Tonks Tuesday with a Hissy Friend

My neighborhood currently has a number of stray and feral kitties roaming about. Most of them don't allow me near them, but I put food out for them multiple times a day. Do you see the little friend through the window behind Tonks in this photo?

That skittish little kitty just recently started showing up, and he always eats at least one entire can of food when he visits. Tonks is a little sad, though, because that there kitty always hisses at her through the window. Even when she rolls her belly up and flirts with him. Don't worry, Tonks, because that little kitty is not fond of me either, even when I'm putting food out for him. But that's okay, because we can be his friends from a distance.

When Tonks was a kitten, she would be quite sassy to kitties who showed up outside our doors and windows. Nowadays, though, she's become so used to seeing kitties out there that she either ignores them or happily flirts with them. The kitties in my house didn't have much of a choice but to get used to cats being outside, because for many years my neighbor across the street had a cat who regularly went outdoors, and he visited our yard pretty much every single day. He was a very sweet cat named Tickey, and he sadly passed away in the summer of 2023.

Some of the other kitties in our neighborhood also belong to people who let their kitties outside. One kitty who now shows up in our yard multiple times a day wears some kind of collar, but it's only let me briefly pet it once so far, and I don't know much about it yet.

I am sad that an orange kitty who's been a regular in our yard for years suddenly stopped visiting us about a month ago. I called him Jonesy, and he never once let me pet him or touch him in any way. He only ever stopped at my house for breakfast and sometimes dinner, and then he'd be on his way. This Jonesy boy would sometimes disappear for days or weeks at a time, but never for as long as he's been gone this time. I wish I'd gotten him trapped and neutered. I did actually get him trapped once, but it was when I had only one trap and was trying to capture another feral who had a piece of gutter stuck around his neck. Since I only had that one trap and the kitty in need was due to visit my yard, I had to release the orange kitty. I did get the kitty with the gutter around his neck trapped and sorted out by a rescue group, but then I never got Jonesy trapped again. I pray he's somewhere safe.

All of the above said, Tonks and all of us hope you have a terrific Tuesday!

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

I felt like sharing one more flashback doodle from our "Halfway to Halloween" A to Z doodles from a few years ago, so here you go.

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Tip of the Day

In yesterday's tip, we discussed keeping our furbabies at a safe distance from those bird feeders we put out for the wildlife. This got us thinking, and now we've decided to repeat an old series of tips on feeding wildlife, and interacting with wildlife in general. While we all certainly love animals, and so might very well enjoy visiting with them and feeding them, this is something you nevertheless always have take into careful consideration. It is important to determine whether feeding wildlife in a certain area is wise, or even allowed. There are some areas where feeding wildlife is prohibited, for a variety of reasons.

One reason why it might not be wise to feed wildlife in certain areas is that, of course, some human food is not healthy for the wildlife. Some foods can even lead to sickness in such animals. In addition, feeding wildlife can lead them to lose their fear of humans or predators, and that can be dangerous for them. They can especially be put at risk if they are fed near roads or other high traffic areas, where they can lose their fear of cars and other such dangers. Also, feeding wildlife without caution and care can lead to disease transfer. For example, some wildlife carry diseases that can be contracted by us humans or our furbabies. This means that not only can we be dangerous to wildlife if not careful, but they can be dangerous to us.

In known, controlled environments, such as your own back yard, feeding wildlife is of course more safe. Then again, you still have to be cautious of what and how you feed these animals, so that they can remain healthy and safe, and so that nearby humans and their furbabies can remain safe. We already mentioned yesterday putting bird feeders and food for wildlife out of reach of your furbabies, for their own safety as well as that of the wildlife. Over the next couple of days, we'll be discussing some tips on what to feed wildlife, so stay tuned if that is something that might interest you.