The missing kitten is found!

I have to give Effie a lot of credit, after the kittens were lost on Yonge Street, she searched three or four times a day and put up over 100 posters for the female who was still out there.

It paid off, yesterday she got a call that the kitten had been spotted.  We took a trap over today and I got the best message tonight that they caught her!  What a relief, and before the big storm.  She will go off to the vet tomorrow to be spayed.

First kitten of 2016

And now for some good news!  I trapped my first kitten of the year!  A week ago I got an email about a mom and 2 kittens, I went and saw them and returned two days later to trap them but they had disappeared.  A woman living in the building has been leaving food and keeping an eye out for them and yesterday she spotted one kitten and the mom.  I went today as soon as I could and quickly trapped this cute fluffy kitten, I'm guessing eight weeks old.  Mom took off once I trapped the kitten and there was no sign of the other but I will persist.

At least this one is safe and on its way to Joanne's for some kitten taming.

Some days....

Some days I hate this cat rescue racket, so I'm posting some happy pictures to make me feel better.  A friend of ours is teaching English and has a cat crazy student, she was disappointed by the cat cafe so she came to our house instead.  With the lure of temptations our guys were pretty cooperative and she had a great time.

Buddy does a high five

Our cats pose with Eva

The reason I'm feeling bummed out tonight is I've been working with a woman in Rosedale feeding feral cats in her yard.  Two of the older kittens have become somewhat tame and she found them a home and we lined up a vet appointment for their spay neuter today.  She enticed them into a dog crate this morning but on her way to the vet the bottom fell out and two semi-feral kittens were loose on Yonge Street.  She found one and managed to get him the block to the vet while getting bitten and scratched.  Tragically though the vet discovered his back was broken, perhaps he was hit by a car and he had to be euthanized.  The female (unspayed and probably pregnant) has not been found.  She's hungry and scared and in an unfamiliar neighbourhood.  The woman is heartbroken as am I.   I'm going to bed now and hope that tomorrow is a better day.

This time I found a fake meth lab!

I did more wandering around the yard today, looking for Lionel and trying to figure out what is up with Lily and Arrow, and I discovered Morris sitting in the window of this RV.  I was concerned he was trapped so I had a look inside and discovered a fake meth lab!  Turns out it was used for promotional purposes: http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/replica-of-breaking-bad-s-rv-meth-lab-hits-the-streets-of-toronto-1.1559883

There is a hole in the floor so Morris smartly has found a cozy place to hang out, and I got a laugh, I could use one....

Raccoon rescue

On Friday I was wandering around the dumpsters looking for Lionel looking inside and under just in case when I discovered a raccoon inside one of them.  The dumpster walls were about five feet high and I was worried that he was stuck in there and couldn't get out so I rummaged around and found a ladder and put it in for him with some food.  I was relieved to discover that he was gone by the next day.

No sign of Lionel though, and the other dumpster cats are acting strangely, Lily ran off and didn't eat which isn't like her and Arrow was running around meowing but also not eating.  I wish I knew what was going on....

Where is Lionel?

The heartbreak of feeding feral cats is this, one day you are feeding Lionel, the next day he doesn't show up, ok not so concerning but then he's not there the day after and the day after that.  You wander around looking everywhere to no avail.

I can't help but think Lionel has died, he was a regular at the food bowls.  The worst is not knowing what happened, was he hit by a truck, or got sick, did he suffer....

I've fed Lionel for almost 7 years now, he's on of my cats.  If he is truly gone, then that's four in four months.

As the colony at Cherry Street gets smaller, it seems my home colony is getting bigger, maybe I'm compensating or it's just safer at home.

Susan's Air BNB for cats

It's been a whirlwhind of cats at Michelle's and Susan's lately, coming and going, getting rescued, being adopted, it's hard to keep track.

Thankfully Susan has a whole apartment that is now being inhabited by a rotating group of cats. Wheezy was living in a colony in Rexdale, I went to trap an injured cat with Lesley there and this guy followed me around meowing at me.  I couldn't leave him out in the cold.  Thanks to Annex he was treated for his URI and had the rest of his rotten teeth removed.  He's ten years old and FIV but he is such a lovebug.  Susan and I dropped him off at his new foster home today and he settled right in, purring away.

Last week I go an email about cats abandoned when someone was evicted.   With the weekend's cold weather, we had to get them inside.  Thankfully a neighbour was feeding and helped us get them. They are keeping a black and white and now the other three are occupying the large suite.  Max the shy orange guy didn't want to be photographed.

And yet another call just yesterday about an abandoned cat in Regent Park, with the bedroom available we scooped this friendly orange guy.  He seems a bit confused as to what has happened to his home and his people.

Lucy, another colony cat, was in the kitchen for a week but she has moved to a new foster home. The room wasn't vacant for long, Connie trapped Lini the tortie this morning, hopefully she will turn out to be tame!

At least it's sunny

I almost thought it wasn't going to happen, this "winter" has been so great for all of us, but yes, it's cold and it feels worse in comparison.  At least it's sunny but the next few nights will be brutal and I feel for my poor furry friends out in the cold and grateful that so many have been able to be brought in.

Kitten season will be early

Back to Jane and Finch we went Monday morning, I cursed the alarm when it went off at 6 a.m. but I got up, showered, picked up Jackie and off we went to meet Lesley.

This time we were alarmed when we showed up and no cats.  Unfortunately the parks department had come and taken all the cats shelters away and they were spooked but we did manage to trap four, no thanks to the feeder who showed up to argue with us.

Trapped two at once

And again two in one trap!

All they had for shelter

The cats home, just a ravine

I was surprised to find out that the grey cat was pregnant, it seems way too early but this is the negative side effect to the mild winter.  Lesley took more shelters there today, it's going to be a brutally cold weekend and the cats will need them!

My territory

In a 2.8 km stretch of the portlands I feed about 20 cats, and Connie feeds some of the same plus her three and Jackie has a couple too.  At one point there were many more but TNR efforts, accidents and aging have diminished the population significantly.

One of our little colonies consists of Mystery, Callie and Owen, we think they are all related, and happily I can now report that with the trapping of Owen last week they are all fixed.  

And our new eastern most colony is almost all done too, former home to Betty and Winston.  Lini, this beautiful tortie who was spayed last fall, has now decided she likes people too.  I just have to find a space so I can rescue her!