Cedar Key is known for it's farm-raised clams, gorgeous scenery surrounded by water, vibrant sunsets and.......stray cats.  However, many of the cats on this island might be "stray" but they're not forgotten.  We have an excellent Trap, Neuter, Release Program in place thanks to Doreen and Oliver at the Faraway Inn......they started it a few years ago with donations from residents and the help of a vet in Ocala and to date, I've really lost count, but I think about 400 cats have been spayed/neutered.  Once they're trapped in a cage, they get their little surgery, have a recovery time and then are released back to whichever area on the island they were picked up.  And....we can tell for sure which cats have been done and which haven't, because they get their ear notched.

So then what, you ask?  Who feeds them, looks after them, etc?  We do.  Yup.  Many, many residents here on the island have taken it upon themselves to do just that.  A cat wanders into your yard, driveway or whatever, looks hungry, and all you have to do is put out some food once.  They'll be back.  Trust me.  And it's not just residents that do this.  Many of the merchants downtown feed the cats and look out for them.

So last fall two showed up in my driveway.....I named them Black & White Kitty and Tiger. (I know, not very creative, huh?)  They wouldn't come near me or let me pat them, but it was obvious they'd sure take some food from me.  So I put out two bowls of dry mix for them.........and the rest is history.  During the extremely cold winter we just had we also put out a large dog crate, complete with pillows inside for them to sleep in.  And we situated it beneath the tarp on our boat trailer.  So no rain could get at it and it really did block a lot of the wind we had.  B&K and Tiger slept there every single night.

I was out there feeding them the other morning and got some photos...........Black & White Kitty and Tiger are a pair.  By that I mean they are ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS together.  They eat together.  They groom each other.  They sleep near each other........

B&K is drinking the nice cold water I'd just put down and Tiger (he's pretty dark in color) is still chowing down.  

Black and White Kitty JUST recently started allowing me to touch his nose.  Prior to last week, even though they've been here since probably last Oct. or so, he would never come close enough to let me do this.  And Tiger.............I'm afraid he still doesn't trust me enough to come quite that close.

Then we have Fluffy.........she showed up here last fall also with Sarah (below)  These two seem to be a two-some, as they're always together.  And these two would love it if I'd stay in my driveway all day simply patting them.  They just canNOT get enough attention and pats.  They're extremely friendly.

And then..............we have the fifth one.......I named him (her?) Ginger Kitty.  What a pathetic little waif!  She showed up last December during one of our nasty cold spells.  I found him sleeping in my garage one morning (must have gotten stuck in there overnight when I closed the garage door) sleeping on a rolled up carpet under some shelves.  It didn't take me very long before I realized that she's deaf.  And if you look closely, you'll see that left ear is deformed.....it's kind of inverted.  The other ear has been notched, so he/she was also spayed/neutered.  There was just something about this little guy that really endeared me to him and so.........of course I began feeding him.

He was pretty scared of me and wouldn't even think of letting me pat him.........but, he continued to sleep in my garage every single night, nice and warm and snuggly.  He ate twice a day.  But before long I began to see he had a problem with the dry mix.  I've since found out (from my neighbor) that he has no teeth and he's pretty old.  So, shhhhhhh!  Don't tell the other kitties, but Ginger Kitty gets a half can of wet food twice a day.......much easier for him to eat and digest and he loves it, as you can see above.  And now after a few months, he lets me pat him all the time.  He's still skittish with strangers, but hey..........the poor little guy can't hear at all, so he has to be on his guard.

Every now and again another stray will show up for a meal but these five.....they're our regulars.  They never wander very far from my driveway, they all get along extremely well and by the looks of it in the photo below of Black & White Kitty..........I think they're all pretty happy to have found their way to our house.  I know I'm sure happy they did.  They make me smile and I've grown extremely attached to them.  Ray and I both enjoy them a lot and we're more than willing to give them homesteading privileges...............

See you here next time..............