just a cat

It's been three months since my last cat, Shaybe, passed. The house was empty and lonely. I really missed having a cat or two, or more as a companion. My wife and I packed up all of the cat toys, beds, and accessories to the basement. We had no idea how much we had until it was all in one place. 

I read the book, PS I Love You More Than Tuna several times a week and cried a lot. 

A Facebook ad for a local cat rescue group popped up in my feed. I started following them and I saw a stray cat that they took in who was being fostered. I was interested enough that I filled out an online application to adopt. Days went by with no response. Frustrated,  I did an online application from our local humane society and was approved the next day. 

My wife and I talked about what we wanted in cats. Our preference was for a bonded pair that was outgoing and energetic. We looked at several single cats and then we found these guys. A 5 month old pair of brothers named Harry and Tony. They had been brought to the shelter as strays about a month ago. We spent some time with them in an adoption room and realized that they were a perfect fit.

We brought them home on Thursday evening and they're warming up to us quickly. They're also getting very comfortable in a few rooms of the house so far. I haven't felt this good in a while.

Hey!! wait a minute that's Fonzie and Louie ......they'er out back with the other twentyseven.......

Here's Marty, your kitty's 17lb giant clone.  Dwarfed by Hobbs, his normal sized 16lb fat cat older brother. Your other black stripes and white kitten is his brother Milton.

It's weird, I own the world's greatest 3.1 stereo. The cat's and dog love it.... as do I. Not so much SHMBO. The above photo is of them listening.

For my records...

Current census from 2 evening feedings: Kittens - Paulie, Fluffy, Tucker. Adults - Big Tom, Molly, Blacktail, Callie, Ranger, Sylvester ii, A mostly white cat that runs away on sight that is possibly Matilda. Rarely seen, but likely in the area: Sylvester and East-Side.

Most of the cats that I have trapped are cautious and watch from a distance when I am around. We are no longer 'friends'. Paulie is an exception and is coming close again.

Tom has been healing well. I probably mentioned it earlier, but he is more of a neighborhood cat than a wild feral. I know neighbors that have fed him over the years and I expect that he was abandoned years ago rather than completely growing up in the wild. Tucker is close with him.

My prime target for trapping now is Fluffy. I am pretty sure Fluffy is female, but I have not been able to get a good look. Old enough to spay now and often visible in the mornings. She is fairly tolerant of my presence, but is wise to the traps after observing the fate of others.

Sticking her tongue out at me after evading two traps:

Goostav shows up most evenings and will follow me until I feed him. I picked up some cracked corn the last time I was shopping and he loves it. All of the cats except for Fluffy ignore Goostav. I hope it's just curiosity and she has no plans for fowl play.

Gotta love Goostav...

One of our cats tried to get one in the backyard once.  It was like small animal rodeo, he made it a couple seconds.  No, the goose was unable to take off with Gary riding him.  I admit I was slightly disappointed. 

I have been trying to trap Big Tom for a couple months now. I'm pretty sure that knows the basic function and what traps do. He sits outside the trap and waits for me to lose patience, knowing that he will eventually get the bait when I give up. Today Fluffy went for the bait in the drop trap while he was sitting nearby watching. I was happy to get her, but still want to get Tom in soon for neuter and care. He has a new wound next to his eye.

Edit: Fluffy is a male. I'm betting now that Tucker is female.

With the weather getting colder the food bowls are empty quicker. I had been doing a small feeding in the morning to lure cats for trapping, but now it's a full feeding in the morning and evening. A two quart pitcher of dry food and three cans at both feedings.

Goostav was last observed a few days ago at the far side of the pond with a group of four other geese. He can do short flights and I think he has joined them now for the season.

A new cat has been showing up for a few days now. New to me, but it seems socially well accepted in the colony. It appears slightly younger than the other kittens and Callie is always in over watch when I see it.

Solid white except for the tail and a black swoosh on the head. Nike. I don't know what litter it is from and first observed it less than a week ago. When I brought Callie in to be spayed, Bill said that she was lactating and I have not seen her with a litter. Could Nike be from Matilda and raised by Callie? I can make up all sorts of stories, but will never know.

Nike this morning.

With Fluffy

With Tucker

With Thomas

That gash behind Tom's right ear seems to be healing well, at least to my untrained eye. 

This week, I had two days of attempted trapping with zero success. Last night at feeding, I looked up the hill and saw three kittens about 8 weeks old emerge with Callie.

This week I also noticed that Tucker definitely is female, now named Tanya and that a gray cat I have seen at a distance and mistaken for Molly, is a new adult cat. Tanya also looked like her belly may be growing with kittens.

Last night I was feeling pretty defeated in my goal of managing the cat population; New kittens showing up with Callie, Black Tail likely to have newborn kittens hidden somewhere, and 'Tucker' possibly pregnant.

This morning I had some time and went trapping. Thomas and Tanya immediately went in the trap. I did not have a good way to handle two cats at once, but saw the shot and took it. Big Success!

It took a while to manage getting them into separate carriers to go to the vet. Tanya went into the 'transport-trap', then had to be wrangled into a regular carrier with a gloved hand. Thomas did not panic. Normally I can cause cats to retreat into the transport trap by approaching the drop trap and waving a hand towards them. When I tried that with Tom, he just sat and watched. He let me reach through the mesh and  rub his head and scratch his ears, but he did not want to move into the transport cage. Finally he went in and as the door closed down, he rolled on his back comically and put his paws up in the air.

They are both with Bill now and I plan to leave them overnight and release them tomorrow morning.

