Silver Smoke

I took seven cats up to be fixed today. One of them is the last orange tabby from the Lebanon situation. The other six are all from Heatherdale trailer park in Albany. Two of the six are owned. The other four are strays.

I don't see many silver smoke colored cats. I've never caught a feral silver smoke. Until last night. He's very feral, too, and such a pity he is, because he is gorgeous and would get a home in an instant. He does need a home, if anyone wants to give an extremely beautiful kitty a barn home offer. He lives under a crusty trailer at Heatherdale, along with some fellow strays and the neighbor wants them gone. Where have I heard that before?

I wish that people, instead of threatening cats, would, before a problem starts, prevent it, by going door to door in their neighborhoods, banding together to make sure it is understood "In our neighborhood, all pets need to be fixed" then helping those who can't afford it by having little neighborhood fundraisers, if need be, to get all cats and dogs fixed. That's all it would take. This could be helped if communities would pass mandatory spay/neuter ordinances. Dream on.

In our world, neighbors don't even know each other. And when people complain about a problem that could have been prevented in the first place, they want someone else to come solve it at someone else's expense.

Silver Smoke is a beautiful male kitty. He shares the undersides of the ramshackle trailer with several other cats. I caught three of those "others" last night, too. An orange and white short hair male, the nemesis of the park, due to his fighting and spray marking behavior. At last, he will be neutered. I caught a stoic lovely long hair black kitty, with a blazing white chest spot.

I assume this cat to be male, because of massive size, but I don't know that for sure. The cat never said a word, like the noisy orange and white, never fought the trap like Silver Smoke did, and sat in the trap like a condemned man might sit in a cell on the day of execution, frightened, heart pounding, but resigned, knowing there is no use fighting the inevitable. Or was this cat conserving energy in case I came off my guard and an opening arose, even slight, for escape? Was this what prompted the black longhairs even behavior, its refusal to meet my eyes? Silver Smoke met my eyes head on and charged the side of the trap hissing and striking out. Stupid behavior, if you ask me.

May I say this to you Silver, even though you can't read or even understand my language. "It isn't fair, I know, that you live in plain sight, like a ghost you are, of pampered housepets who are loved and doted over, who lounge on soft couches and take naps on windowsills and who never have to dig through garbage looking for bits of anything edible or dodge bullets and curses and rocks. I KNOW IT ISN'T FAIR. I know you're wonderful. I know you have a heart of gold, too. IT ISN'T FAIR!! I know what you want and who you are. I know."

The blacks behavior shows superior intelligence. But Silver Smoke is young, maybe a year, a twentyish, by human standards, outraged over his predicament. His anger turned off his thinking brain and any chance he might have of living, if I had been truly a threat.

Most true ferals, when caught, hunker down, not wanting to attract further attention to themselves. They don't meow in the trap. They don't meet my eyes, at first. They don't attack the side of the cage if I lift a corner of the towel, not repeatedly that is. They do when first startled if I pull up a corner of the towel covering the trap. Teen females often are far more aggressive from fear than other age groups. But not at first. At first trapping, for the first couple hours, the teen boys exhibit the most bravado if I lift the cage cover. The older females usually get a sense of what is going on quicker. In other words, they understand more quickly their lives are not in danger. After surgery, it's the adult males who are the most eager to eat, even in a trap, and also, usually very thirsty after coming out of anesthesia. The females have more pain issues after surgery and are more unlikely to eat.

But....Silver Smoke's relief will be so great, that he was wrong and not actually killed, that he will likely be far more grateful, if I would see him again out there, far more curious about me and my motives, might even follow me around the park, from a distance, were I out there trapping again. He'd know if I saw him that I would give him treats and talk to him. The ones who are most astonished by kind treatment are later the ones who seek out humans afterwards, because they've encountered a human or humans who understood. I always hope such cats do not encounter the cruel humans then. I will hope Silver Smoke is treated kindly. The angry feral beautiful Silver Smoke male, being neutered today, unwanted at Heatherdale.
This is the tame owned brown tabby female, young, who walked away from her just born kittens last week. They all died. She is being spayed today.
The orange and white problem Heatherdale male, losing his "problems" today.
The Long hair black stray, from Heatherdale, up being fixed today.
A young brown tabby stray, from Heatherdale, sex unknown, being fixed today.
Groucho, an owned male from Heatherdale, up being neutered today.