Where are you Ollie?

It has only been 48 hours but I'm really concerned about little Ollie.  She is a very small cat.  When I had her spayed she didn't quite weigh 5 lbs and I doubt she is much more than that now.  Her fluffiness makes her look bigger.

Since January when both Jag and Doodle crossed the rainbow bridge Spirit has been picking on Ollie more than ever.  Ollie runs back into her sleeping shelter at the mere sight of Spirit and often Spirit chases Ollie.  I've tried reorganizing the feeding shelters so Ollie doesn't see Spirit but it hasn't really worked well, unfortunately.  Ollie is constantly on guard and I do my best to keep Spirit out of Ollie's sight lines.

I'm wondering if Spirit has chased Ollie away and now this dear wee kitty is afraid to return.  Today I walked around calling Ollie and using my clicker but no luck.  This disappearance is very unusual behaviour.

Please come back little Ollie.  I miss you so much baby girl.

UPDATE  Ollie showed up this morning.  YAY!  She was very hungry.  Now I wonder if she was trapped somewhere in one of the buildings nearby.  I'm very happy she's back.

With Spring Comes......

.....babies.  Not kittens but baby raccoons.

About 4 or 5 weeks ago I noticed Ollie was no longer using the big sleeping shelter.  It didn't take me long to figure out a raccoon had probably moved in.  Thankfully I have more sleeping shelters than cats these days.  Ollie had moved into the shelter that Spirit used for years and Spirit moved into the renovated shelter I fixed for Doodle, so everyone has a warm spot to sleep.

I think the raccoon has had her babies because she is now coming out during daylight hours looking for food.  As much as I would love to feed her to help her out I think it's better if she forages for her own food.

Today when I returned to feed Spirit and Ollie their dinner the mom raccoon came out too.  I carry a spray bottle with water which is perfect for keeping the raccoon away while the kitties eat their fill.  Once the cats are done I remove all remaining food.

When the time comes for mom raccoon to wean her babies she will bring them all out and then trying to keep them away from the cat food will be a real challenge.

Spirit

I've just returned from releasing Spirit who spent four nights at the vet.  

Spirit and Ollie are the two remaining kitties in the East Side Gang.  Over the past number of weeks Spirit's food consumption was way down.  Ollie wasn't eating much either and I thought it was because of the cold weather.  However as the weather has improved Spirit still wasn't eating well and I began to think that he was suffering from a dental issue.

Tuesday I caught Spirit in my cat carrier by luring him in with some smelly tuna juice.  I dropped him off at the vet for an assessment.  Later that day the vet called to say that Spirit didn't have enough teeth left in his mouth for a problem.  The vet took blood and would call when the results came back.  When the results came in all the levels for kidney, liver and thyroid were normal.  Not bad for a 13 or 14 feral cat!!  The vet could not find anything wrong with Spirit.

When I called today to see if I could pick Spirit up I was told that he had been eating well and had also left a big hairball in his cage!  Hmmmmmm....could that have been the cause of the lack of appetite?  

Spirit was very quiet on the drive home and even stayed quiet in the carrier when we got to the colony location.  Usually when I release a cat they shoot out of the carrier running off to hide.  Spirit saundered out and started talking non stop announcing his return.  He ate some food, did a little grooming then ate more food.  He's a happy cat to be home.

http://youtu.be/aTo_dZmRj_4