h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK first the back story! I was in an accident today, a minor one; I stopped at a stop street and the person behind me bumped into me. So I had to go to the police station to report it. That took me two trips and more than two hours. But afterwards I walked around the neighbourhood a bit, while talking on the phone with my sister, when I came across a family of kitties! They looked like ferals; the one was lying in a bed of flowers just inside the sidewalk, under a big-leaved Arum plant; then there were a couple of little ones, one on the sidewalk, another with perhaps the mother at the top of some stairs. The one lying in the shade of the plant was ginger and rather lion-like and long-haired with a good mane around the head and neck, and one of the kittens was the same colour with shorter hair, the other adult was tortoiseshell and I thought probably the mother, and the final kitten was grey stripey tabby-like. Anyways they behaved like ferals, the buildings surrounding were 'official' buildings so they probably weren't with anyone living in those, but they found themselves a comfy place to hang around, under some stairs with a nice shady flowerbed ...

... and in the shadiest corner, right under the stairway, was a HUGE pile of pigeon feathers! Our kitties seemed to have found the ticket to the royal life! Polokwane has a good population of pigeons, these being feral as well, offspring of racing pigeons that decided not to go home. These are mostly fat and lazy, so not very hard to pick off, and there are plenty of them. The kitties all seemed very healthy and were not as scrawny as the ferals living in the suburb, where there are only 'wild' pigeons, doves and other wild birds. The kitties as well seemed very relaxed, not at all as nervous and jittery as my local ferals. The ginger kitten lounged and rolled around on the pavement, and when I came closer moved a short distance off and rubbed itself against a metal fence, while the others were just lying and eyeing me lazily.

Well I was happy to see *someone* who was not having a bad day.

Wow I thought fender-benders here in NC were time wasters, glad you had some critters to look at. Poor pigeons they didn't know what hit them.
I'm glad nobody was hurt in the accident.

Same here.

Wow, what a story. Sounds like those kittens have lucked up for a food source.

what a lovely story! I was right there. I better not tell my cousin or she'll be on the next plane - she has a ginger kitten obsession...

GB, I really thought Willem was going to take them home with him

Willem, glad they had food though and a few pigeons won't go amiss as they breed prolifically.

Websailor

The feral cats and kittens I noticed while abroad were hard to ignore. Some wouldn't go near the tourists but there were others who seemed to enjoy attention

Try eating in an outdoor restaurant in Pythagoreo, on the island of Samos. The cats believe you should share.

Their routine:

Mornings: Gather on the docks to meet fishing boats. Meow for fish heads.

Afternoons: Nap.

Evenings: Troll the restaurants and meow at tourists to share their dinners.

Happy cats.

Can you catch and keep feral cats to keep pigeons off your balcony?

Absolutely.

Well, not catch. Try feeding them and letting them sleep on your balcony. They'll catch the pigeons on their own.

I rather think they would ignore the pigeons if you're going to feed them...

Fed cats may continue killing pigeons just for fun. They're masters at the 'cute' shtick, but that doesn't mean they're always nice (but my cat certainly is). Also ... good luck catching a feral cat!

In Greece, free-range cats adopt people. That's how we got our first one. As long as you let them do as they please, they're fine to live with you.

And both our cats were originally located in the 'wild' - one in the neighbourhood ivy, one in a car park.

Two cats adopted my family when I was about eight and we were still living in the countryside. One of them kept bringing us half dead mice as a gift and then played with them. That was a bit unsettling in the beginning... But then I guess cats are known to be somewhat on the strange side.