10/01/2010

Snow Kats

After a long break the mob is back again ;-)

These last days brought tons of snow, even down here in the city. This is a rare event, as winters in Freiburg are mostly mild with lots of rain and the odd snowflake.

We walked out to visit the kats, as the minor roads are full of snow and ice and it is not nice to bike.

When we arrived at the enclosure, it was late afternoon and the kats were napping or rolling under the big heat lamp. Caruso was on the big lookout hill doing guard duty. As there were only few visitors and it was comparatively quiet, you could hear the distinct squeaky sounds she made.

The three youngsters have grown, but they are still smaller than the adult kats. All three have developed the distinct "ridge" on their heads, lacking in pups or subadults.

We wonder, if they will stay on the small side, as their father, Jolly Roger, was a rather small and delicate kat. Maybe they will still grow a little bit.

All kats looked healthy so far. Möfzi is still alive and her general condition is much better than in August. Her fur looked good, she lost the unkempt patches and she is no longer skinny. Her movements are a bit stiff, but Möfzi is really old now, at least 10 years.

As the snow inside the enclosure had not been removed, there were only some small paths the kats had trodden out in the snow. Most of the enclosure is covered in about 15 cm of powdery snow untouched by any paws.

Möfzi and Sayuri however were undeterred by this and came up to gather their treats. There were some extremely cute moments with Sayuri falling over and rolling in the snow. She looks so funny in her winter fur with her flat, stubby tail sticking out.

Möfzi stayed feeding on the egg treat until she was shivering with cold. This is the moment, you would like to pick her up and stuff her into your jacket ;-)

Here are two particularly cute pics of Sayuri, the little snow princess.



Hey, did YOU throw that stuff on me???

And here is a video taken today by Christian: