Thursday, February 04, 2016

Cat Wrangling at its Best

Last night, I went after the big boy once again!  It wasn't raining for a change.

45 minutes into it, a Lebanon woman drove into the location with her unfixed female I'd arranged to have fixed today.   She had had 3 cats show up in her barn.  All three were girls and Barney was the last needing fixed.  She was fixed today and is already back home.

Barney, fixed today. 
I'd set things up a bit differently out there to catch the male this time.  I clothes pinned a white plastic bag to the back of the drop trap, so I could better see who was under it.  There is no light out there.

I also propped up a small flashlight on a crate about 20 feet from the drop trap, to give me a view of who might be under it.  Many of the other cats came and went, eating under it, although they were nervous about it, having been caught that way before.

Just after the Lebanon woman left, I heard noises on the stacks of pallets against one building.   I knew it was going to be him, probably had been sleeping up top of the stack.  He never hesitated one moment when he saw the food under the trap.  He went straight under it, his back to me, and I yanked the cord.

Immediately, he bounced around so violently in that drop trap, he moved it four feet.  It was going up and down too and I thought I might lose him.  I ran over and covered it and held it down at the same time.  I'd caught my thumb on wire at some point and it was bleeding.

Helicopters were going over, time after time, in the dark.  I wondered what was up with that and I hoped they were not looking down with a zoom camera because they would wonder what in the world I was doing.

It's not that easy alone in the dark to manage a drop trap transfer, but I got it done.  I was jumping up and down in circles, there out in the pitch black darkness, alone, arms up in victory!

The moment he went into a live trap from the transfer door of the drop trap, he behaved like a mouse. I wondered, 'Is this cat tame, or a lost boy perhaps?"

I call boys who roam off looking for love and never make it home again "lost boys" and there are plenty of them out there, on their own for x number of months or years, before they somehow end up somewhere that allows them time with love to "remember" that they're tame and all the good things that come with house cat living.

Cats who free roam unfixed and are tame, are a dilemma for those trying to solve overpopulation.  Are they owned, or lost or have they been dumped or left behind?   It should not be the burden of those trying to stop overpopulation to figure this out.  All free roaming cats should have ID, either a collar or chip.  Period.  And no cat should free roam unfixed.  Too many cats already and too many diseases being spread fighting and breeding.

So I asked Heartland when I took the cats over if they'd consider keeping him, if he seemed tame enough to them.  Tonight they said they would, but if he turns out not to be tame enough, they'll call me and I'll go fetch him. That way, if he stays there, he can be on his legal stray hold time, in case someone is missing him.  I doubt they are, because he's been hanging at the colony for some time, but you never know.

The colony cats don't have to put up with him terrorizing them and beating them up and I don't have to feed another cat out there.  So it's all good!

So, after his stray hold is up, and if he's tame enough to stay there, go see one awesome cat!!! He's a dark charcoal smoke and that makes for a gorgeous color combo.  He gets the "smoke" add on color label because he's got the white undercoat.  It's quite dramatic looking. He's also massive and I know there are people who love the fabulous huge boys!

Char, protesting something



It was a wild night, but I love that sort of catch and it was a good catch, because this boy was beating up the other cats.  They were scared of him, for good reason.  His size and attitude, being unfixed in a colony of fixed cats, not a good mix.

I forgot to tell about the kittens.  I had seen them on craigslist, a pair of whites, boy and girl, brother and sister, being given away, owners moving.  So I asked my rescue friend with Animal Rescue and Care Fund, if thye could take them. She said Yes!  Emphatically.

I called the people up and they were very willing to turn them over.  I picked them up after dropping off Char and Barney.  And off to meet ARCF in Wilsonville with those two lovely young kitties.  They'll get a great home but first, they went straight to the vet.  Their new names are Andrew and Alexia.

Alexia up front with her brother, Andrew behind.





10 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:09 PM

    I don't know why, but I always think of large males cats with his colouring as being very tough and strong, and yes, bullies.

    A job well done by you.

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    Replies
    1. Cause he looks like he came straight out of the fires of hell, barely scorched? He has been a bully out there. BEat up Tink and also Benji.

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  2. You have done really well.
    Sadly, life on the streets is so hard on cats that I think that only the tough, the strong and the bully boys have any hope of surviving.
    We had one of them move in with us. He had undoubtedly been a 'lost boy' but had been on the streets for a couple of years. Doing it tough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love helping the lost boys. Slinko is one of them. He lives here and it took him a year to "come out" as tame. Unfixed males have no friends. Some colonies are composed almost entirely of lost boys. Often they make the best most grateful house kitties ever.

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  3. I'm glad that you were finally able to catch Slinko. It's a winning situation for all involved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Slinko has been with me three years now. Char is the big boy I just trapped and is now at Heartland.

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  4. Just wondering... do you have much feline leukemia in the cats you trap? (or other non treatable diseases).... Looks like Char is a success story... yay!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rarer with the feline leukemia positive cats lately, used to be more testing positive for it. FIV (Feline Aids) mostly a fighting male disease is extremely common here however. If a male is free roaming unfixed and over two years of age, around here, boy, likely to be positive. Char was negative on both however, and so was the Ninja, the last male, I helped get trapped and fixed. He was young however, just approaching the age he'd fight the big boys. Nothobss was positive, the male before that I helped catch and fix, but they chose not to euthanize as anyone in their area he's fought, is already infected and once not fighting, it is not easily spread cat to cat, takes a bite wound infecting.

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  5. You are doing a great job! Those kittens are so cute, I am glad they were rescued from craigslist, I wish people wouldn't list animals on there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! They are very sweet kitties!

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