Phase two of the colony shutdown

This week I decided it was time to trap Lily and Minky, since the dumpster area is chaotic and they had a home to go to with Verena.  I tried Tuesday evening using my plexiglass and wood box trap.  It's been set up there for ages and since it isn't metal doesn't look or sound like a trap.  

Totally to my surprise Tibbs went in, but I didn't have a plan for her so I just let her eat.  No luck with Lily and Minky though, I wanted to trap them together or at least Minky first as I thought she would be tricky to get.

I returned on Wednesday with Michelle, and we set it up, and Tibbs went right in again sigh.  Then we moved our cars hoping the cats would think we had left and snuck back.  Next thing we knew Lily was going in and then Minky with her!  I pulled the string, the door came down and we had them!  Such an emotional moment.

 Off I drove to the vet with them.  The next day was a nail biter, waiting to hear about them.  Lily checked out just fine, she already had all her teeth removed previously.  Minky unfortunately wasn't the same, she had multiple health issues, I can't say I was surprised, she was looking very rough lately and we suspected she might be close to 14.  Heartbreakingly we decided it was best to let her cross the rainbow bridge.  RIP sweet Minky, I like to think she is running free in a meadow somewhere with her other BFFs, Socks and Clyde, who passed on before.  It is the harsh and sad reality of dealing with cats who have lived outdoors their entire lives.

When that door closed though one opened for Tibbs.  Verena had so kindly offered to take two cats so she agreed to open her heart and home to Lily and now Tibbs as well.  I quickly went down and within minutes Tibbs went in the box trap.  I thought I would never be able to catch her, she was only trapped in 2009 with her kittens, you can read about that in one my very first blog postings.  Tibbs is pretty feral so we are hoping she will adjust to being inside.  So far all looks good with her, most of her teeth have fall out, just waiting on bloodwork.

I've been kind of in shock the last day or two, it's all happening so fast, and now our colony has gone from seven to three, and I'm relieved but sad, so many emotions. In just a couple of weeks I will be getting the last three cats out of there and that will be the end of this colony.  I'm so profoundly grateful to Vinyse and Derek, Verena and Josh and Susan for agreeing to take these cats in!  I am awed by their generosity....

Lazy Sunday

We had a great day on Saturday with the sale, met lots of great people and raised lots of money to help cats!  I'm a bit tired today but this week I must refocus on trapping Lily and Minky, you will hearing a lot of that on the blog.  Most mornings now I wake up with a feeling of worry about the colony, over the last few days an entire building was taken down, it is really happening, after nine years of feeding at that spot.   It will be a tough transition for me - and for the cats!

Luckily further down the street at one of our offshoot colonies things are calmer, and Patches was just hanging out on a hot afternoon.

It's sale time!

It's time for our annual sale!  If you are in the east end of Toronto please join us at 1101 Queen Street East this Saturday June 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., we will have lots of great stuff for sale to raise money for the cats!  I have boxes and boxes in my basement and now spilling onto my porch, this year we will have plants, too, but no kittens LOL.  This is Frankie, one of the cuties from last year!  He had wounds on his legs when rescued, but recovered and found a fantastic home!  Hope to see you tomorrow! 

Stubby goes home (to a new one!)

It's been an emotional happy sad few days.  Vinyse and Derek fell in love with Stubby as we all have and agreed to adopt him.  We all said our goodbyes to him and on Tuesday Vinyse was able to scoop him up and get him into a carrier.

Kent says goodbye

Off we went to the vet, and thankfully all was good with our Stubb stubbs.  I tearfully delivered him to Derek and Vinyse's place last night.  They have a lovely room all set up for him.  I am so happy he will never be cold or wet again.  I was worried he would be terrified and hide (he doesn't do well at the vet) but they got a webcam and there is footage of him exploring his room, jumping on a cat tree, looking out the window.

Stubby on his way to the vet

So encouraging!  I know it will be a tough transition for him but I feel like he found the perfect home!  Now I have to work on Lily and Minky, I tried today, Lily wasn't around, and Minky only partway in, they will be way more challenging.

Up a ladder to save kittens and some sad news for the colony

It's an endless stream of requests for help with kittens.  An email came in about kittens in a garage, turned out it was a laneway we did a lot of work in last year.  Off we went to check it out and discovered the smart mama had stashed her kittens up on a shelf in a garage much to the homeowners dismay.  I climbed the ladder to set up the trap and we trapped mom then one kitten.  It took another day before we could get the last kitten but we did!  I kept thinking please don't let me fall off the ladder, I've just recovered from my bite.  Who knew cat rescue could be so dangerous?

Unfortunately we got some really distressing news this week, what I've always been afraid of has come to be, and everyone has to be out of the yard by October 1, so I'm frantically trying to find places for my seven cats there.  I'm beside myself with worry about their future, it's the end of an era, after nine years of feeding there.

Kitten imports

Thankfully my arm is healing up and I'm almost done my rabies shots, that was quite the week!  Time to get back to work, the kittens keep coming!  Tory, who used to feed at Cherry Street, is in the process to moving to an area outside Napanee, and of course her neighbour has a bunch of unfixed cats and kittens.  It's a bit out of range, so thankfully I found a local rescue to help fix the adults.  They have a ton of kittens there so we are doing some kitten transport, ten so far, they will find great homes here.

We still have local kittens to rescue too!  So far this year we have rescued more than 50 kittens and trapped/fixed/rescued more than 30 adults!