Home on the Range

John Liz Dodson of Boise, Idaho, wrote:

"Homer was about 18 years old when he died. He was in fact a stray. We had just lost our sweet cat Phoebe to diabetes. We were heart broken. On July 4th, after fun with friends, we were laying in bed and heard this loud, but young, meow. It went on and on and Liz finally got out of bed and went out to find this tiny little kitten in the middle of the street. She scooped him up, fed him, and then put him outside in the backyard hoping he would go back home. The next morning when we got up we opened the back door, no kitty. Good, we were both still pretty traumatized by the death of Phoebe. But as Liz went to close the door the sweet little kitty crawled out from the shelf of the BBQ. At that moment we knew he was home and so did he."

"Our neighbor who had goats, pigs, dogs and chickens told us that Homer guarded all his animals. He would stroll through his yard like he owned it! First time we ever had a male cat. He was so smart and sweet. When I would be out digging in the garden, Homer always insisted on getting in the hole to help!"

"One thing that stands out was he was a hunter and when he caught a mouse he would bring it home, but he would eat the whole thing except for the liver. Somehow he ate around the liver. So we would find these little mouse livers around the garage and patio. And, Homer loved our friend Mary Ann Newcomer's dog, Lily. Homer followed Lily around our yard and would rub his head on Lily like cats do when you are filling the bowl of food! It was amazing"

Mixing It Up!

Deborah Hardwick in Powell, Ohio, shared this handsome kitty.

 

"Here's Mixer ( the cat thrown from a car who ended up on our property)... He's a big cat with a big personality ... He has been here 5 months now, he was 12 weeks old then, per the vet , so he is 8 months old now. Is he full grown now or perhaps will he grow more."

"As you see in this photo, he is very agile with the paws ... And plants ..."

Always with you in the garden

and here he is almost all grown up now

Cats in their Gardens

 

I probably should not have been surprised when a gardening pal (also a cat lover), Pat Howell, mentioned one of her favorite books has a title very similar to that of this blog. HOw had I never heard of it before? My fingers flew to google and I found a used copy and ordered it immediately.

It arrived this week, post-blizzard, and has been welcome reading between shoveling sessions. "Cats in their Gardens" by Page Dickey was published in 2002 and is a slim book, but chock-full of great photos of kitties and gardens. It seems this was a sequel to her book, "Dogs in their Gardens" and she notes on the book flap that, "cats rather than dogs are the preferred companions" for many notable gardeners. Included in the book are the cats of Martha Stewart and Penelope Hobhouse, among many other garden luminaries.

The author points out that cats, unlike many dogs, are ideal for bringing out the sensual pleasures of the garden -- cats show us gardeners how to slow down and soak up the atmosphere, scents, and scenery of out gardens.

I highly recommend grabbing a copy for yourself if you see it in a used book store or available for order online. It is also an ideal gift for the garden-cat lovers in your life.

Here Comes Trouble

Gin Kilgore of Chicago, IL, wrote, "We adopted a feral cat last spring as a last ditch effort to keep rats out of our yard. Total success and I love him so much, even though he won't let me get hear him and hisses at me when I bring him food. He's holding out fine in the cat cave beneath our stairs in this frigid Chicago weather. His name is Trouble, He came with the name and it is apt."

Mommie Dearest

James Dronenburg of Knoxville, MD, wrote:

"This is Mama.  She and two of her kittens showed up on a friend�s porch and she fed them..   Then she needed them to go elsewhere, because she was leaving for an extended trip.   So we took them.  We found a home for one kitten but �Mama� and her son �Rubik� stayed with us.  Both are shirt front tabbies, Mama�s more a spotted tabby and Rubik has the stripes.   Mama is fixed, a good mouser (and she shares her mice with us at the kitchen door), both are outside cats and would really, really appreciate a good indoor home."

Photos are by Carol Allen.

Cactus Cats

This photo of a kitty in a spine-filled landscape was shared by Travis on Flickr. He writes, "Cats seemed to be everywhere in this outer plaza. There was a subtle hint of cat smell and food and water dishes were hidden in at least two places around the plaza (in Centro, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico). There seemed to be two cat factions -- the north and the south. They didn't mix well."

"This is the north side where this one cat was sleeping in the cactus enjoying his afternoon siesta. It was amazing how these cats could walk in and around the cactus seemingly without getting hurt. There was no cactus on the south side of the plaza, these cats were able to hide a bit better. I probably counted at least two dozen cats in this area."

After seeing Travis' photo, I googled for cats and cactus, I found that this page collects lots of photos from all around the Web of cats caressing, sleeping on, and nibbling on cactus.

Why do cats find cactus irresistible? Is it the rough texture? The sense of danger? Or just plain fool-hardy bravado? Whatever makes cats and cactus engage with each other, they sure do look pretty together.

Top Posts of 2015 on the Cats in Gardens Blog

Looking back at 2015, we had four posts that performed heads and whiskers above the others. Here they are in reverse order:

3. Welcome to my Catio
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/07/welcome-to-my-catio.html
The new trend for indoor-outdoor cat spaces was an attention-getter and not surprisingly, this post went viral.

2. Cat Grasses and Other Kitty Treats: You Can Grow That!
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/08/cat-grasses-and-other-kitty-treats-you.html
This guest post by Claire Splan was a stand-out as it appealed to home gardeners and cat lovers alike. No need to pay lots of $s at chain stores to buy tiny pots of cat grass. Indeed, you can grow that!

1. Thirsty Cat       
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/08/thirsty-cat.html
Perhaps it was the hot August timing or maybe people just love orange tigers, but this blog post of a cat drinking from his neighbor's water garden was a winner and our most viewed photo of the year.

And on bonus:

A Gentle Giant
http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-gentle-giant.html
This post missed our top three ranking by just one measly visitor, so we thought it deserved mentioning along with the others. It features Daryl Pulis' sweet cat, Alex, who is full of personality.

What were your favorite Cats in Gardens posts of 2015?