Kaboodle and Goodness

Kaboodle and Goodness are napping under the cherry tree.
It’s like cat Romeo and Juliet. So sweet and I feel a foreboding.
I know the outcome. I know what is next.

Tomorrow I try to trap Kaboodle and take her to the Feline Medical Center to be spayed. She is the third of the three feral kittens from last summer, the one who could not be caught. Tiger (Leo) was neutered and vaccinated and Kit (Cleo) was spayed and vaccinated. And Kaboodle (the Fox) stayed just out of reach.

From how far away can a tomcat smell a kitten in her first heat?

Or did the roaming of the toms induce her first heat?
Who smelled who?

Or is that whom?

When we returned from December holidays in WA, this enormous green eyed tom cat was living in our yard in NJ. He had the best manners and came and sat politely at our front door and back door, as if praying.

At first I thought he just wanted food as the blizzards were raging.

But then I began to think he was asking for Kaboodle’s paw in marriage.

I am not kidding.

He sat looking at me with his deep green pools of eyes and it was as if he wanted to convey to me that he was the prince from a neighboring land and he was strong and a gentleman and would take good care of Kaboodle and their kittens.

For two weeks this Goodness and a pure black cat, nearly his shadow twin in size, beat the life out of each other in the snow. It was like two primal bears fighting for territory. No one would give in. I thought they might kill each other. There was a third tom also. (He is striped and was here last February when I tried to drive him off but I think finally he drove off that previous year’s kitten whom we called Copycat, and then I think this year he fathered the kitten whom I call The Beezle.) But this year this slinky striped Tom was driven off by these two enormous males who yowled and fought all day and night.

Goodness would show up with ears beaten up and scratches on his face and a very stiff gait. His fur hung off in tufts. He lost about five pounds overnight and has not regained it. He wobbles a little and moves more slowly.

Now he mainly wants to nap in the garden with his prize.

So I was feeling so guilty I almost considered canceling the appointment. The problem is, we don’t want more kittens. And we want any kittens born to have good lives. And I don’t even know if I can catch Kaboodle, though I am going to give it my best shot. She is a very sweet thing and while she lives on the cusp of two worlds, I think she could find a home in the world of humans, just as I think Kit and Tiger can be domesticated and would prefer that.

This is not true of cats like the Beezle, who is right now in his youth as feral as a beast can be. This is not true of the Toms, and I am not sure it is true of Shaka the mother of all cats. My own Blue was a trick and challenge to domesticate and he is still an aloof and independent creature, though a loving kindred soul to my mate and I and a good brother to the dog.

So my idea is just to feed Goodness all that I can. To give him something, now that I feel I will be taking so much away.

I hate interfering.
But I do love the birds and rabbits and mice.