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Although many folks still consider cats to be solitary creatures, most of us in rescue know this not to be the case. Cats want to be together usually - and this is especially true of feral cats. I have incorporated many cats from totally different colonies and have yet to have an insurmountable problem. The ones who seem to get bent out of shape when there's a new resident, are the friendly ones. I have some hissing and spitting daily, but after Sam, a huge feral tom (now ex-feral and ex-tom) stopped beating up on everyone, there are no big fights. I'm as amazed as anyone about this. Cats who never knew each other before here now sleep and eat and play together.

In terms of space, the house we live in is very large — with the basement and the room that used to be a two car garage — we have nearly 6000 square feet. I was very lucky to have found it and at only $225K, it was an incredible find. An interactive floor plan will be available in this space eventually — so the layout is clear.

Upon moving in, I wired in the screened porch and added an enclosed ramp from the porch down to the first kitty-enclosure. That enclosure comes off of the ex-garage room. It measures about 25' x 25'. I had planned on adding more enclosures but instead, installed the cat fence in the front yard and the back yard. This added a ton of outdoor space and every cat can come and go outside as s/he wants. Some stay out all day — others only come out at night. See more pictures of the fence setup.

Inside the house, we have an entry area, large living area, that's attached to a dining area, and the kitchen which is at the front of the house. The living and dining areas both have huge sliding doors so there's lots of light and air flow. There are three bedrooms in the back of the house.



OUTDOOR SPACE!


Punkin
Here's one shot of the old enclosure - before the cat fence was installed in May, 2006. The upside down chairs serve as umbrellas for the kitties. I got them from the local "exchange hut" at our dump, intending for the cats to sit in them. But a storm blew them all over and the cats used them as umbrellas - so they stayed turned over.

Crypty and Skunk
Crypty and Skunk lay on the steps enjoying the outdoors in the enclosure. These steps lead into the 2-car garage converted to a big room where all of the farm kittens were raised. Just to the left of the steps is the enclosed kitty-ramp that leads to the screened porch. From the porch, they can come through the kitty-door insert in the sliding doors into what was the dining area and the rest of the house. And from there they can go into the basement, through a hole in the wall that leads to the basement stairs. They can go out to the backyard from all locations.

Sam
Sam, also known as BigBoy Sam, is an ex-feral tom cat I trapped soon after I moved into this house. He was TERRIBLE at first - mean to everyone, attacked with no warning, and just plain wasn't going to fit in. He was sweet to me once he turned around but also would bite if he didn't like what I wanted to do to him (like take him back to a big bathroom for quarantine while I was out of the house). So he wasn't very adoptable. I really had a dilemma with him for a while. He had to stay separated every time I was out of the house and when I was here, I had to constantly monitor him and his whereabouts. But after three months, he bonded with Precious, a female about 3 years old, rescued from the kill-shelter as a feral kitten. After they bonded, things just did a 180 and he was great to everyone. Love can do amazing things to people - and to big mean ex-tom-cats.