Every day is Feral Cat Day

Apparently today is National Feral Cat Day but for me I take care of feral cats every day!

Today I'm heading out after work to trap a possibly pregnant cat and perhaps one of my rooming house cats that I now feed every day on my way to work.

The Regent Park cat that was trapped is so far not turning out to be at all friendly.  It's a real problem when you have a cat that isn't adoptable but can't be returned, I truly don't know what the solution for this cat is yet.  And I got an email about two more in a similar circumstance, possibly abandoned and the building slated for demolition....I hope I can figure out a way to help.  That is in between cleaning up cat urine, one of our cats Blinky, has become a peer, there's another frustrating situation to deal with.

The highlight of my week has been watching the documentary that the very talented EK Park made, there is a whole series she did, and this one features me rescuing a mom and kittens and then feeding at the colony.  I'm only one of so many doing the same thing but I'm proud to be part of it all.
http://www.animalequity.org/cat-colony-caretakers-episode-3/

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I was thankful for many things, for the blessings that have allowed me to help all the cats in my life, for people like Andrea and Joanne who keep saying yes even though I keep asking for more.  I've been plagued with a headache all day so I tried in my own way to take it easy.  Last week remained busy, with the usual and I trapped two more cats from North York on Wednesday (again thank you Joanne).

After a week of getting a regular feeding routine going, I was grateful that Lesley offered to try to trap today and she got the cat!  Now to see how tame he or she is....more thanks to Andrea.

I spent some time at the colony this weekend getting the cats shelters ready for winter.  My handy friend Bob came along to help.  And I tried twice on the weekend to trap Murphy, we almost had her at one point.  No wonder I'm tired tonight.  I almost forgot about the last minute scramble to find a foster for an extremely obese stray cat destined for Animal Services.  If this post seems disjointed it's due to the pulsing pain in the side of my head...

Car loaded up with supplies

Bob helping rebuild the shelters at Hank's

Me today

Bunny is wondering why this one looks so much like her...

Bunny and Buddy having a lovefest

No time to worry about gunmen on the loose

On Sunday night I was tagged in a facebook post about an abandoned cat living behind a vacant building scheduled for demolition.

I loaded up the trap and went after work to see if I could find the cat.  As I passed an area cordoned off by police tape I turned on the radio to hear that there had just been a fatal shooting an hour before and the gunman was still at large.  Well I had a cat to trap, no time to worry about gunmen.

I wandered around the building and saw the cat in a back yard but as soon as I approached the cat looked terrified and took off.  I set up my trap and waited.  A deserted building is a sad sight, there were vestiges of people's lives scattered everywhere and clearly somebody couldn't or didn't take their cat.  Apparently there is still one tenant who refuses to leave, so there may be a delay in demolition.

Sadly no sign of the cat so I left some food and will return again.  As I was driving home, I realized it might not have been the wisest decision to be in a such an isolated area with the recent activity but hey I at least texted my husband the address in case.

After feeding my ferals I will swing by tonight on my way home but the cat seemed quite skittish, not surprising if it's been on its own for a long time.

I love my drop trap

We've been struggling with a little colony I feed once a week, we got kicked out of the one parking lot where we had been feeding, and started to feed in another lot adjacent, but it's more exposed and the cats have been stressed.  On top of that, a guy living in the building got upset about us feeding so it's become clear it's an untenable situation but what to do.

Tania stepped up to the plate and offered to take them into her basement apartment and see if they could be socialized.  Today, using the drop trap, we managed to get the two siblings, Byron and Bowie.

It was heartbreaking leaving their mother Murphy behind, she is much more skittish and I expect will prove harder to trap but we will go back tomorrow and keep trying.

Murphy, Byron and Bowie

It's frustrating that so many people have issues with homeless cats and won't allow us to feed, we even canvassed all the nearby houses to no avail.  At least the two boys are safe now.

Best toy ever!!

My cats at home very extremely excited when a package arrived, not about the contents of course, but about the empty box.  There is nothing better and it caused a bit of a swarming.  Steve says we look like crazy people and no wonder nobody comes for dinner.

Do what only you can do

Why do I keep forgetting my camera?!

Today I went out on what I thought was a simple call.  Another trapper asked me to talk to a woman she had been trapping for but they were at loggerheads and the woman was refusing continued help so the trapper thought perhaps a new face would help.

I took Joanne as backup but when we knocked on the door the woman yelled out I can't come to the door and when I asked what was a better time the only response was go away, followed by random screaming.  Then we saw three tiny kittens by the porch so what do you think we did, oh yes, we scooped them up and off we ran.

Only about four weeks old, and I hemmed and hawed and even took them to my vet but ending up taking them to the THS because one had a wound on its belly and to be honest I have so much going one with trapping and my ferals that adding three tiny kittens to my mix might send me over the edge.  As it is every day is a race.

