Mopping Up

I am currently attempting to mop up colonies.

Meaning catch any cats I missed first go around.

I wasn't so successful on the dead end street in Sweet Home a week ago Friday night.

I caught 9 cats there in October, 7 adults and 2 kittens.   I knew there was one more calico and maybe a brown tabby girl, really skinny.

I sat there for hours.  Finally the calico came out with her two older kittens.  But just as they headed under the drop trap to eat, out of the house came the old couple who feed them, spooking them off.   An hour later, the orange teen kitten returned but not the calico and tabby teen.  So I went away with only him.  I named him Kimba for the records and he was fixed last Monday and returned.

The Egg Place colony has two unfixed cats left.  The rest are all fixed and Karen got 12 or so of the cats, kittens into other venues for adoption, which was terrific.  The lady who feeds called me yesterday stating her unemployment ran out and she needs help with cat food.  She said she called teh FCCO for help and they said come on by and get some at the clinic, but then realized she lives in Sweet Home.  The clinic is in Portland.  Like that would work.  So she called me.

I took her up a bag of food.  She said she'd be home but she wasn't.  Some family emergency she said by text.  The storage bin she told me to put the food in had three inches of water in it, so I wasn't going to put cat food in that.  It was one of those side opening food storage bins and they always leak in the rain.  I put it somewhere else, out of the rain.

Chickens roamed around my car.  One rooster seemed like a monster in size, towering over the cats who cowered when he came near.  The hungry cats swarmed.

They want fed!

I spot the unfixed tabby.  I think.

This darling girl was in my bathroom awhile back in November before she was fixed.

I had brought a trap for her to try to catch the remaining two unfixed cats.  We use the water bottle under the door trick there, with line tied around the bottle neck to yank the bottle out from under the door when the right cat is in there eating.

I figured I'd give it a go myself, since she was gone and the cats were hungry and for once it wasn't raining, which was why I was out and about yesterday.   It's supposed to pour now for days.

Finally the tabby without an ear tip, at least I hope its the right tabby, was in the trap eating alone, and I yanked the bottle out from under the trap door, then quickly got out and covered the trap with the frightened cat inside.  I left out food in several places for the other cats.  The free roaming chickens, who are very food aggressive, will eat a lot of it.

One of the two unfixed cats caught there at least.

Then I went up to the Ridgeway colony where there are still six unfixed cats.  We caught 13 of them the 18th who were fixed the 19th at the FCCO and returned, except for Sinbad, the tame little orange tabby boy, who remained in my bathroom and then went to OHS and was quickly adopted.

They'd contained a torti I'd never seen in the carrier I'd left them.  When I arrived, I saw Bobbie T, who also needs caught and fixed, sitting beside the carrier inside of which was the torti they call Fat Vicki.  She's certainly not fat.

I set up the drop trap quickly then, and caught Bobbie T, the skinny little orange and white bobtail teen girl who still needs fixed.  And within another forty minutes, caught Calici, the other young girl.  All three are tame, especially Fat Vicki, and they would love for them to get homes rather than return as they can't feed them all adequately.

There are still three unfixed males there, one of them tame, and owned by the guy who lives there, and two wilder buff boys.  I left the drop trap there as they said they would try to catch the buff boys later on.  Hope they can!

The three girls are in my bathroom and certainly should  not go back if they can get homes.  They are delightful.  Calici and Bobbie are shyer than Vicki who is extremely social but underweight, as all from there have been.

At least I got the remaining girls there.  Being OCD, I want those boys too, to be fixed.

There are still the cats across the street needing done.  Six there I believe, but first things first.

I have seven reservations for Monday, but the three Ridgeway girls won't go off to be fixed because I think all can get done at the FCCO under the Kitten Caboose program then go off to be adopted.  Karen, in Portland, has some appointments in that program but not for almost two weeks.  In the meantime, they'll be in my bathroom most likely living the easy life and eating everything they want.

As for my elbow, I am following my own plan for it.  I wear a tight sock with the toe cut off, over it at night, to compress the bubble, after applying aspercreme.  Mornings I ice it while drinking coffee, then apply cortisone ointment.  I take Aleve by mouth once a day. I wear a brace I bought at Fred Meyer during the day but its super useless as it affords neither elbow protection nor compression.  My sock, with the toe cut off, slipped up over my elbow, works far better in both regards.  And is prettier!

 In another few days I'll drain it myself then compress it down tight using sports tape and hope it doesn't try to refill.  That's my plan so far.  I also wear a sling when I'm home to keep me from over using that arm.