Feral Cat Fridays: Comet Watching
The coverage MiniMo has been getting reminded me of her littermate, Comet. Comet, MiniMo, and Silver Streak were Mosby’s children, and all were unusually social for feral cats.
Most of the colony mothers kept their children at a distance, often totally out of sight in the woods, for at least the first several weeks of life. But Mosby delivered her litter on the deck. The kittens were near the house from birth onward. I suspect that is part of why they were so comfortable around us.
They were also very friendly with the other colony cats, as you can see from the photo of Comet and Mud Pie in the featured photo for this post on the home page. Any cat that could get along with Mud Pie was a candidate for sainthood.
Comet was interested in any and all jobs on my schedule. He would help me with yard and garden work by sticking close and following me wherever I went. He would inspect my tools, trimmings from trees and bushes, and examine my workspace for hidden dangers.
Comet went into high gear if the job included digging. The highlight of Comet’s construction career came when the buried power cable to our well house failed. Burying the new cable required a trench of 75 feet. Our Texas Hill Country soil is rocks glued together with clay, so I dug the trench over several days in a series of hard hour-long sessions. Comet was with me all the way. While the other cats in the colony quickly determined I was just digging a trench and went about their business, Comet had a job to do. He sat in and beside the trench as I dug and examined my work at the end of each day, carefully walking the length of the trench and sniffing for flaws.
That photo of Comet in the flower pot is a gem. I didn’t realize cats’ eyes change color. In the flower pot view, Comet’s eyes look like the old cats’ eyes marbles that we used to play with. The old ones had that kind of color–not just blue or green, but a mixture.
I’m glad to have met Comet. I remember you mentioning him when I posted about Comet Lulin, and the little stray kitty that shared it with me.
It’s always good to have a supervisor on the job. I suspect Comet was more attentive than some of the supervisors I’ve known.
We didn’t realize kittens’ eyes changed colors either until we noticed it in several of the colony members. We looked it up and it turns out that kittens are born with blue eyes. The color changes to their adult color, usually in the first 6 months or so so life. That’s assuming they aren’t a blue-eyed cat, of course.
I remember those cats’ eye marbles, too. Back when we were moving regularly and buying or renting new houses I always felt like we were home when I dug up a marble in a flower bed. I imagine that’s not as common a find these days.
Comet was an excellent supervisor and good company while I toiled away. His only flaw was getting too close to the work. I nearly dumped a shovelful of dirt on him more than once.