Sunday, March 29, 2009

Clinic Day

I was sooo happy last night when Nick ran out of traps and asked me trap some cats at the dairy. I was just going all stir crazy and cabin fevery. He'd set five, left, and all were filled with young teen cats when he returned, but he had no more empty traps to set. I went out to set three late last night, after his call, just as he was there to pick up the five, although he put the five caught into my car, since he had an open bed pickup and it was starting to rain.

We didn't wait there a minute, after he arrived and I'd set just one trap so far, before a gray tux young cat came out of the bales of hay and right into one of my traps.

So Nick went and got that one, hoisted it into my car, and was about to go get another trap with a cat in it, when a black tux short hair came trotting out. I grabbed Nick's arm, to hold him from entering the barn, and it was only seconds later that cat went into and sprung a trap.

I told Nick how difficult it was to see all those bales of hay without making myself a nice little nest way up top of the bales somewhere and taking a snooze. I love snoozing in amidst the hay bales, or laid out on filled grass seed bags stacked on pallets. There is nothing more comfortable in my opinion, except maybe snoozing on hay bales in lazy afternoon sun.

We'd seen a little fuzzy orange one too, so I told Nick I'd hang out a few minutes more, convinced that cat would be in a trap momentarily, which he was. 8 in all. I left traps set, but I think we got them all. None had been touched this morning.

I'd also been called by the Albany woman who feeds the stray male she rarely sees, so she's not been able to catch him. Well, last night she'd got him in. So he went over to be fixed, thankfully.

I didn't do any lifting at all. Others unloaded the nine cats. Then an old friend who used to live in Albany showed up. She looks terrific. She's lost 100 pounds since she got her stomach stapled last August. Unbelievable!

She's back in Corvallis to finish her degree at OSU, living with her folks, going home to NOrth Bend, where her hubby has a good job, on the weekends. She had done most of her degree while she lived in Albany, but then her husband graduated and got the job offer and they couldn't refuse it for her to stay here to finish school, that's for sure. So they moved down to North Bend. Anyhow, she's finishing now.

I taught her to trap when she lived, very briefly in Albany when I did, and I met her right after moving here. She wanted to get involved but then they moved. She's been getting involved down there. I gave her a trap. I figured it was a great investment for the cats of that area and it has been. The people who got me started gave me a trap. So I like to, if I can, give traps to the people who want to get involved. It was great to see her again. She had to leave, but she had come with a very in heat female, needed fixed, so we worked it in, even though she wasn't pre-registered.

In total, 11 cats were caught at that Lebanon trailer park, where Nick was told 50 cats free roamed. Turns out, it's a lot of the same cats, smorgasboarding around, porch to porch, being counted as different cats at different trailers.

I came home, because my neck problem got worse again. I think it's right back to that pulled out muscle from late last fall. All roads lead back to that time and me whacking upwards at the cat yard for hours from underneath the cat wire, to try to dislodge about a foot deep layer of wet soggy heavy leaves atop the wire. I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't get those darn leaves off and the wire was set to collapse under the weight. I have to resolve the cat yard problem before fall. But I have to help to do it.

2 comments:

  1. Here's a good book to look for,maybe request the library to get if they don't have it yet..
    "The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats".A Journey Into the Feline Heart..by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson..very heartwarming,and sometimes tragic in a way..but,very enjoyable,and all his cats have great names!!..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the referral Island Girl.

    Since I spend every waking moment around cats, sometimes I also like to read about the other side, books not about cats (sorry you cats out there reading this).

    ReplyDelete

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