Goblin inflicting death from above this morning in the tack room at the barn

Sweetie Slasher. Not a typical spot for her, I think she was trying it out.

Her number one choice is a reusable grocery bag. I have no idea why.

Sooo, question about feral-ness...

Last night I saw a kitten run by on my deck. My first comment to my son was 'Do NOT tell your mother about that!'  He promptly goes out and actually gets a hand on it for a few seconds before it tries to amputate his hand and bails off the side of the deck.  It's still around this afternoon, as seen on camera:

Edit, looking at the pic now reminds me of a bigfoot sighting, but you get the idea...

Terrified of cars on the road, which I take as a good thing.  Im guessing its in the 5-6mo range. He already has two potential homes lined up pending capture.  How domesticatable (sp?) is a 6mo kitten at this point?

Man, I got "lucky" today. From the minor win thread:

Today I thought that my 16yo cat buddy, Maynard James Katso, was going to be put down.  He's really not been doing great for the last week or so.

Turns out he may have a treatable chronic kidney problem and has a good chance of coming back into a comfortable life. The next few days will tell I guess.

Not sure a chronic kidney disease is a win, but I hope to see and hold him again when I get home on Thursday so that sure is.

Emotional rollercoaster the last couple days.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

VolvoHeretic and some others can probably give you a better answer, but for me anything beyond 12 weeks in the wild is going to be a bit difficult. 

If it can be contained in a safe comfortable area for a month or so, I expect that it will adapt. The oldest one that I could get a home for was Audrey and she has settled in to the life of a reclusive, but present barn cat.

I used to think that I had three or four feral cats nearby. When I started putting food out for them regularly, I realized that there were more than ten. Some similar looking cats that I thought were a single cat turned out to be three. I'm just saying this to make sure you are aware that things can escalate quickly if you start caring for them in the wild. As hobiercr says later in this thread, TNR may be the best option and maybe getting familiar with it or them at feedings. Un-spayed/neutered cats make more cats quickly. If it is a female and 6 months old, it could happen soon.

In reply to preach :

You will be amazed at how he will respond to the fluids. We have now had 4 cats with chronic kidney disease. One lasted over two years getting subcutaneous fluids. They don't like it at first, but eventually realize that it makes them feel better. Chewy and a number of online retailers sell the Lactaided Ringers, line sets, and needles you will need. Get your vet to give you a hard copy script with unlimited refills for you to send to the retailer. They all seem to want the hard copy mailed these days.

At some point, the disease will overpower the organs. The kidney disease makes them feel super nauseous so in later stages we use antacids to help with their appetite. Keep them eating and topped up on fluids and they will amaze you at their strength. Your vet will let you know how much/often to give them fluids. It normally starts at x1/week, but can go to x2 or x3 as needed. Our current recipient, Mr Bones, gets 100ml 3x/week. Make sure you do a follow-up with the vet 1/2 months in to see how his levels are. Make sure they listen to his heart/lungs. Our last cat, Izzy, had a heart murmur and eventually the combating kidney disease (fluids) and congestive heart failure (oxygen tent) treatments gave us a non-winning battle. She was such a fighter.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

6mo is tough, but doable. Worst case, you can TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) the cat and feed it outside. I've posted links to the Flatbush Cats YouTube channel before. Lots of information there. With ferals, it's all about getting them comfortable with you there during feeding, then amping up the contact.

In reply to hobiercr :

Apparently my man was strutting his stuff this afternoon and looking way better after the fluids and such from this morning. I get to see him again Thursday and cannot wait.

Preach, great news after the emotional roller coaster!

Jon hopefully your flight was as uneventful as possible. Thanks to you and hobie for initial thoughts.

Step 0 will be capture. Haven't had any other sightings since this morning. 

is a dog crate in the garage OK should we have success? I don't want to bring it inside for awhile, as there's a large population already in the house.

In reply to preach :

You will be amazed! So glad he is feeling better. Give that boy some love when you get home.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

Dog crate ok? Initially, yes, but you are going to want to give him some space where he can be as relaxed and comfortable as possible. As long as you can keep him separate from the internal pack (spare room/bathroom, etc.) it will give min/her more room to chill. 

XLR99 (Forum Supporter) said:

Sooo, question about feral-ness...

  How domesticatable (sp?) is a 6mo kitten at this point?

I would say it is very doable at that age but it will take a lot of patience and time. A dog crate is perfect while you keep it in quarantine for two weeks after you get it to the vet for a checkup and shots although it's pretty crowded with a bed, food and water dishes, and a litter box (I built a sleeping loft in our crate). We also put a blanket over the top so that the cats don't feel too threatened. 

Our laundry room includes the underside of the basement steps into which I built and installed a screen door for the pregnant female I caught the day before she gave birth. I pretty much lived in the laundry room getting Judy to kind of trust me and she still tried to kill me on a few occasions (protective new mama).  Eventually, she and the kittens had free roam of the laundry room but still liked sleeping in the stairway kennel. She turned into the nicest cat ever except she hated our Black Lab dog and tried to kill her every time their paths crossed. She got adapted quickly. We also had one other male cat and after about 2 months, we introduced them all together and they got along great.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

Do you get down to the Cincinnati area at all?  I have a large cat cage with three platforms stashed away from when I had a cat with severe behavioral issues.  It would need a bit of repair/patch work, as it has a hole cut in one side when I made an "addition" to it when my cat hit a point where he couldn't safely climb onto the higher levels.

It's probably not worth the gas cost if you aren't already headed this way,  but you are welcome to it if you want.