Another first - kittens born in a trap

Some of you may remember me blogging about cats and kittens in Rosedale that I've been trying to help in the last couple of years.  A female I was trying to get last year disappeared from her usual feeding spot.  Through a cat connection, I discovered she had moved down the street.

Val, who fed her all winter, was happy to help with getting her trapped and spayed so last weekend I took her a trap and thankfully caught her without much trouble.  Val suspected Princess was pregnant, at this time of year, pretty much all unspayed females are pregnant or have had kittens.

I did the usual show up at THS at 630 yesterday morning and left her to be spayed.  My phone rang at 1230 and it was THS telling me that Princess gave birth to kittens while in the trap waiting to be spayed.  A first for me even with all the cats I've trapped.  I had a moment of panic, what to do, couldn't put her back outside, but it's challenging with a feral mom and kittens, they have to be confined and it's stressful for the mom and tricky getting access to the kittens.  Mom has to stay with the kittens until they are weaned and then be spayed.

Thankfully Raven, who does recovery, stepped up and agreed to take the little family in for now.

I was happy to hear that the kittens made it through their first night!  Guess kitten season is really here.  Welcome to the world little ones, you will have homes and momma won't have any more kittens.

Teach a woman to trap

What's the old saying, give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.  Well, in my world, it's extremely satisfying teaching someone to trap. Everyone thinks trapping is some mysterious skill, well it's not, it's equipment, patience, luck and timing mostly.  Karen feeds at a nearby colony and she reached out when a cat who has remained unneutered showed up with a wound.  We went out Tuesday evening to try to trap him but no cat.

I wasn't available the next day so I showed her how to set up the trap, and with this colony a stick and string was needed, all the other cats were keen to go in of course.  Wed morning she went at the normal feeding time (this is important) and fed the other cats, no Frankie.  Finally he showed up and in he went after a bit of hesitation.  Karen told me her heart was pounding as she waited for him to get far enough in.  Boom, she pulled the string and she had him.

Since he had a wound we decided to take him directly to a vet instead of the TNR clinic.  Karen was so excited, her first solo trapping and she got the cat!  Frankie has been neutered but needed to have his canines removed so he's recovering at Raven's now.

Spring has sprung and I have a list of cats to trap, most are holdovers from last year, got to get to work.

Frankie in the trap

Here are two of my beautiful boys at home.  I put this new bed down when I came in the house with it, but now it's the most popular spot in the whole place so I guess it's staying put.  Such a cat thing.

Buddy and Oliver

I got up the other morning and went downstairs to scoop the boxes and honest to god this is what I found, a heart in the litter.

First kittens of the year!

You know what spring means?  Yes wonderful warmth for sure but it also means the return of kitten season.  Denise called me to say she met a guy who lives near her who had a mom and kittens that he couldn't keep so Tania, Denise and I went to see them yesterday.

The guy (I don't even know his name) let us into the enclosed porch of his house, we could barely fit there was so much junk and he brought in a plastic storage tub.  Inside was a beautiful brown and white tabby and three little kittens.  The more he talked the sketchier the story got, did he rescue them or was she just his unspayed cat, he had 16 cats at one point, they knew him at THS (and not in a good way).  The cats seemed a bit skittish, but who wouldn't be in a storage tub, but all looked healthy, so we just said we will take them and got out of there.  I always know it's not a good situation when the cats don't even have names. Tania took them to her place and then thankfully Michelle agreed to foster them.  Turns out Mom is super friendly and of course the kittens are beyond cute.

Two gorgeous girls needing homes

I'm so happy that spring seems to be here, the only downside is the winter quiet yard will soon be filled with grumpy boat owners complaining about cats.  Lily seems just fine and totally back to normal after her dental, it must feel so much better not to be in pain.

Kitten season is just around the corner so I must get back to TNRing.  Two of last year's kittens still need homes, they were rescued just as winter was approaching, they were probably a bit too old, and have been taking a lot of work and time to be socialized.  Six months old, still shy but just about ready for adoption by a patient home.  Such pretty kittens!  Joanne is working her magic with them.

Clara

Cassie