The day started at 3:00 a.m., after four hours of sleep. I'd been rounding up cats the day before. Including a last minute male, from Heatherdale trailer park in Albany.
I picked up four at one of the houses by the Homeless shelter here in town. There are two more there needing fixed, including a male claimed by the homeless shelter. In the past, they have refused to get him fixed. I left my card with the shelter, but they did not call about him going this trip. It is frustrating.
So he bred with a female brought in by people in the off shoot housing next to the shelter, producing kittens, the first litter of whom were about to breed themselves. The second litter were given away, except for one little boy. The original female, gone half feral, is the one I couldn't find night before last, to take.
Three females and a little male were fixed from there.
I picked up a black male in NE Albany, too, who was fixed.
Three came over from Corvallis, Lancaster Bridge apartments, a low income housing complex very familiar to me.
They never paid me back a dime. And in the end, after so many trips out there and so much work, the manager called the cops on me, when I was there to pick up a sick kitten from a little boy and his mother. She claimed to the cops I was stealing cats there. Yeah, right. I said to the cop "This is what I get for volunteering." He said "Well, don't volunteer. It's stupid."
That's my history with Lancaster Bridge. I wish the nonprofit running it would make sure management enforces fixed pet policies. They don't. Needs to change. Now it's got lots of cats again, same old dramas going on too. However, one boy and two girls from there were fixed yesterday. Yay.
The tame Albany female stray also went down. The clinic kept her. She had bad health issues, like a severe heart murmur and dehydration. They'll assess her, and if she recovers ok, after lots of food, because she's so skinny, they'll adopt her out.
Another Albany stray off the streets! Yay!
Lastly, three feral teens from Spicer made the trip. I checked the trap over there at 4:00 a.m., before the drive down, with property owner permission, tip toeing in, so as not to wake the old couple. Sure enough, trap was sprung and the third teen was inside. Still to catch, mom, the last teen, and a problem neighborhood male.
I get down to the Snipped clinic, early no less, very pleasant drive to the clinic, even in the fog, which was heavy in places, and go after two females in a colony that had so far eluded capture. The mom had had many litters. She was brought to an existing fixed colony by homeless campers, who knew she would be fed there. She also reproduced.
I lucked out. The colony caretakers had trapped her other teen kittens from litter before last and her two tiny kittens from most recent litter. There was just the one teen female and the mom who needed caught and I waited it out, with bright morning sun in my eyes, til both were under the drop trap and yanked the cord. When I say waited it out, I mean I waited approximately ten minutes! Did not take long.
Back at the clinic, I transferred the two girls from my traps into the colony caretakers traps. I'd already transferred three of the tame cats I brought in traps to Snipped carriers so I could use my traps there.
Then it was off to Huckleberry Hill trailer park. Already, myself and Snipped clinic manager Tamara had trapped 29 cats there. I knew who still needed caught. I sat up there, nodding off sleepy, for several hours, waiting for the unfixed ones to show up and go under my drop trap to eat. They did, one by one, at least four of them did. Three males and a female. Three up there still needing fixed, that I have seen.
Back at Snipped, I had to transfer them out of my traps to theirs, but theirs were dirty, so I had to clean them first. I was so tired out by this time.
Finally, with my local cats loaded into the car, ready to come home, I needed a nap and laid out my car blankets on the dog recovery room floor. I took off my shoes and set them atop my trap, that I had not loaded into my car yet. My coat became my pillow. I was instantly asleep.
Over an hour later, I woke up, refreshed. I drove home. I first delivered back the NE Albany young male to his people. Then I drove by Heatherdale and dropped off Named, (kid named him), to his owners. Then I came home and unloaded the three Spicer teens and four HOmeless Shelter cats. The little gray boy was screaming his head off--hungry! He ate three cans. I unloaded most of my car.
Then I headed off to Corvallis with the three cats from Lancaster Bridge. Ambulance was at the apartments. The woman who came out to claim the cats shrugged it off as a daily occurrence. She pointed out other apartments with cats, all kittens handed out by some guy who has too many cats and is supposed to call me about getting them all fixed. I hope he does.
That was my big day yesterday, a very productive day. 13 local cats fixed, one local stray off the streets and six cats caught while down there!
I'll be recuperating awhile.
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