Like Mother.... Like Daughter?

This is Moe Moe. We took her in when she was in need of a home and I could tell you all kinds of wonderful things about Moe Moe but this post is not about her. It is about her daughter, Nazareth - and maybe my catmint.

When we got a call that Moe Moe's daughter needed a home, we didn't hesitate. She was Moe Moe's daughter - our granddaughter! We were going to pick her up.

We were told her name was Nazzy, which I did not like at all but she was likely too old to change it. Dogs are easier that way, they don't care what you call them. A few days later, we found out it was Nazareth, which I like much better.

This is Moe Moe's daughter, Nazareth. Turns out it didn't matter what her name was because I almost exclusively call her 'fat girl' or 'baby girl' because she squeezes herself between me and the keyboard and coos at me which of course necessitates that I talk baby talk to her.

Miles alternately calls her 'fat girl' or Garfield because she has a lot of very Garfield-like attributes. Every once in a while, one of us will call her Nazareth just so she doesn't forget her name.

In reality she is a dog-like cat. She does not care what you call her. She will sit with you when you sit, follow you when you move around and talk to you the whole time. We have all experienced the joy of having her here and only the catmint has suffered. All the cats like to roll in the catmint patch but none of them can flatten the middle of it in quite the same way. The catmint patch has been in this spot for 11 years and has survived many cats. I would not be surprised if I have to buy catmint to fill in next year. She is worth the effort though.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

 

Next up, MoeMoe and Nazareth, our Egyptian Mau pair. MoeMoe came to us a few years ago. She had a big wild streak and was really nervous, all the time. She calmed down over time and fit right in. A few months ago, her daughter, Nazareth made her way to us. Mom is the little one in the forefront and baby is the huge one in the background. Nazareth was less wild but still nervous around all of the dogs. She took less time to settle in and quickly became Queen of the castle. She rules all the other cats... except for Francis, of course. A favourite passtime for both is dog watching.

Jake

I decided to take a moment to introduce the animals that you might encounter in photographs of my garden. This is Jake. The most photogenic grey tabby to ever grace my garden. Jake is like a dog when I am in the garden. He follows me around and likes to interfere when I dig. He is not as easy as the dogs to discourage from that. The dogs listen. Jake doesn't. Jake came to us from the Regina Humane Society. I drove my son, Gordon, to get a cat and Jake caught my attention with a paw push to the shoulder. I couldn't get him out of my mind and after two days of trying to convince everyone I know that they needed a cat... I ended up deciding that maybe we needed a cat. I drove back into the city and brought him home. He has been a constant source of love and entertainment ever since.

Protecting your Garden

I have often posted about the adventures of my pets in my garden. Although there is some work involved in having so many dogs and cats AND a large garden, it has been well worth it for me. One of the big benefits of all my cats and dogs is that wildlife, generally speaking, stays out of the yard. We get the odd gopher or two and Hannah brings me mice that are no longer alive but we are not overrun with anything in the rodent family. This year I am starting my new kitchen garden and it will have an 8 foot fence around it because I need to keep my animals out of it as well. Digging in my flowers is one thing, digging in my food is quite another!

If you have wildlife bothering your garden, Organic Gardening magazine has a good article here on protecting it from wild things.

Cats in My Garden

I often mention the challenges of gardening with dogs. Particularly when I am newly planting things. Rarely do I mention the challenges of gardening with so many cats. We have 6 and all of them freely wander in and out all spring, summer and fall. In the winter, their usual door (an open dining room window) is closed. A couple of them will continue to go outside through winter, using the doors when they are opened to let dogs in and out. Most of them stay inside in the winter. They are less of a challenge for my garden than the dogs are because the cats never dig plants. They do like to roll in mulch and dry dirt so I am often kicking mulch flat and covering up bare spots but it really becomes part of how I walk through the garden and doesn't feel like too much of a bother. When we first moved here, our cat that came with the house, Hannah, was using two of the garden beds for an outdoor litter box.

I remedied that immediately with cayenne pepper and she is now using somewhere in the acres of bush that I do not go into because I try and avoid wood tics. Dogs or cats makes no difference. My rule is always... when you are gardening an unfenced bed and you have outdoor pets - you better wear gloves when you work! Scooping up is probably the least exciting chore that comes with pet ownership but I have been mostly lucky on that with my garden beds. Once I am able to convince them an area is part of my garden now, they rarely give me trouble.