I caught five cats today at the new colony.
Its between an RV park and a junk yard.
Two of the cats had already been caught and fixed, but I could quickly ID which two those were from photos the lady sent me who trapped them, and from their ear tips. It wasn't an easy place. I had to cross a ditch, by going down into it then up the far bank. And the ditch was muddy and slick from recent rains.
I made a trap cover, from old wood, quickly this morning since I knew it likely would rain and there was no cover whatsoever. There wasn't much of anywhere to watch the trap from either. Oh well. I sat pulled off the little road as far as I could in my car with the flashers on. Worked ok.
The guy who feeds came biking down to chat. He's a nice guy. Caught the five quickly, interupted only by falling flat, face first, when I slipped coming down the bank. I was suddenly on the far side of the ditch, with my face buried in mud. I was pleasantly surprised, even impressed, that afterwards, I could get right up. Wow I thought. A friend said she could hear the Rocky theme playing in her head when I described it. The little things these days that make me happy.
I was however quite dirty.
That was not the only accident of the day. I wasn't even dressed when I was making the trap cover this morning, in the garage, and somehow stepped barefoot on a tines up "rake", which is a hard tined cat hair comb. I use it on the neighbors cat, Gigi, when she comes. She likes to be brushed. It's not likable to have the tines stuck in your heel, however. The tines did not penetrate although one tine stuck in my heel callous. I was hopping around trying to shake that thing off. My heel is bruised now.
Anyhow, I caught five of the cats. I only have five reservations Monday that were procured by the woman who was going to trap the colony, then had to move across country and offered them up to anyone who would help by catching them. So now seven will be fixed, once these five are done.
Dirty wet pants after the fall |
Dirty shirt too |
Didn't catch either of these |
Did catch this guy |
Wish I had caught this calico. That's my trap cover |
Here are the five I did catch. I've named them now and they're being fixed today. All are black and white. This is Chinny, for that black chin spot. Chinny is a girl! |
Among them, a long hair black tux and a short hair black tux. Prancer! Prancer, too, is a girl, and was in heat at spay. |
Blitzen is the only boy. |
Dancer! Dancer was post partum and has had kittens at some point in the last few months. |
Donner is a girl. |
Well, that was my day. I decided I deserved some ice cream and found some Tillamook Oregon Dark Cherry. Love it!
Tomorrow I don't have to do much of anything and I am greatly looking forward to that.
It always surprises me how calm and happy cats look in cages after the stress of being caught and travelling.
ReplyDeleteI think the catnip helps. I spray the traps with it.
DeleteYou CERTAINLY deserved that ice cream and I hope it was as delicious as it sounds.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed that you were able to get up again after your face plant. Impressed and pleased.
And ouch on the cat rake.
Yup, on the cat rake accident. I try to keep it under my chair out in the garage, tines down, but it wasn't in its place yesterday.
DeleteI'm glad you didn't get hurt from your fall although getting muddy head-to-toe could not have been not fun. My husband visited the Tillamook dairy on his trip to Oregon and enjoyed it. We don't have their ice cream here in the east.
ReplyDeleteAh, I don't mind getting dirty. But I did take a nice shower later when I got home. I love Tillamook ice cream. It's not sickeningly sweet like some ice creams. And they flavors they put out!!!
DeleteAww the b&w one looks like a skunk 🦨
ReplyDeleteWhich one? All five I caught were black and white. I hope there are no skunks where I trap. I always hope that. Don't want "skunked".
DeleteI hope you're not hurting now after that fall. ~hugs~ And the ice cream makers seem like folks whose craft we would adore. Best wishes to you and all your rescues, plus those in waiting.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm fine. Mud is at least very soft.
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