New additions to the cast of characters...

Well, two more lovely girl-cats will be joining Redford and Missy in the barn this Friday. Meet Mootie and Pip!

Mootie

Pip

Yesterday I got a message from my lovely friend Deb over at Just Cats. A client of hers has to move from her home for health reasons, and give up her two cats. Mootie is about 7, Pip about 1-1/2. Poor Mootie languished at the shelter for five months before being adopted by her lovely current owner. Pip showed up of her own accord.

But now their owner must move in with friends, and she cannot take the cats. Deb agreed to help her find them a home, and yesterday she asked if we would consider taking these two on as barn cats, as they currently spend most of their time outside anyway, and are magnificent mousers.

Gordon and I read Deb's message, took one look at each other, and agreed they should become part of our kitty family.

When Mootie was at the shelter, they thought she was 12 years old due to the state of her gums and teeth. After she was adopted, she ended up having ALL of her teeth pulled! And they realized she was quite a bit younger than initially thought.

Not surprisingly, she became much happier and more playful once she wasn't dealing with a terrible gum infection!

You can read Deb's posts about them here and here.

We are really happy that we are able to take in these two, and I hope they will enjoy life in the barn. We are working on setting up warm places in the barn for winter, with heaters and heated mats and whatever else we can put together to make it toasty. We are also planning on putting a cat door into our garage, which is heated to 50F all winter. 

I continue to feel conflicted about having two classes of cat here (barn cats and the indoor crew) but among other things, we desperately need continued rodent control in the barn. And six cats indoors is about all I can handle. We've achieved a delicate balance with those six and I'd like to keep them happy!

That said, Missy and Redford seem to be enjoying life out there and we make a point of giving them love and attention (and two square meals!) every day. I told Gordon we'll need to make a "cuddle chart "to make sure all 10 cats get some love each day. :) Not to mention the dog and pigs and whoever else is around!

Hmmm... I guess I should add Gordon to the "cuddle chart'!

Speaking of cuddles, Louise has been getting her turn as I type this.

Pictures of the new additions to follow after they arrive on Friday!

PS A little word of thanks to my hubby Gordon, who helps make these things happen. Love you, sweetie!