THS will vet them and find them a foster home, they are friendly and eating on their own, no problem there.  I read a wise saying recently "do what only you can do".  I can't do it all so I need to focus on the things that only I can do.  Lots of people want to foster friendly little kittens, not many want to trap or feed ferals or clean out their shelters.

On that note, I trapped a female from the rooming house Thursday night and Carol trapped a female, woo-hoo.  And how many other people want to be standing in line at the THS at 630 a.m. with a feral cat in a trap.   Besides, I want to keep every cat I foster!

Mid-week musings

I've been trying to figure out what I've been doing the last week, I just know it's been busy.

Ernie tells me I should be paying more attention to him.  I often worry that I spend so much time helping other cats that my own furry family gets a bit neglected.

I've been feeding the ferals and looking for new feeders, and thinking about how best to keep them warm this winter.  I discovered Penny has moved into an abandoned car.  I figured she had a new hiding spot but didn't know where it was until I followed her the other day.

The three older kittens trapped last week have all turned out to be able to be socialized.  Thank you Joanne for fostering, and thanks to Raven for her great evaluation.  Raven gets her cats to sit on command before dinner!

I've also gotten involved in a rooming house situation, funnily enough right by where I park my car for work.  We've gotten a couple of cats out (thank you Andrea) and hopefully can get a few more fixed very soon.  There's really only a good month or so left of trapping time before the winter and my list is not all checked off.  From November to March it's just buckle down and try to keep the ferals alive.

An 18 hour day

Wednesday was one of those marathon days that I haven't experienced since I worked in the film industry and I was a lot younger then.  It started with picking up a very reluctant Ian at 7 a.m. and off we went to Bayview and Sheppard to trap.  It was the first time I had been at the site and I felt a bit dismayed when we arrived and the cats were all kittens in fact but kittens just a few months too old to be rescued, sigh.

Not too young to be fixed though, so we set up a trap and I went around the corner.  I came back to check just five minutes later and bang we got a trifecta, 3 cats in one trap, first time ever.  And that was the end of that trapping.  Five minutes of trapping, two hours of driving.

The youngest kitten

I went to work (you know my actual job that has nothing to do with cats but pays me money to take care of cats) for a few hours and then over to a rooming house situation that I had just gotten involved with to help a sick cat.

After that I volunteered at the feral cat spay neuter clinic for the evening.  Another 50+ cats spayed and neutered including the three I brought in.  By the time I got to bed it was midnight and I was beyond beat.

Update: Two of the kittens are about six months and one is three to four months.  It looks as though the youngest one can be socialized.  Good news for the kitten, bad news for me, another foster home is needed.  I truly lucked out with Farrah, a wonderful woman saw her picture and is fostering her, Farrah is shy but a real cuddler.   Let's hope this little girl is as friendly.

Tortie time

I guess it's tortishell week.  Thursday night Maria from the west end trapped a cat that she thought was an older kitten born this spring.  Off she went to the clinic on Friday but lo and behold she is not feral.  The meowing should have been a tip off.  Raven can pat her with no problem.  Now I need to find somewhere for her to go.

And Susan has a tortie visitor too.  Her neighbour came home after being out for a short time to find this cat in a carrier on her porch.  Of course she called Susan, who took her in.  Can you believe it, just left a cat in a carrier on a porch?  I suppose I can believe it now.  This beauty is in heat, perhaps someone got her as a kitten and once they discovered how much it cost to spay her, abandoned her, but there is no explanation as to why there, on a quiet side street.

How much is a footless kitten worth?

Occasionally I make the mistake of going on kijiji's website, it's a cesspool of sadness in the cats and kittens for sale section.  Some listings are rescues but others are people giving away or selling their cats or kittens for so many reasons, moving, allergies, any number of reasons.  Some ads say first come first served, as if they were selling property, instead of entrusting the life of a cat to a stranger.

One ad caught my eye and I couldn't turn away.  They had seven kittens for sale!  The worst of it was the sliding scale of prices, $75 for the fluffy grey one, $50 for a short haired grey, $25 for a black kitten, and $15 for a black kitten born without a foot.    I thought oh crap, who is going to take that kitten, what if it needs medical attention, and how sad that the kitten supposedly was less valuable.

So I took the cute little black kitten missing a hind foot and he cried so much that I went back and they threw in his sister free of charge.  I tried to broach the subject of spaying but it fell pretty flat and they wouldn't even let me in the apartment.  I'm trying to console myself with the fact that these kittens will have a better life.  Even though they've been living inside they are shy, I shudder to think how many cats may be in there.

My little dirty but not anymore kittens are leaving tonight for another foster home.  I dearly love them and if there was any way I could keep them I would but at a certain point you have to preserve the quality of life of the cats you have, and we have plenty.  I want to be a rescuer not a hoarder.  I'm writing all this down so I ingrain it in my head because I know I'm going to bawl when they leave but now they will have the opportunity to be someone's beloved cats.