Cat bite!

Last evening Lesley and I went to a new west end colony that included a litter of kittens and an injured cat.  It all looked good when we arrived, kittens were contained, and mom and dad hanging around.  Mom was easily trapped but as I picked up the trap she started to cry out and next thing I knew her mate jumped on me I presume to protect her and bit me!  Cat bites are something I've always tried to avoid, they get infected so easily but this was something we never would have imagined.  We got kittens and mom, mopped up my blood, and decided that was enough for that location, the injured cat was nowhere in sight.

Of course we had another location to do near Bathurst and Sheppard so I slapped on some polysporin and a bunch of bandaids and we kept driving to another new colony.  We managed to trap 2 adults and 2 kittens but by the end my arm was throbbing so Lesley dropped me at the hospital.  Two horrible hours later I was sent home with huge doses of antibiotics and instructions not to do dishes or cook.  That part sounded ok.  My arm is swollen and sore (of course it's my right arm) so I've been chilling all day.  I really hope it heals up and I don't have to go back to the hospital!

My backyard friends

 I was hanging out in the yard this week, and I had many visitors.  Of course there is our only outdoor cat Charlie, and we also feed the squirrels and birds.  Thankfully Charlie leaves them alone!  And there were many bees on the redbud tree, I love seeing all the creatures getting sustenance.  There was even a skunk poking around!

As much as I like raccoons, I try not to feed them directly, but there is one that comes to our back door that I just can't resist.  She has the cutest face, and she looks really old, so she gets some kibble when she shows up.  

A banner night for trapping

Lesley and I responded to an email about a mom and kittens in a backyard in the Annex.  We went over last night to assess but of course we brought traps just in case.  We saw the mom but no kittens, chatted with some residents, and thought we would have to return to try again.  We put out food for mom, and next thing we knew kittens had emerged from the garage.  I ran and got a kitten trap and boom we got two kittens.  We set up again, got another kitten, set up again and got the last two kittens.  We were amazed!  Three black and whites, an orange and a grey and white, between six - seven weeks of age.  By then we thought we would have no chance of getting the mom since she had seen the kittens trapped but we setup a trap again anyway and lo and behold ten minutes later we had her too.  Rarely does it go this well!

Even better news, we discovered mom has a home, she escaped from the apartment building next door more than a year ago, so she will be spayed and returned and hopefully will stay inside.  Of course these kittens will find loving homes!

Another little orphan

Last week, on a much nicer day, we went trapping again to our Scarborough locations.  After a number of hours we finally ended up with six cats.  Alas it turned out five of those six were males, still a good thing, but it means we have females to trap that are being difficult.

We also picked up the last two kittens from one location and were giving the last two a few more days when Larry called to say that one couldn't use its back legs.  Sadly the little orange kitten had suffered a spinal injury, hard to know what happened, maybe he fell, and had to be euthanized.  It is always heartbreaking to lose a tiny kitten.  His sister is doing well though with Susan, and we hope that if she gets the all clear she can be with Aggie, our cute little black kitten who is also alone.

Nobody said cat rescue was easy but we win more than we lose, and already we have rescued 17 kittens who won't grow up to be feral cats, but instead will have loving homes.  Now to get those moms so we don't have 17 more to rescue in a few months!

Batmom is at it again

The untrappable Batmom has struck again, last week this little kitten was spotted, seems she only had one or it's the only one that survived our cold weather.  Although the kitten looks just like Pappy (the tabby beside), Pappy is neutered so some other cat is the daddy.  Currently the kitten is in a yard the owner won't let us access, so frustrating!

Lesley and I did more trapping on Monday, after a long day we ended up with six cats from three locations, but only one was female, the males generally are much easier to trap, we still have way too many females out there.  Oh well, what can you do?  Keep trying!