They are:
Mama cat
Fraidy (daughter of Mama)
Lil' Grey (daughter of Mama)
Slow-mo
Our naming conventions are pretty straightforward. Mama is the mama of the two grey cats. Fraidy is afraid of everything, so if you come through a door, she runs away. Lil' Grey is the smaller of the grey cats. And Slow-mo moves in slow motion. It is impossible for him to run away quickly, even if you make a move toward him.
None of the cats are very comfortable with the idea of being petted. Once or twice Lily and I have been able to pet Lil' Grey, but not the others. I'd never want to pet Slow-mo because he is disgusting. He sneezes a lot and pieces of his fur are everywhere. He also has only one eye, and we had the pleasure of watching the process of him losing it.
The cats have been pretty busy lately. First they were bringing half eaten birds back to the patio. Then mice. Now it's rats. I had no idea there were rats around, but apparently there are fewer of them now. I think the cats are decimating a nest somewhere, because the rats used to be big dead ones. Now they're small dead ones.
My neighbor Michael usually cleans up the rat corpses because they feed the cats and hence, it's kind of by their doing that the cats hang around our yard so much. But sometimes the dead rats lie in areas that are hard to see unless you're in our house, so I pick up and dispose of them. Usually by grabbing no less than three plastic grocery bags and finding a stick to roll the carcass into the bag. Cats - 5, Rats - 0.
