Two Corvallis Males Fixed Today

I took two Corvallis brothers, adopted off craigslist, up to be fixed today. They're almost two years old and have lived the last few months in a crate, because they spray mark, but the woman didn't want them outside unless they were fixed first. So this was a gesture to help free these cats of that life. Otherwise, I would not have made a long expensive trip for two cats.

Speaking of which, a business had contacted the city about ferals inside their warehouse and that they were not wanted. I told the city I certainly could not take in more cats, but could get them fixed and to tell them that. I also contacted the feeder of a colony nearby, in case they were the same cats. They likely are from the same colony, spillovers who were never fixed from the original colony.

But anyhow, so the feeder contacted the business and I thought it was set up to trap tonight. They had agreed to them being fixed and to feed them. So over i went to trap with the feeder from the next door colony. I caught three when they came out and said they were locking gates, to get the traps out. I had barely been there 40 minutes and could have caught them all. There are at least ten or twelve more. I'd set up with the vet to get them all done tomorrow too.

I am not a happy person. It costs me $18 to drive up and back, to the clinic, that's if I sit in the rest area all day and don't come home while waiting on the cats to be fixed. And I"m doing that for three cats? There are at least two or three preggies there. Makes me sick to think of driving all the way up there again tomorrow, for just three cats and to think of those preggies having unwanted kittens before I can work a way out to trap them all. I don't know why they wouldn't just want it done.

I e-mailed the city person who asked me to help that business, and asked her to contact the business and talk to them about getting it done, at a convenient time for me, which is of course evening, for efficient trapping, and for the vet clinic.

The night was not a total loss however. I ended up over at the Corvallis nursing home colony, at first with the Animal Crackers employee who is trying to catch them all to be fixed. We've already caught and fixed at least 16. Tonight, while she was there, we drop trapped a long hair tabby, who is likely a pregnant female. She had to leave by 1:00 a.m. because she works tomorrow. I held out, with the drop trap propped up and a couple live traps set.

However, it was freezing cold. I had forgotten even a coat. I fell asleep with the blanket I use to cover the drop trap completely over me, including my head. I set my cell phone alarm for 3:15 and awakened to its sound confused. I stared over at the drop trap and thought for a moment a black cat was under the trap. I figured then, it must be the bricks I had, on the back drop board, that holds it somewhat in place. I brought over a slab of bricks to use that used to be part of the woodstove assembly I removed.

I shone my light at the trap and a black cat moved out from under it.

There are two black cats left to be fixed over there and we'd watched a sick little scene go on between the teenage female and the huge beat up ucky black male. She didn't want to have sex with him. But he wanted sex. He followed her everywhere, and tried to get her to run so he could grab her from behind She'd turn and spat and swat at him, and he'd be right back to following her, everywhere she tried to go. She couldn't sleep. She was hungry and tired. She's not old enough to be a mother. The black male was intent on raping her.

I thought it was the little teen under the drop trap. After I shone my light on the cat and the cat moved out from under the trap, the cat went right back under and began eating again. I yanked the cord.

Caught!

I raced over, groggy, wobbly from frozen legs, and unwrapped myself from the blanket so I could throw it over the trap. Only then did I realize I had nabbed the last big male of the colony--Mr. Teen Rapist.

It was a bit of a struggle to get him out of the drop trap into a live trap alone but I did it. I left a message for the woman from Animal Crackers. She'd asked me to if I caught another. I didn't really want to wake her. She'd taken the long hair tabby away, in my trap, to be fixed at Heartland Friday. She called me back, happy one more had been caught. I dropped by her place and handed him off. He'll be fixed at Heartland.

I'm pretty happy to have caught two of the last four too. Just one long hair tabby to go and the little black teen girl, probably pregnant now, left to catch. Cats 17 and 18 caught tonight.

Sure, I'm tired and stiff from the cold, but sometimes, a little hardship is worth it.

Never Too Late

An Albany woman for whom I've trapped cats before had asked me to trap an old hairy manx she's fed for years. Time to get her off the streets. She thought she was feral. I drop trapped her this a.m.

