Woolful and Coolful

 Pandemic stay at home for nearly six months has opened up a new relationship - interaction with cats in our backyard. We love them a lot, especially my wife who leaves no stone unturned in caring and feeding them, having named one as "Woolful" (due to its woolen like coat)and the other one "Coolful" (for its cool, nonchalant nature).

Woolful is dark gray with furry overcoat. Looks like a house cat which is neutered, as a bit of the upper portion of its left ear is chopped off (in US they cut a little piece of the left ear of kitties to indicate that they are neutered. A cat can give birth to a dozen litter every year. Because of increasing pet population in America, the pet owners are encouraging to fix them). Woolful has dark, piercing green eyes which glows in darkness. Sometimes it vanishes for a few days, making us think that it has gone back to its owner's fold. But the cat reappears, pleasantly surprising us. We aren't sure if it is male or female. 

But we are sure the other cat Coolful is female. One day she brought along her kittens hidden behind the foliage, lifting them one after another with her teeth. We saw those couple of kitties a few times before they stopped coming. Not sure where they have gone. Nothing lasts forever. We enjoyed the bubbly kittens jumping around as long as the spectre lasted. But we are optimistic they will come back - after all cat has nine lives.

Woolful seems to be a semi wild kitty. One day it will finish up the Salmon and Shrimp cat food we give it in minutes. Other day it will hardly touch it, sniff it and barely eat any. We think it is being fed by somebody somewhere else. On the other hand, Coolful is perennially hungry. Whatever the "Meow Mix" brand we give her, she finishes it pretty fast. She is a purely wild and we feed her more keeping the kittens in mind. The feline duo occasionally snarl at each other, but mostly exist with peaceful coexistence. When we serve them food, we make sure that they are at least 10 feet apart.

Summer is fun time, but this summer has its share of fauna in addition to the usual flora in our backyard. A unique pandemic summer it is. COVID-19 home stay has no doubt its share of benefits in disguise. Don't think I could have so much feline fun if Coronavirus didn't force me to stay home for long.