Since Covid Pandemic forced me to spend longer stretch of time at home, it 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 "Goonda" (An aggressive male feral cat with gray woolen like coat) and the other one a female cat as "Mila" (for her cool, nonchalant demeanor walk with swaying hips). She is a manipulative female cat and great survivor in the wild against all odds.
There is another cute male cat which is a frugal visitor. It has a dark hue with cute, white patches on its neck. Its feet are all white extending couple of inches upwards to his knees, as if he is wearing tiny white socks. So we call him "Mitten". The clean, healthy look of the cat tells us its a well fed house cat which strays into our backyard.
Both Goonda and Mitten are handsome males with majestic looks. They have symmetrical whiskers, large and piercing green eyes which glows in the darkness. In contrast our female feral cat is gray, thin furred, bit frail and plain looking. Only in the human species the females are known as the fairer sex. But it is a whole different animal in the world of non humans. A male lion, tiger, peacock or an elephant is much more handsome than its female counterpart. But one thing stands as the universal gospel - "Female of the species are more dangerous than male".
Mila visits our backyard 2 - 3 times a day and we feed her. Once in a while she brings in her kittens and breastfeeds them under our patio. She has great maternal instincts, always in look out for any harm on the way of her kittens. Occasionally I have seen her carrying them by teeth, hiding them behind foliage or in nearby storm drain to protect them from elements like extreme cold or heat and prying predators.
Sometimes Mila vanishes for a few days, making us think that it has gone back to its owner's fold (if any). But the cat reappears, pleasantly surprising us. We see the kitties a few times before they eventually disappear. Not sure where they go. Nothing lasts forever. We enjoy the bubbly kittens jumping around our backyard as long as the spectre lasts and until they vanish. But we are still optimistic they would be alive and hearty - after all cat has nine lives.
Mila is a quintessential female - FULEI (full attention seeking), temperamental to the core. One day she 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. One day she will get cuddly, rub herself around my legs, use the space between my feet like a tunnel to hover around my legs in circles. Other days she would barely recognize me.
On the other hand, both male cats come roaming into our backyard, looking for food and sex. Whatever the "Meow Mix" brand fish, chicken etc we sprawl at them, they gobble those up pretty fast. The male feline duo would occasionally snarl at each other, fighting for courtship over the solo female Mila during the mating season, otherwise they mostly exist in peaceful coexistence.
Earlier Mila seemed to prefer the connoisseur Goonda who used to chase away a tyro Mitten. Now Mila has switched her preference to a younger and stronger Mitten with tattooed body over Goonda who is getting older and seems to have slowed down in his middle age. The hue and looks of the kittens bear the signs of change in course. Earlier Mila's kittens used to resemble Goonda a lot, now they look more like Mitten.
Who said cats are mere animals ?
They are not much different from us humans. In fact unlike the homo sapiens species who are intelligent animals, they don't wear any cloak of hypocrisy. A cat can give birth to more than a dozen litters every year. Because of increasing pet population in America, the pet owners are encouraging to fix them. Cats breed 3-4 times a year and they get really busy during the breeding season.
Summer is real fun time. Each summer here has its share of fauna in addition to the usual flora in our backyard. There is so much to watch and observe, from birdwatching to feline fun and catfights. Now after seeing the degree of personal animosity, venom and vengeance among cats I know why fighting between two females is called a Catfight.
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