We took her out in the woman's containment cage, which is large and cozy, almost tall enough to stand up in, probably ten feet by ten feet by five feet high. Immediately, she crawled onto my lap. This old girl, who has lived as a stray at least six years, is tame. At some point, years ago, someone left her behind.

She is wall to wall mats and has earmites. The woman called her vet immediately. My attempts to cut loose mats even around her head were futile in the face of their severity. When I picked her up, I was poked by thorns and berry vine pieces, dead and stickered, embedded in her belly mats.

The woman will try to find her a home, once she is cleaned up.

It's never too late, even for an old stray, long tossed out to survive the best she could. Fortunately, she found a kind hearted woman who fed her in the meantime and now, despite joblessness, will get her any care she needs. She is one lucky girl.

It's a really happy day for that old manx long hair stray.

Over Done?

Gray tux male, being fixed today.
Brown tabby male, being fixed today.
Black tux male, being fixed today.
Rugged looking (possibly has ringworm) long hair black male, being fixed today.
Another black long hair male, being fixed today.
Owned torbi, named Bandita, being spayed today.
LickyLu, owned DLH brown tabby female, being fixed today.
Nubbers, a calico manx, being fixed today.


I went to trap those cats the woman at Circle K told me about. I had been hoping to get them into the Heartland Snip and Spay today, but they had to know exactly how many I would catch. I wonder how many they fixed at that event today. I hope lots.

Anyhow, my gosh, I thought there were four. I have 8 in the car now, three females and five big males. There were at least two others, but I ran out of time and traps.

The vet is going to kill me. Oh well, if they can't be all done tomorrow, some can wait until they can be done.

Update: the clinic was happy I had the 8. They said they had only one other surgery scheduled today. They don't like being bored. I love them.

The man who owns the three females being fixed, had a fourth, who had kittens. Supposedly he's taking the mom and three six week old kittens to Safehaven.

There's been a lot of house cat breeding that's gone on at that complex. The result is left behind and barely noticed cats, although none of the males I trapped would be considered all out ferals. They've been kicked out, at some point, and usually that is because they didn't get fixed.

I saw at least two more cats who need caught over there and maybe more than that.

Zuli and Brighty Leave

Zuli, from the Lebanon 5th Wheeler colony.
Brighty, from the Albany apartment complex.

I got some great help today from a couple of women who took in Zuli and Brighty, to work with, then adopt out themselves. The relief for me is tremendous. This help brightened my spirits.


Teddy and Fantasia are now best of friends.




My outrageously colorful indoor outdoor couch cushions, purchased with an age old gift card from Ross. Before that, the drab craigslist couch had no cushions.

And as if that's not enough.....

Nemo's adopters have given up and want me to come get him.

I never thought it would work out. He is not the type to want to be an only cat. They tried hard.

The good thing is, Willow will be leaving Monday. She was going today, but Keni is too busy. The good thing is the people who had Nemo have a friend who might take the two apartment cats as barn cats. She's going to ask next time she talks to her, which might not be til next week, but I am crossing my fingers.

Nemo's people are really wonderful and they tried hard. He's just terribly depressed and unhappy as an only cat, grieving for his friends and life here. "They're too happy here, is their problem," I told the woman, and she laughed and said she knows that. They miss their friends, their routine, their clicks, sleeping in a pile on top of me.

I know cats love me. Everywhere I go they follow me around, for some reason. It's kind of a problem. Even feral cats let me handle them like they're tame. If I didn't know better, I'd think I had some former life involving being a cat or a cat czar or something. I have cat charisma I guess.

In a nonhuman world, I'd probably be just fine with that. This human world is tough though, on the likes of me, all the judgements and expectations to conform to a certain little teeny space of behavior.

However, I've never really been an accepted part of this human world. Human behavior is nasty. I've felt the brunt of that behavior from the time I was a child.

I guess it's ok to be a cat lady, if that's what the conformist march in the line humans want to call me.

To the cats, I'm just the warm body, the bringer of food, the petter, the healer, the kind eyes in front of the caring soul--the one they can turn to.

I'll live with that. It's my fate.

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.