Update on Project TNR

Today was a big day for the neighborhood kitties.  There was an doctors appointment made for them at the Toronto Humane Society to get them fixed. 

The problem with this appointment is that at this time yesterday all of the kitties were roaming the streets.  With the exception of Georgie  (who is mamma cat again to at least two kittens) I have not named any of the cats.  They are all grey and white to varying degrees and to be honest most of them look the same to me.

Pregnant Georgie refusing to be trapped.

I cant be sure how many there are to catch,  I think there are three "kittens" that are about 9 months old, Georgie and a sibling of hers and now the real kittens.

Between my next door neighbor and me, we have two carriers and 1 trap and 5 cats that have learned to distrust the trap. With optimism in our hearts we took in our food bowls to prepare kitties for surgery and set the cat trap, laced with a sardine and catnip....low and behold starving kitties showed up.  Snap went the trap

See what I mean, this kitty looks alot like Georgie.

Up the stairs I go with my cat trap,  I released kitty and reset the trap.  For the next three hours keeping watch while the three remaining kitties circle the trap, stiff the catnip, and continue to sniff.  After a couple of hours they are checking out the carrier too.  I gingerly leave my post behind closed door and throw a few bits of kibble to the back of the carrier and alas Kittie dives in after them, trying to slam the door shut was unsuccessful but I was able to grab hole and none to kindly throw kitty into the carrier....and take Kittie with carrier to join its sibling.  Third Kittie takes off like a bat out of hell and I did not see again for the rest of the night. 

This one is referred to as the white one because its more white than gray

This morning at what seems like the crack of dawn, the phone rings telling me it is time to take the kitties to meet their fate AND that she had caught Kittie in the trap before calling it a night.  Stupid me let kitties out of carrier hoping they would comport one another before going to bed and now have to get them back in the carriers...and we get a call saying that we are late for our appointment.  Me and two kitties in a tiny bedroom reenact bloody war scene from Saving Private Ryan.  Then end up in the carriers and I hurry them downstairs where the third cat in the carrier are waiting in the backseat. Towel wrapped around by bloody hand we head down to the Humane Society to check the kitties in for their day surgery.

While neighbor is filling out the paperwork I tend to my wounds, my hand is swollen and the bites feel like they have stopped at the bone.  I call my Dr. Office/walk in clinic to check when I had my last tetanus shot and they tell me they don't have one on file.  Hummm I look down and decide it is probably time to update that status.

My neighbor has been scratched too so she comes with me to the walk in clinic, where there is a 11/2 hour wait to see the Dr. Once I'm in and my file is opened I am reminded that 20ish years ago when I had my last shot I had a reaction (a rash) so I was going to have to wait in the waiting room full of sick people for 1/2 hour before I could leave.

Now afternoon I gotta stop for a coffee and a bagel. get home feed Sooty and Stu and settle in for a nap.  I have barely fallen asleep when the phone is ringing that the Kitties are ready for pickup.

Then I have to head to the drugstore for antibiotics, Yippiee.

I'm tired and weary, sore hand, bruised shoulder where the tetanus shot was given, but feeling very satisfied to have three female cats locked up and recovering upstairs, off the streets for the next 10 days, until they are released to the next chapter of their lives.