Got my Cat Quota

I spent most of the day at Tattoo Prairie, using the fishline tied to the trap door, then run out to my car, as a mechanical method of selective trapping. The caretaker of the colony did not even get out of bed until after noon, which was disappointing to me, sitting out in the car freezing. And it was cold today. I caught three cats, two of them by cutting the fishline dropping the door on the porch trap. I've already gotten 8 cats fixed there, you see, and didn't want to waste my time catching already fixed cats.

This evening, I caught two more, a third small brown tabby tux. I had thought there were only two, besides the huge males brown tabby tux neutered last week, but I caught three more, plus a huge brown tabby male and a gray tabby.

I have four tame females to pick up, near where I live, and a Corvallis man is catching the male who showed at his place hopefully tonight, to round out my ten. Yahoo, I caught my quota, but these were hard fought cats to catch.

I am disappointed in the Red Linda caregiver. She's had my trap for days, allegedly to tie open and get the four left used to feeding in it to then mechanically selective trap, which I also showed her how to do. I go out there, and the trap I left her days ago, is closed, without bait, cage cover folded atop it, in the back of the barn. Man alive.

Then she tells me the pregnant calico was on the porch last night and she even petted her. I stared at her incredulously. "Why didn't you set that trap and catch her?" I asked. She had excuses. They sounded practised.

I set the trap in the barn as she was back there feeding her horse and dogs, then sat in my car with the drop trap on the porch. Not half hour later she came to my car to say she'd tied open the one in the barn because she was closing up the barn for the night. I wasn't happy. She's not putting any effort whatsoever into this. I am putting a shitload of effort into trying to get her cats fixed.

I gave her a long lecture. I didn't want to, but for gosh sakes, she is wasting my time and not contributing anything to this effort that she caused. I asked her if she understood what would happen if just the two adult females had kittens, that ten more kittens would need caught and fixed. I asked if she understood the cost of that and the time involved, not to mention bringing ten more unwanted lives into a cat overloaded world and the fact her husband wants most of the cats here already gone. She said she understood.

I then launched into the fact that you can't wish the cats to be caught. It actually takes effort. She kind of stormed off then. I think she was mad. Which is tragic in itself. I was the one out there freezing my butt off, sitting in a car trying to catch the last four cats she won't try to catch, to make her life easier.

Pathetic. I should walk away from this one.