Does This Cat Look Pregnant?

Nine Lives artist Lisa Anne Auerbach shares her reflections on Los Angeles, art-making and commuting by bicycle in this weekly blog.

Does This Cat Look Pregnant?

Thursday, April 30

It’s getting close to kitten season, and we don’t want what happened last year to repeat itself, so there’s suspicion surrounding the appearance of a new orange feral in the backyard. It was sleeping under the lemon tree this morning when I went out, and there was no sign of our other feral, our primary feral and mother of our kittens, Abby Tabby. We’ve seen the orange cat chase our precious Abby Tabby away from the food and now we stand watch over her while she eats. She tolerates us, but barely. Get too close and she too will run.

Last year around this time, we started to see Abby Tabby in the backyard and running scared down the driveway, but we didn’t think anything of it. There is a large feral population in Los Angeles, and our neighborhood is full of them. It wasn’t until she left four kittens in our rosemary bush that we paid attention, and it’s our hope that the orange cat is not also looking for a place to drop a litter.

The kittens were amazing, and they grew to be elegant beasts, but we don’t need a repeat. There’s not much time in which to trap and neuter the new cat, and since we’re not feeding it, it might be difficult to get into a cage. So skittish! Hard to tell if it’s male or female, every time it jumps the fence I try to sneak a look under the tail to see if there are any balls there, but so far, no luck. I want to see balls because the alternative is kittens.

In other cat news, Amanda at the Hammer sent over some sweet photos of her new cat, Blueberry. The Meow congratulates both Blueberry, the camera-shy Owl, and Amanda on their new companions.