I just read all 19 pages of this, and I have to say that you are doing some serious work Jon!!! Well done on being compassionate and kind and quite the photographer. I've been toying with the idea of a cat for a while now, but I still am a little bit leery after a pretty traumatic cat experience when I was a child... This thread is not helping my desire to try again, haha.
Random Question- Do you know approximately how many cats you've personally rounded up for spay/neuter? It has to be 20-30+, right? Amazing work, both for the cats and for your community.
In reply to golfduke :
Thanks, things really evolved from early in this thread. I think that I've spayed and neutered 25 cats now. I've found homes for three kittens and adopted four. Feeding the 'Wilds' has become part of my daily routine in the morning and evening every day.
Getting a pet is nothing to rush into, but if it's right for you they can really enrich your life as you do theirs.
While I was at Rallycross today, a former coworker/friend that I don't see much anymore called to see if I had any kittens available.
"No, but there's three young kittens in my area. Do you want one? They're wild animals and will need to be socialized."
He grew up on a farm and said that's exactly what he'd like. I put out the small trap as soon as I got home and left it for 20 minutes.
He's a male and his current name is Theodore. Joe will be picking him up shortly.
Edit: When Joe picked up Theodore, he said that he'd be happy to take one more. I'll try trapping again tomorrow. I think Sasha still has three little ones.
He should still be able to tame the kittens at this point. Way to go!
Una attacks my foot.
I bend down and Miso jumps on my back, flexing her claws and gently biting.
It's time for me to learn to clip claws.
When I had Minnie at the vet, I told them that I felt like I had one more (Sasha) and I would be all caught up on spay and neuter with my local cats. Now it feels like I'm falling behind. At least two cats that I don't know have shown up in the last few days, plus I may be under-counting due to very similar markings. I need to make sure that the vet tattoos the ears of every cat I bring in going forward.
With the remaining little kittens, I posted this on a Facebook group associated with the local shelter:
Feral kittens usually do pretty well. This is one I rescued from work about 8 years ago, along with her brother. The other two from the litter were much more adventurous, and I suspect they ventured outside the building when either the owl or coyotes were around.
She got caught up in a conveyor belt before I could catch her. She was VERY cautious when people were near, so it took longer to gain her trust. She disappeared for two days, and I feared the worst. She lost her tail, had a bad cut on her left hind leg, and her left ear is permanently down. The leg healed quickly with the liquid antibiotic my vet gave me to put on her food, and she ate the food I put down near her new hiding spot.
It took several extended stays with the vet to get her right, and we even found a hidden problem after the other problems were taken care of. She had an impacted bowel as well.
But all that was in 2016, and she's been a very good cat, if a little bitey once my senior cat passed on. They were quite the couple.
In reply to racerfink :
lol, they are holding hands.
This week we plan to bring our kittens Una and PJ to be spayed.
The ferals all seem to be doing well. I have roughly twenty 'regulars' in the area that I have names for. Sasha's seven kittens from this year quickly grew the population.
She is very attentive to both of her litters still.
I have tried many times to trap her with no success. When I'm present, while the other cats eat, she watches everything from the terrace above the food bowls. If I have a trap, she will not come down.
Ok, I finally finished my grand cathouse. Now just waiting for some cold weather. I've got two black 2 year old toms that I've been feeding since last summer, one near my house in the neighbor's wood junk pile and one at my old job sight, a flood pumping station and flood wall. They are too feral to ever domesticate and not guaranteed to not spray even if spayed, I think. The pumping plant cat and his kitten are hanging just outside the back door of the pumping station in a large double walled and plastic wrapped straw insulated and stuffed cardboard box.
I've also got 6 maybe 6 month old kittens 5 that are the next door crazy cat lady that can't afford to fix her herd of cats living out of her garage that are reproducing of which I have one from last years batch that I rescued. I can't afford to fix them either and hardly any of the outdoor cats last very long up here by the north pole. At least none of these will freeze to death. Too bad North Dakota doesn't have a veterinarian school that could do a public service of fixing all of these poor feral strays that are everywhere.
Here's the Grand Cathouse and a few of it's new occupants. I need someone to paint some flowers and grass and cats to help camouflage the freezer.
Here is the link to my heating questions to the hive mind. GrassRootsMotorSports.com: HVAC Help Hooking Up a Thermostat Relay For Custom Use
As you can see, they are no longer skin and bones. Not shown is an orange and white kitten.
And probably dad.
And I can't forget our 5 inside rescue cats plus 1 rescue dog.
Hobbs, Marty, Agnes, Odie, and Edith plus Della the dog. Hobbs who was rescued by the Vet as a 6 week old. Marty and Agnes were born in my basement the day after I trapped Judy their mom who was living under a dead van in my yard along with their other 4 siblings in March just before a snow storm. 6 week old Odie who's mom stuck him in an upright 24" tall 18" dia. PVC pipe sitting in our yard, and finally 6 week old Edith who I heard mewing from behind the overhead door inside our garage. Della was abandoned at the Animal Shelter where she sat for 6 months because she was so abused and showed aggressive behavior. She's still crazy but has calmed down a lot with age.
Wife says that there is an invisible giant neon sign with an arrow that St Patrick stuck over our garage that says, "ANIMAL LOVERS HERE".
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
Great pics. It's funny how much some of those cats look like the ones I feed.
Our kittens are mostly recovered from being spayed. Una recovered quickly, but PJ disappeared in the house for almost a full day. We were worried, but she's fine now. She has always been more reclusive and sensitive than her sister Una.
I'm off tonight after a busy week+ of night shift. Relaxing at the back gate with Tom and Tanya. Sharing confidential patient information as I drink some cheap wine. Stuff like, " ...dude was screaming for the whole 40 minute flight." "She pulled out her IVs and blood went everywhere. "
Thomas likes to hear the details.