Trapper in Waiting

I stopped in at the Circle K yesterday. I had not left the house for some time. I was out to get some cheap clippers. Time to clip the long hairs! I like clipping the long hairs, even though I do a very poor job of it.

I clipped Hairy, the big black long hair feral from Heartland yesterday. At least, I tried.

I have three pair of clippers. One pair I got a long long time ago at Goodwill. I have never gotten a new blade for that pair nor have I sharpened the blade. I do clean the blade after use, take it apart, brush out the hair, wash it, dry it, then oil it. So it's life extended just from good care. But......it needs sharpened or it needs a new blade.

The second pair I have is a battery power Wahl clipper which has been my primary pair of clippers. I have two extra blades and have routinely had them sharpened through Denson's feed store who charges five or six bucks to sharpen clipper blades.

However, that pair has finally died, can no longer be recharged. Dead as a doornail.

The third pair is a pair I got for $10 at the grocery outlet. I should have saved my money. They're crap.

With lengthy attempts, however, using the $10 pair, I was able to clip off most of Hairy's mats. He had four big ones. His hair is long, fine, and sort of oily, from dirt getting into it. Since he was at first very hostile, quite the hisser, I had reservations about how he would behave. I got him out in the carrier he uses as a bed, unclipped the carrier sides, and, as I was lifting off the lid, slid a net over him.

Fortunately he just hid his head. He is a massive cat and could inflict damage if he so desired. He's gained weight and looks good.

He seemed to enjoy the haircut, brushing and back massage he got. I thought he'd get irritable sooner than he did over it, since the clipper was so bad, so slow at cutting anything. He held out for a long time before emitting one little hiss delivered with a dirty look backwards over his shoulder at me.

Feral or tame, the long hairs love being clipped.

The clippers were only good for the mats, then faded quickly, probably dulled.

I had to toss my favorite, the battery powered Wahl. So I went looking last night for a cheap alternate, but an alternative that isn't a one clip clipper, like the grocery outlet pair.

I ended up at Target and got a fairly cheap Wahl electric. They had few choices. I then went to Ross. I've had a Ross gift card for about ten years. I have bought a few small things using it, like socks. I wanted cushions for the couch that has no cushions and wanted outdoor lounge type cushions. I'd seen some at Target but they were $30 some dollars for one, or $15 for a short extremely thin one with divisions and straps to fit a folding lawn or lounge chair. Would not work.

At Ross, I found brightly colored cushy lounge chair outdoor cushions (you can spray them off), for $20 each and got two with the gift card. They did not have two of the same design. Oh well. I still have $18 left on it, after all these years.

Afterwards, I stopped at the Circle K. Two women in an Suv parked next to me were eyeing me. Finally one said, "I have a question for you."

Defensively, I started out, because I know what people want from me, "I'm not taking in cats."

"Oh," the woman said, disappointed. "There are four scraggly cats hanging out by my place and I want them gone."

"Do I know you," I asked, because she looked familiar.

"You got our cats fixed," she said, "We live over at the apartments," and motioned towards the next street. I knew then who she was. She has a manx male and a couple others, and had told me she'd let them have kittens for quite awhile, when I got them fixed, and bragged her male had offspring all over the area.

These four may be offspring of her cats, but nonetheless, she wants them gone. She thinks one is a female. I said "I can get them fixed, at least, because otherwise, there will be kittens there." She agreed to that.

I was going to trap them for Heartland's Snip and Spay event tomorrow. I called Heartland and tried to make appointments. I was also going to go for that last male over on Walnut and try for the last four cats at the nursing home in Corvallis.

However, since I could not guarantee an exact number I would catch and bring in, Heartland said "no" to registering ferals for the snip and spay. I was severely disappointed. I'd helped try to promote the event last week. I e-mailed everyone on my list about it, asked them to tell their friends and send out e-mails, gone door to door in one neighborhood, posted fliers. The price was good and would have saved Poppa Inc. money and me gas money.

So much for that, I guess. I'll try to trap them to take to Wilsonville to be fixed. I hate trapping unwanted cats who are not being fed. She said one has a collar, but around these parts, that doesn't mean it's owned. My guess is it might be, and there for that female. If it has no id on the collar, can still get it fixed however. If it has ID, then I take it right to its owner, and ask permission to get it fixed and tell them about FIV.

Cats are pretty good about finding food, however, and if they have a home, and are a male free roaming for love and fights, after being fixed, they go home.