New Barn Cat

Wait a minute......why is that thing back out again?

Carrie brought home a new barn cat! The coyotes seemed to have faded back and the mice needed to be brought to heel, so the timing is fine.

This is actually old news. Carrie brought home the cat when she trailered Annie and Oakie. Sonya's friend Pepper met Carrie with the kitty. Carrie threw the cat in the back of the truck and that was that.

"I don't know if she farted or pooped, but it started to smell terrible part way home!" Carrie said.

Poop. It was definitely poop.

Kitty initially went into run and hide mode.

We weren't sure if kitty was a guy or a girl at first. "I didn't look for fuzzy balls."

Kitty didn't stay in hide mode forever and we confirmed it's a she. She's incredibly friendly and under a year old. Pepper claims she's a great mouser. Carrie's taken to calling her "Happy."

Happy wants to hop up on the lap of anyone who goes into the tack room. She'll make biscuits and purr up a storm.

It's Shane's job to clean the litter out, but we've only remembered to make him do it once or twice. It takes nearly half an hour for him to do a 2 minute job, because he gets distracted playing with Happy.

It'd all be happy, but Carrie uttered words that filled my stomach with dread: "She might be pregnant."

Cats can breed before they're a year old. Happy does have a round stomach......I really hope she's not pregnant. We could ask a vet, but the cheaper option is 'wait and see.'

Carrie and Shane have both commented Happy would make a fantastic house cat.

I do NOT want a third house cat (much less a litter of them). Bucket barely manages to keep her mania in line as is.

I do want a cat that will kill mice.

Especially mice in the barn.

So far, Happy has been on tack-room detail. Carrie's a little nervous about letting her out since Lester disappeared, but we'll have to let her roam at some point.