DeltaBluez Stockdogs: Cleo, the Queen Cat

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Cleo, the Queen Cat

Cleopatra was a black about 8-9 months feral cat that came from the Feral Cat Program The program takes feral cats and provides them with medical treatments, spaying, neutering and takes them up to barns who are in dire needs of barn cats. Ruth was my cat contact person and she brought Maxwell and Cleo. These feral cats can only live in the barn and are not suited for the house.

After they arrived, we gave them the new names, Maxwell was a LARGE gray and white older tame male cat that was not afraid of anything. If the sheep would approach Maxwell, he would bully them and scare the sheep. If you were trying to pen the sheep, he would wander and flush them out, a real regular pest....he got dubbed "Genuine Pest" As his pesky adventures would happened, we would sigh and say it was the "Genuine Pest". Maxwell loved people and where ever people went, he was there. He also loved the dogs and often curl up next to them or share their meals. No one messed with him. We figured he must have put into the program for being too obnoxious.

Maxwell was named after a Beatles song....what was the title.....who sang it and what year?

You would try to do herding and Max would be in the center of the flock, or chasing the dogs or trying to climb up your leg. His favorite person was Monique in the round pen. He loved to try to climb up her legs for a better view of the sheep herding. However, Monique did not share that choice of view with Max! Might have to do with his claws digging into her legs!

Cleo was reserved at first but you could tell she wanted to be a friend.She wasn't handled but wanted to be but was always just out of arms reach. But each week we would get closer and closer. I let her pick the day she wanted to be petted and in my lap.

At the same time, Vicki Romero brought three just weaned kitten she has rescued on the roads of Tacoma. Ringo, a fluffy Siamese, was quickly snapped up by my mom and his fate was sealed. He lives in a condo in Ballard with Tama who was a former another barn cat she also snagged from me. They have the best life, their own room and my mom to spoil them all day long! Sara and Simon are the two kittens left...I just did a post on Sara and in a week or so, will do one on Simon. He is the feral kitten still.

Mom saw Ringo and said "That's no barn cat" and snagged him and took him up to the house. This was shortly after she lost of her other cat, MiKa due to old age. Tama was a barn kitten her until my mom grabbed her and said, I'll just keep her for a week or so and it has been ten years. So when my mom takes a fancy to any one of my cats, she gets free rein. Ringo hit the mother lode on this trip.

Cleo is the Queen. She is small and very fluffy and has the yellow eyes that can see right through you. And she will let you if she is mad by the intensity of her eye color.

Cleo is the smallest of the cats but the kittens follow her around and mimic what she does. She has taught them to hunt, to come when called for food, to sit in our lap in the barn, to purr in your laps and most of all, bring rats and put then in or near the chair in appreciation.

Cleo knows her name. She won't come running but will amble about. She likes to help Kodi, the Great Pry eat his dinner. She just helps herself to his meal and he lets her. He is a wise old Great Pry and knows when and what to pick your battles....example a cougar or a black bear will get his hackles up and in a rage and then barking, racing out of the barn to defend his sheep. The battle of his food with Cleo is that he eats from one end and she eats at the other end. He knows better!

Cleo will often wander into the dog kennels when the dogs are playing about. She checks out everything, drinks their water and sometimes sleep in their bed. If the dog goes back into the kennel that Cleo is in, the dog will back out rather quickly, as Cleo greets then with one paw in full Battle position. After she is done exploring, the kennel can belong to the dog again.