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Sunday, March 27, 2011

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.


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

One of my Favorite Twitter Families

There once was a fellow called Pooh

Who Twitter with all its charms, could not woo
It was Moose and Buddy
That he wanted to cuddle
So he asked that they ignore twitter too.



A great cuddler was our hero Pooh
So what were Moose and Buddy to do
They said goodnight to their friends
Promised to tweet again
When the quality fam time was thru.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Project TNR is in effect.

This kitten did not stay with us till winter.
But the other three have survived as feral cats.

Our feral cats are all grey and white, I have a hard time differentiate some of them.




My next door neighbor has registered our cats as a feral colony.  She has completed the training session and is now eligible to Trap, Neuter, and Release the members of the colony.  Our secret desire is that once the cats spend time indoors (post trap and post Neuter) they will come to appreciate the indoor life and become adoptable.  But if rehab does not work at least we know that their life on the streets will be fated to only the current generation.Unfortunately the mission has been escalated by the big belly of one of our kitties.  She is going to have to receive a procedure before there are more kitties. 

The trap arrived...we set it up on my front porch step.  Laced with Tuna and Catnip the whole colony showed up.  A couple of them are friendly enough with my neighbor that she can pet them but they will not let me touch them.  Being as my presence was keeping them at arms length I went inside, keeping an eye on the trap.  We didn't want to trap one of the other cats and have them develop a fear of the trap.  Their spaying/neuter appointments are not for a couple more weeks.  But as fate would have it these were the ones who were checking out the trap and trying to figure it out,  Ms. Preggo was nowhere in sight  We decided to move the trap to my backyard Ms Preggo  frequent that area more often than the others.

At around 10PM I looked out the back door, the reflection in the glass made it hard to be sure but I thought Ms Preggo was in the trap, I opened the back door and Ms. Preggo bolted out of the trap.  I'm not sure if she does not weigh enough to set of the spring or if she had not been all the way inside. 

I went back inside and at about 1AM as I was about to go to bed I checked the trap for the last time before taking it in (we don't want to leave a cat trapped overnight).  The trap had worked, hissing and spitting was a big grey and white cat.  This handsome fellow I am pretty sure belongs to a neighbor.  Although he has not collar he is a well groomed longhair which is unlikely to be a feral...and for sure not Ms Preggo.  So I released him.

The next night was pouring rain, I had not witnessed any visits to the trap all evening, before going to bed I took the trap in and returned it to my neighbor in the morning.  It was then that we noticed that the Tuna was gone....she thinks a squirrel ate the tuna, I am having concerns about this trap.  We will keep on trying.

I hope my tiny winy little wish to see a litter of wobbly baby kittens has not been picked up by the gods and acted upon.