Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Seven Cats Fixed Today

The S. Albany female, taken in as a stray, now being fixed today.
The former Lacomb kittens, now teens in N. Albany, fixed today.
One of the orange sisters.
The Lebanon male, up being neutered today.
One of the strays fed in Albany, caught last night, being fixed today.
The only survivor of a calico's litter, black tux teen, being fixed today. I'll get that calico.


In the midst of the drama over the white female from Clover Ridge, I was also rounding up cats last night. Seven are up being fixed today.

One is the last cat, maybe, from the old woman Lebanon colony.

One is a male from a very disabled old Lebanon woman.

Two more are former Lacomb kittens, among 14 fixed from three females and their offspring. These are the last two. The Lacomb folks adopted two out to a N. Albany couple. Today, the two girls are being fixed.

One is a black female, taken in as a stray, in south Albany.

Two are from a downtown Albany house. I've trapped so many cats there before. They feed all the neighborhood strays and throw aways. They said a calico had had a litter, with only one survivor. And a black tame female, abandoned nearby, showed up pregnant and had three kittens under their house.

I went intending I guess to get the two females. I ending up trapping the calico's teenage offspring, but not the calico and a big yellow male, of which there are many the couple feeds. I caught orange males there before and now it appears there are two more to catch there, besides the one from late last night so huge I could barely lift the trap, at that point, I was so exhausted.

You see, I spent a good share of last scuttling around after four week old kittens under their house. I'd put their black tame mom into a carrier and thought the kittens would be young enough to easily grab. TWo were. I found them crouched inside insulation under the house. They hissed and spit at me, crawling around on my stomach under there in the dark and the dirt and the cobwebs.

But the black one was far more independent and scrambled to the far end of the underside of the house. I had to get him, or turn loose mom. I spent the next hour chasing a fleet footed black shadow under that house by flashlight, on my stomach. I never caught him and finally gave up and turned loose mom. I brought the other two home. For now. I can't keep two more. I have to bottle feed them, but not much because they are eating soft food.

I had my remote control trap set up due to the numbers of fixed cats already there. I'd caught the black tux teen using it and had set it up again. Suddenly, from the down the street, comes this bizarre image==a cat flopping along, with one rear leg useless, apparently detached at the hip. It was unbelievable to see that poor gray male, unneutered, in that condition.

He went into the trap and I flipped the remote sender switch. Nothing! The remote sender unit had failed to send the signal. Frustrated, I tried to sneak up to spring the trap manuelly. The cat saw me last second and zipped out, running at full speed, or full flop speed, down the sidewalk.

I was upset with myself. Not only had I missed one kitten after two and a half hours under a house on my stomach in the dirt, but now I'd missed a badly injured cat due to equipment failure. I was totally exhausted and filthy by this time.

I came home and had trouble sleeping due to pain, from my scuttling under the house, and worry, over the Clover Ridge kitty.

But at least seven more cats will not be reproducing in and around Albany and Lebanon. After delivering the cats to the clinic, I slept most of the day. I needed it.

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