Trap till you drop

Lesley and I returned to that colony today to trap, and well it was almost a comedy how easy it was. The cats swarmed around while we were setting up, they were under the trap even without food!  We trapped a few more than we planned, two kittens showed so we couldn't leave them behind, I've got fosters (thank you Michelle and Susan) for all, fingers crossed they are tameable, I think so, but there are no guarantees.  

 Here's a cat who needed no socialization, Betty has settled in far too well at our place, but she needs to find a home of her own.  I'm surprised she hasn't been snapped up, young, friendly, pretty and loves other cats!

Sad news from a colony I feed at.  Last week I noticed that Tilda was very congested, I could hear her breathing and I was concerned.  I tried to trap her to get her to a vet but she wouldn't go near the trap.  Lynn and I returned yesterday with the drop trap and got her in five minutes.  Just a few hours later though the vet called to tell me that she died while under sedation, not only was her mouth was a disaster, her lungs were full of fluid.  Poor Tilda was clearly very ill, I wish I had realized sooner but ferals are such survivors, and it's hard to tell, you figure if they are eating they are ok.  RIP sweet Tilda she was a favourite of all the feeders.

OK maybe one more rescue before winter...

We've pretty much shut down TNR efforts for the winter, but I couldn't resist an email about a colony of cats that wasn't too far away and included white cats.  Sadly these cats probably are about six months old and could have been rescued had I known about them when they were kittens.  They don't seem that feral, and there were two beautiful white ones that we were able to pat.  I've convinced Michelle to take three to see if they can be socialized, wish we could take them all inside...

On the homefront my cats lined up for Black Friday, hoping for who knows what, but nobody wanted to miss out.

White cat Sunday

I guess winter is finally here, today was chilly so I hung around the house in my PJs until the afternoon.  I was feeling down I had an adoption last week that went sideways and it really discouraged me about the whole process.   So I thought I would share some photos of my rescued happy cats to remind myself that it's all worthwhile, I can't be brought down by an occasional bad experience.  

Bunny enjoying paper that came in a package 

Ernie with paws crossed

What's for dinner?

End to end

Funnily enough this next white cat isn't mine, but a recent rescue that Rick is fostering, she was abandoned, can you believe that!

Olivia needs a home

And Betty the dilute tortie I rescued last week, of course needed dental work, but the good news is that she's incredibly friendly, she's a lap cat, I think she didn't get the memo that she's supposed to be feral.

Tortie out of the cold

If you've been following my blog, you know I've been TNRing some cats near our colony, I've gotten five out of six females now.  The black and white will have to wait until spring, I know some people trap all winter, but I don't feel it's safe to return females with a shaved belly in this weather.

Connie and I have started feeding there as well, although a guy that works there feeds, for years they weren't taken care of on weekends, what a heartbreaking thought.

Recently one of the cats I TNRed has been coming up to me and let me pat her so with winter approaching I decided to try to get her inside and see if she's tameable.  Betty is a beautiful dilute tortie.  So on Saturday there she was, and she came over to me, I patted her, then just gently picked her up and put her into my big open top carrier.  Voila!  Geez, she was easier to get into a carrier than half my cats at home....

I took her to Raven's for assessment and good news, Raven pronounces her tame, she has been greeting her at the front of the cage, looking for pats.  I'm so glad, her location is much more dangerous than our colony, after all there must be a reason there are only six cats there even though none were ever fixed until I came along, and these six are young.  Apparently at one point there were 18 or more, what happened to them?  Coyotes, trucks, who knows, but what I do know, is that if a cat can be happy inside it's an infinitely better life.

My other colonies....

It was a rough week I must admit, two euthanasias back to back is hard to handle, so I cry but keep moving.  We picked up Hank today and took him back home.  He had a few days bed rest and some meds, his paw seems much better.  I was concerned that I hadn't seen Socks all week so I was very happy to see him with the gang today.

Socks, Minky and Lily

Cherry Street isn't my only feeding spot, I feed at four other places, oh wait it's actually five other spots, just not every day.

This is a laneway colony, the main feeder moved away so Richard and I now take care of them. There are seven cats here, 3 black, 3 gray and a Siamese.

On of my laneway colonies

And then there is my other laneway colony, these cats used to live in Gloria's backyard until she sold the house and moved away.  There are about ten cats left here.

Tilda at another laneway colony

I can't forget Mystery and her buddies.  They live on a city property, Mystery loves her shelter, she is always sitting in it when we arrive.

Mystery coming out of her shelter

I've got a couple of tame cats in foster care and hoping to rescue a couple of other possible tame ones before the winter.  It's almost time to put away the traps and get out the boots.  I'm hoping for a quieter and happier week....

RIP Sweet Sally

Sandi called me yesterday to tell me that she noticed Hank not putting any weight on one paw and that Sally had a wound on her chest.  My heart sank, they are both so old and Sally especially has been looking quite rough lately.

I enlisted Connie to help thinking I would have to use a drop trap but amazingly I managed to catch both of them in regular traps using a stick and string method.  Sally went straight in for the tuna and catnip combo, it took Hank a bit longer but he succumbed to its lure as well.

I rushed them up to the vet cursing inner city traffic.  I used a new clinic so was a bit nervous but they all seemed very caring.  Sadly my phone rang about 5 o'clock with bad news, Sally's wound was actually a tumour, she had mammary tumours everywhere.  There was no choice but to let Sally cross over the rainbow bridge.

Sally in better days

I'm very sad of course, we all loved little Sally but I'm so grateful Sandi noticed it before she was truly suffering.  Sally had been eating well, I always fed that bunch Fancy Feast and she had her nice trailer to sleep in.  It was a beautiful day today and she won't have to endure another winter.

We will miss you sweet Sally as we miss all our feral friends.

After that phone call, I was nervous about Hank, but so far it looks like it's a soft tissue injury, we will try some rest and anti-inflammatories and hope he improves.

Mass trapping

Lesley and headed out yesterday afternoon on one of our last trapping missions before the winter. We showed up at one colony in Scarborough and only caught one cat but discovered another down the street.  We moved on to North York where many of the cats are young and semi-feral and in one hour trapped nine of them!  I would just put out a trap and a cat would go in, love those colonies, but of course there were two smart older females who eschewed the traps.

We also rescued two very cute orange kittens

Cats lined up at the recovery centre

Cat waiting in the bushes, we eventually got him

Pretty orange cat in the trap

On a sad note, one of my recent rescues had to euthanized today, we suspect it was FIP, he had stopped eating and was full of fluid.  It was a real heartbreaker, he was a young cat.  Sometimes this is a really tough racket to be in.

And Hank and Sally are injured, I must shift my focus and work on trapping them and getting them medical care.  I'm especially concerned as they are pretty ancient.  I think I need a glass of wine...

Penny reappears, Bright Eyes disappears

When Penny's car was moved a couple of weeks ago, we didn't know where she went.  We figured she had found a new spot somewhere nearby.   I've been leaving food just across the where the car was, and thankfully she has been seen there the last few days.  There are lots of boats in that area so hopefully she has a warm place for the winter, I've put a shelter under the boats as well.

Sadly though, Bright Eyes has not been seen for over two weeks, and she was a regular.  I can only think that she has died, she had to cross the driveway where the big trucks go, I always worried about her safety.  As with all of them, it's so painful when they are gone.

Our numbers keep dwindling, we are down to 13 or 14 cats now.  At one point about 4 or 5 years ago, we were feeding 20+ cats.  It's a hard short life for a feral, and ours are the lucky ones with a regular food source.