were very timid. The black and tans were a little larger, but still long and sleek.

I find that when you need to name a cat, if you just be still and meditate on it a bit a name will present itself. I began to call the grey one Sophia. Then I began to call the black and tan Clara. Clara's face was equally divided right down the middle; half black and half tan.

I continued to watch the kittens play. I tried to lure them with treats. As the weeks went by, the ones who came regularly dwindled.

Part of the charm of where my little house is , is that there is a large semi-wooded area out back. When they laid out this colonial town, some of the streets were far enough apart to afford very long back yards and treed areas. This is prime feral cat territory. Some of the ferals live their lives back there and don't venture out. Some kittens get taken in by people on any of the surrounding streets. Some get killed off by preditors or weather or cars. Such is life in the feral community.

I love cats but I know enough is enough. So I contacted the local feral cat group . I went a meeting of the locals crazy cat folk. They agreed to come help work on my colony and I was dubbed a Colony Mom. The premise is trap , neuter, release. The idea being if they stop producing kittens every year they colony will eventually shrink. Humane traps are used.

I learned that if you get kittens early enough, you can tame them and get them homes. This is usually before ten to twelve weeks. After that not so much. My kitten group had boiled down to a grey, a black and two handsome orange ones; one lighter than the other. Jessica wanted the lighter orange with the nice bulls eye marking. He became Clamcake because we would give him pieces of left over clam cakes from Fish and chip night. The other I called Ginger- very basic. The All black became Onyx and the grey didn't hang long enough to really get a name.

I found out a funny thing. In the neighborhood Clara had had several other names. One family called her Mary because she had had so many babies. ??? Catholic.

I began to have a relationship with Clara. Sophia came to eat less and less and started looking frail. Clara was stronger and more sturdy. She wouldn't come to me but came routinely to eat and she'd stay around the dooryard with the kittens. Late in the summer it became evident she was pregnant...again.