Sheba on the pool steps.

Sheba, her brother Gus, and her 'follower', Buddy are wintering over by the swimming pool. Buddy got injured, probably fighting off some outside cat (he is the scrapper of this gang of three). I'm dosing him with anti-biotics for the nasty wound on his right front leg, and hope that no Feline Immune Deficiency Virus is involved (always a risk for outdoor cats). Here is an old photo of Sheba. She is a beauty.

Some collages

   Shaun.

The oh-so beautiful Ms. Sheba. 

Nana-chan.

For the Swimming Pool Gang, it's a BLACK AND WHITE WORLD

And if Sebastien joins them, it will be even more so. In this collage are Sheba, Gus, and Buddy. Buddy is the all-black cat, and Sheba is the long-furred black-and-white. Sheba and Gus are sister-brother, and Buddy is a close cousin or half-brother (different litter, same mother quite likely).

Sheba looks 'ghostly' in this rainy season pic

Something about the lighting of the rainy season, it makes Sheba look very strange. She is a stunningly beautiful cat actually. And boss of the Swimming Pool Gang!

Collage of Sheba

If you ever need a guard kitty for your beer

Gus is your man. Actually he just wants to make sure all your 'empties' get back to the distributor for the refund.

Gus is Sheba's brother. He prefers to eat with her. So if you set down two dishes, he will eat with her and then wait for her to start on the second one and join her for that too. He isn't trying to keep her from getting the food. Indeed, he waits for her to eat first. Once she gets going, then he joins in. Gus used to be a very nervous cat, but now he is quite used to people--at least the people who feed him and don't harass him.

Sheba takes charge

Sheba is the leader of the Swimming Pool Gang now. You can see the renovated Swimming Pool facilities in this photo of her (newly plastered and painted wall).

Unfortunately for the Gang, they have lost access to the crawl space under the Kendo Gym thanks to the re-construction. Sheba, her brother Gus, and their cousin, Buddy now all sleep under the No. 3 building of the College of Science and Technology.

Sheba is now one of three female (fixed) cats on campus--Ragi and her daughter, Gwen are the other two. All the rest are males (fixed). With her long black-and-white coat, Sheba is a truly beautiful cat. She is very good natured towards people too.  

New Breed of Urban Guerilla Chic Cats

Sheba and her brother Gus now rule the Swimming Pool Gang. They are joined by Buddy, an all black cat who has a brother, also all black, named Richie (50s rockers being one source of naming inspiration here).

I can see the tiger-stripes and three-color calico combinations making great natural camouflage. When the orange tabby Orange Blossom hunkers down in leaves, I sometimes nearly step on him. It's about the same for the orange-and-white Caramel, his brother.

But we keep getting more and more black-and-white cats, who seem to be perfectly colored for night activity in an urban setting. They are the hardest to see at night, truly! Even harder than all-black.

 

 

Sheba is on the left and Gus the right.

Sheba is long-haired, Gus is shorter-haired

and looks like he is wearing black trousers. 

MISCELLANEOUS PORTRAITS OF SOME CAMPUS CATS

Below is Sheba, of the Swimming Pool Gang.





Next, it's Orange Blossom of the Dining Hall Troop. If you like orange tabbies, OB is your man!









Below is the 'boss' of the Swimming Pool Gang, Elvis. He is overall the friendliest cat on campus. There never was a set of arms on a human that Elvis feels wasn't meant to hold him. He is adorable.






This is the last photo I took of Bigwig, late last year. He was always willing to sit still for photos. Such an agreeable old fellow.

GUS, of the Swimming Pool Gang

Gus is the brother of Sheba. Both are black and white, but Gus is a very long lean cat and his fur is short, so he is easy to tell from Sheba. Also, Gus is a 'patchwork' boy, his black and white being more unbalanced on his face, with the left side being more black while the right is more white. Also, his legs (when you see him from the rear) look like they are in black trousers. He has a sweet disposition--never fights with any of the other cats, is always out waiting to meet me everyday. He is very shy, though, and I have only ever touched him once, right when I gave him some of his favorite food. He can usually be found spending time with his sister, Sheba. He has a bond with her somewhat like Tiger Boy and Maya Girl (also of the Swimming Pool Gang, which we will get to later in a future post).

Sheba

Sheba is one of the black-and-white cats who graces the Swimming Pool area. For a completely feral cat (born and raised in the 'wilds' of the city of Fukui), she is a very friendly cat. She likes to pose for pictures and will even let me pet her and pick her up--unlike her brother, Gus, who is very shy (but a very nice likeable cat himself). Isn't she beautiful. She has a beautiful, plaintive voice too.