Feral Cat Fridays: Camo Keeps His (Or Her) Secret
Back in the early days of our cat-wrangling Mama wasn’t Mama. She was just a gray tabby that wandered into the yard, drew our sympathy, and stayed. She became Mama when Camo and the 2 Georges were born. Not coincidentally, she became Mama at the same time we began to think we might need to do more than watch the feral cats that arrived on our property, but that’s another story.
As you can see from the photos, Camo was an attractive light-brown tabby. We were never certain if Camo was male or female because he (or she) came along early in our experience with the colony and was never successfully trapped during our TNR (trap, neuter, release) program. It wasn’t unusual for us to get a gender surprise when we picked a neutered or spayed cat back up from the clinic, but Camo never gave us the chance to be surprised. We always said “he” when discussing Camo. If she was insulted, she never let us know.
Camo kept his distance from us but he was very social with new additions to the colony. He often hung out with the golfers, the litter born to Mama after Camo and the Georges. Anyone who hung out with the golfers also hung out with Shadow, because Shadow arrived alone and quickly sought out the golfers for company. This post’s featured image on the home page captures Camo’s personality as it shows Chi-Chi reaching for an undisturbed and patient Camo’s tail.
But Camo did more than just hang out with the youngsters. He was the first member of the colony we saw fulfilling an obvious baby-sitter role. When he wasn’t letting a kitten play with his tail he would nap in the shade and idly watch over the colony children. If they wanted to stop by and say hello as he took a break at his water tub spa it was fine with Camo.
I’ve looked and looked at that last photo and can’t quite figure it out. Is Camo resting on some kind of perch inside the tub? I see a front and rear paw, so he’s clearly not standing. If he was, he’d be the most strangely shaped cat in the world.
That photo of the golfers is adorable. Kittens are cute, anyway, but those are exceptionally so.
I haven’t gotten any farther than one line in the chorus, but there’s real potential for a parody called “My Kitty Looks Good in Camouflage.
I used that photo because I was entertained by the way Camo seemed to be sitting on the water. He’s actually sitting on a cinder block in the tub. We always put a big rock or cinder block in water tubs so small animals have something to climb out on if they happen to fall in. Some of the cats, and Camo in particular, liked to sit on the blocks and cool their feet and tummies on hot days. The water typically covered the blocks by a quarter inch or so and it made a perfect cooling station.
I like the Kitty in Camouflage idea. I suppose we could take it on a world tour of animal shelters, but we might not sell many tickets to the shows unless you’re a lot better singer than I am.