I am a cat person. I have lived with cats nearly my whole life until I married and spent the first 3 or 4 years of my married life trying to be a dog person. I do love our dogs, but I am not a dog person. You know those online quizzes that ask what kind of animal you would be, well I would be a cat, hands down, no questions. If cat is not an option then I have to think about it a bit more.
I am also an introvert and cats are the ultimate introvert. When Proeun and I were first dating he said that one of the things he loved about me is that I didn’t “need” him, I “wanted” him. Anyone who has had a cat know they don’t need us. But when they want us it feels pretty good.
In this post I write about how cats joined our family again. That was about 6 years ago. Then when we moved to our farm 5 cats came with the property, these were outdoor cats, and unfortunately a year later there was only one left. 2 died, one hit by a car and one just died, one got chased away and one just left and never came back.
In the fall we were starting to see more rodents around, getting ready for winter and we only had one outdoor cat. I was beginning to see how useful they were in addition to fun. So 2 kittens joined our farm from a neighboring farm.
This spring though we have 4 very different additions. We were contacted by a feral cat rescue in St. Paul, they were looking to rehome some cats that were not particularly social and thought a farm might be a good fit. I thought so also so for 4 weeks ago tomorrow 4 cats joined our family. They are not sure what to think about us yet and rehoming adult cats can be tricky. But these four have been doing quite well.
These 2, a male and a female came from a home with a lot of cats. The owner died and they needed a new home, Julie and Leo.
This little guy was living in a culvert outside a McDonald’s on the Eastside of St. Paul. Somewhere along the way he lost a paw. But he is adjusting just fine to life on the farm. Lord Byron is his name.
This guy lived in a shelter and needed a new home, desperately. Now he is part of the farm family. Salmon is his name.
The children were a little disappointed they don’t like to cuddle but we have our indoor cats for that. I am just happy that they seem to be settling in and enjoying a little freedom. For the first couple of weeks they lived in carriers from the rescue. Now they are roaming the workroom getting more used to us and the freedom. Next week they will be released into our pole building.
I have to admit it has been very rewarding bringing them here. This is one of the things that I wanted to do when we had more space, provide a home for animals in need of one. So welcome to our farm.
If you are interested in adopting pets, check out Pet Project Rescue.