Stray Cats in Aiken South Carolina
The above lady cat is Lucy. She was the first stray that I took in after I moved to SC. She was covered with ice when I first saw her outside my door during the ice storm that we had in 2005. Her fur looked as if it had been wet and than began to freeze. She was crying for help but she was also wild and afraid of me. She is now one of my best friends. I brought her to the vet to get her fixed and get her shots. The vet informed me that she was in a family way. I decided that I would let her have her family and then get them all fixed and immunized. She had SEVEN KITTENS. This was a sign to me that I was to become a caretaker of cats. Lucy lives in my house on the top shelf in the kitchen over the fridge.
This handsome boy is one of Lucy's big boys, the Bandit. He got to be very wild. He provides most of his own food except during the winter. He does come around to be brushed once in a while. I offer him cat food but he will not eat it. During the winter he does eat cat food but, just the crunchies he will not eat soft cat-food. He lives someplace in the forest and comes to visit. The photo was taken using a telephoto lens.
This is also one of Lucy's big boys. The biggest boy, Mr Bumpkin. About 28 pounds of cat. He does not want to be a wild cat, He is afraid he might miss supper. He is also learning to catch fish out of my pond. He still eats out a lot during the summer, but comes home to eat again at home. He just likes to EAT. The Bandit above is his brother. He loves it when Bandit comes home to see him. Mr Bumpkin lives in the barn but comes in the house to eat.
This is one of Lucy's girls, the Sparkle cat. Sister of Mr. Bumpkin and Bandit. You will note the injury on the side of her face. This was a snake bite from a very large black snake. There was two holes above her eye and two holes in her lower jaw. She bit and clawed and got away from it. then she got hold of it and ate its head. she then proceeded to eat the rest of the snake from the top down. When I arived (was called by a nieghbor) found there was maybe 3 feet left out of what was likly a 5 foot snake. She ate it all, it took her 2 days to finish. This is the most wild of all of the cats that we still see from time to time. We see her about once per week. We hear about her from our neighbors that see her prowling there wood piles looking for snakes to kill and eat. She was a very strange cat from the very first. She got named sparkle because she liked to roll in the sand pile next to the barn. It was full of mica. The sand would fall off but the mica would stay in her fur for days. She is very much a loner. She does not mix well with people or other animals. There is only myself and my neighbor Joanne that can get near this cat.
This is Breeze my attack cat. I must be very careful not to make any gestures toward any outher cats that might be thought by him to be aggressive. If I do he will attack the cat in question. Then I will be required to chase him to stop him. I know he only does this because he thinks its his duty to help me. But we must be very careful around Breeze the attack cat. Note he will not attack Bumpkin or Bandit under any circumstances because they are brothers and will both go after him. They never hurt him they just scare him because it is so unuasual to have two cats at the same time chase you. He then tries very hard to become a brother to Bandit and Bumpkin. It seems all the cats try to do that. It is a good thing that they are so easy going. Breeze sleeps beside my bed on the table. He watches over me all night long. If anything is out of the ordinary he will wake me. He wakes me when any of the wild animals or if a person comes.
This is one of the cats that is cared for by Tamara M. This is Nymphadorra. She was born in April 2009 along with her brother Phoenix. Phoenix was a sickly kitten from the beginning. Their mother was a stray fed by a woman that could not afford nor take care of a sick kitten. So Tamara took Both Phoenix and Nymphadorra in. Tamara bottle fed loved and cared for both of them but unfortunately Phoenix could not survive his illness. Poor Nymphadorra took the loss of her brother hard and started not feeling well either but Tamara would not give up. Nymphadorra slept on Tamara's chest every night and ended up being a sweet, lovable, loyal, and very healthy cat. She was the best cat anyone could have ever had. She would wait for Tamara to come home when she went out and be the first cat to greet her when she got out of the car. She got more independent as she got older but still loved to give Tamara kisses putting her nose right up to Tamara's lips and trying to make a purring nose. That was one thing about Nymphadorra ... She did not have a meow and her purr sounded more like an engine that couldnt quiet get started.