The colony had only 12 spots at the FCCO today.
But we caught 14 cats.
This happened because the caretaker and I miscommunicated I guess and she thought the two traps still set were empty, when we were up to 12 cats. But when I arrived to get the last two they'd caught there, there were two more cats sitting in the traps, one on the front porch, one on the back porch.
Since our luck had diminished significantly as the day passed, there was not a lot of reason to believe suddenly there'd be two cats caught, and unfixed ones at that.
A Lebanon woman volunteered to drive them up and back, which was a huge help. She left with them about an hour ago.
I just loaded them up in her small pickup (with canopy) and off she went. Good luck to her and the cats.
I had helped Keithas Kitties catch a pregnant young very ill buff orange female, behind a local gas station a couple days ago. She came running to my car, but I couldn't get a hold of her scruff to put her in a trap. Almost could but not quite. Her breathing was so loud and raspy from mucous and the drainage from her eyes and nose severe. I set up my drop trap fast and caught her quickly.
She's with KKR now. They took her to the vet to get her going on antibiotics and they looked to see if she was indeed pregnant and she has just one huge kitten inside her. They said its so huge and she's so small she may need a C section. Karen of KKR took this photo of me luring her in. She had trouble finding even very smelly wet food due to her URI.
The sad thing is this isn't very far from the ditch colony and there are probably 20 more cats here needing fixed. I just have to find the reservations and get it done fast somehow.
Ok, here are photos of 13 of the 14 cats headed up right now. I feel good that 14 more local cats will be done. There are even more needing caught at the Crabtree colony. I didn't even know of the last two caught. They were not on the list I had of ones I had seen and still needed caught. I still have four on my list there, needing fixed, but who knows how many there really are.
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| Black tux, male I think, with URI |
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| Young adult dmh black |
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| Teenage black |
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| Torti |
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| Black female teen, with her muted torti sister |
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| Muted torti |
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| Gorgeous sleek black tux |
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| Lilac Point Siamese |
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Black tux   |
I am so glad that you are off the hook on the transport front, and very glad that someone has stepped up to help.
ReplyDeleteThank you all.
Oh gosh, it wears me out to trap late the night before, set the cats up for the night, then transport clear to Portland early morning. So I was beyond grateful for the help!
DeleteThat's a lot. Glad you had some help.
ReplyDeleteYes, a lot of cats, and yes, the help in transport is tremendous.
DeleteYou are getting some high numbers at the moment. I hope you can keep getting enough reservations.
ReplyDeleteMe too Andrew. I still intend to take summer off, so now I need to get the reservations to get the new colony done.
DeleteThere seem like a lot feral cats in your area. Question...Does anyone actually have an average of feral cats?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Hawaii (Big Island) they had colony sat up for such cats, not sure if anyone caught and got them fix or not.
Coffee is on and stay safe
we have high numbers of people who don't fix their pets here, then leave them behind. We have huge drug problems too and homeless who have pets, but neither group usually get their pets fixed and often leave them behind. They then breed and form feral colonies. Hawaii has some very aggressive spay neuter efforts. A Heartland Humane vet tech is over there now working spay neuter clinics, large scale, on Maui. I wish they'd pay my way over to trap, be worth it to get out of this dismal rain for awhile.
DeleteEvery cat I've ever had did not like to travel in a vehicle, and expressed their opinion loudly during the whole trip. I can only imagine the din of 14 cats!
ReplyDeleteFerals don't complain. they would never do that, as being loud draws attention to oneself and that can bring danger. It's why I don't mind having ferals living with me in the house. They're so much easier than needy entitled tame cats, lol. They take care of themselves, play, have cat best friends, and I clean up after them, the servant, again I'm laughing at myself. Ferals are easy, in other words, compared to house cats.
DeleteThat's fascinating! You are an awesome caretaker. :D 'Easy' is a relative term, too, and not many indoor cats get the level of care you provide. ~hugs~ Best wishes, my dear.
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