Stacking firewood in holz hauzens provides another plus: it is a terrific place for wildlife to live in over the winter. Taking them apart we normally find one- gazillion nests (rodent nests I think, mice, maybe squirrels and hey, maybe even a rat or two) along with snake skins. Everything has to live someplace and as long as there is no significant damage done to my property and my wife and I are not bitten / stung by anything, I am happy to provide a shelter for some of our furry brethren. But a funny thing happened over this weekend: my next door neighbor was racing around her yard apparently hunting for something. Andrea (my wife) got sucked in and was also looking and then I got the call of duty to help also: we were all fervently looking for THOSE KITTENS that the nieghbor spotted some time before.... Eventually, I spotted one on my side of the fence, inside a bush and when I tried to get to it, it turned and left (of course). Ended up in the neighbor's yard and she grabbed it.... looks like a female, maybe 4 weeks old. Long story shortened, it now apparently lives at the neighbor's house. But in the flurry of activity, the kittens were scattered and we did not know if 1) momma cat could find them all and 2) if they were all together or not. This morning I took a look from an upstairs window and saw this: my holz hauzens at the neighbor's property line (the shed is my neighbors, the one with the new kitten ). Yep, just plain ole' holz hauzens with a little building debris in front of them: But if you wait a minute or two and look closer: You might see something that is not wood and is not normally found in a woodpile. Look close 'cause it is a stealthy little fella'..... Right in the center of the photo. This one is zoomed in more: Now that looks like a kitten that is crawling out of the hauzen! Hang around for another minute and: And..... And.... Bingo! There they are! All three kittens, living in one of my holz hauzens, safe and secure and looking fine. Sunning themselves and playing with each other. I have not seen mom but I am sure she is around and nursing those little fellows. By the way, we are NOT telling the neighbors so the kittens can be left alone and maybe survive. I do not want to scatter them again. Brian
My neighbor brought that one kitten to the local vet to 'drop off' and was actually surprised when the vet refused it. So she went to another vet and again was turned away with the same reason: we do not do that, we treat animals, not shelter strays. She has food and water outside 24/7 for them and that is what is attracting them to this area, along with the skunks opossums, etc. Feeding the strays just grows a bigger pile of strays IMO. Brian
I have no concern with feral cats around here either. They keep the critter population in check. There's at least three of them around. Every once in a while I will see one at the glass door in our living room, peering inside. I don't want them to stick around so I won't feed them, but I won't discourage them either.
Do you load them east / west or north / south? Now I have a mental image of a man wearing a long gauntlet set of wood stove gloves, a cat, and a woodstove with an open door. And of course the cat somehow seems to grow an additional 100 paws and has the power of a small nuclear reactor. A gazillion years ago my mother had a white cat that somehow got into a pile of grease or grease and oil and was a mess. So Mom decided to give it a bath in the kitchen sink. That did not go well or end well for anyone but because both of them (Mom and the cat) were quite determined, the cat did end up a lot cleaner. The kitchen mopped up OK and after a fashion, Mom clotted OK so it ended well, or at least as close to well as one could expect. My son has a small, female cat who LOVES moving water and will cry and paw at the bathroom door if anyone goes in there and takes a shower, runs the sink faucet or anything else. She gets into the shower, sits on the lip of the tub and paws at the streams of water all the time the shower is running. Really something amazing to see. And BTW, she will NOT drink water from a bowl or anything similar; she only drinks water from a faucet. My son claims she thinks water is no good for anything unless it is moving.... Brian
The shelter I used to volunteer at they have a sink in the cat room. The faucet runs on low 24/7 most of the cats drink right from the faucet
They should be caught dewormed and found homes. The momma cat should be caught, fixed and if it is truly feral returned to live its short life as it is accustomed. They are feral because the were cruelly abandoned.
They have catch and release programs, for feral cats, you catch them get them fixed and put them back where you got them. Catch them in a live trap or whatever
