Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Feral cat trapping and Ozzie's new kitten friends!

It's time for some cat chat! We had our monthly feral cat trapping adventure on Friday night. Brian and I headed to the stockyards to try to trap Ozzie's mom, Smoky, and had absolutely no luck at all. She wasn't even slightly tempted to get in the tuna laden traps. Ugh. We even pulled out our foolproof drop trap and that attempt failed as well. Here is a photo of her (the dark torti) with one of her colony mates, Snugg Jr.


We also tried to trap another female cat, Maddie, down the street. She's smart and wary too....no luck there either. So, we decided to head down to the other end of the stockyards and tackle the group down there. Thankfully, there were several lurking around in the stalls and napping in the hay. After 2 hours of patient waiting and strategic trap placement, we were able to get 4 cats (3 super wild boys and 1 girl)!! Woohoo! Success!!

I got up early Saturday morning and headed to the monthly spay/neuter clinic in Georgetown. While I was there, I picked up 2 foster kittens from another volunteer. She had at least 9 that she needed help with, so I wanted to take a few off her hands, and I knew little Ozzie needed some playmates. Oh boy, are they cute!!! One is a longhaired orange girl, Odette, who reminds me of those troll pencils that you spin between your hands and it makes their hair stick out :). So funny! The other one is a solid gray manx now named Olivia. She is RIDICULOUSLY adorable!!! She has very thick, soft, woolly fur like a sheep...and that tailless rump...eeeks!! I got them all settled in with their new boyfriend and they all seem happy and content together. Unfortunately, by the end of the weekend, they seemed a bit down...lethargic and out of sorts. We headed to the vet this morning and they are all on antibiotics and should be on the upswing soon.

Back to the feral cats....they all had successful spay/neuter surgeries, received their vaccinations, flea meds AND antibiotics. I released them all on Sunday night and they were thrilled to be back in the own environment. I feel such a sense of satisfaction and relief knowing their lives will be so much better now.

OK, here are some kitten pics to enjoy!
THE THREESOME~~

ODETTE~~cute gremlin girl!

OLIVIA~~fuzzy wuzzy baby!

OLIVIA~~look at that face!!

10 comments:

Talking Horses Arts said...

Yep...need to win the lottery so I can adopt more cats. The down side would be a divorce..lol. When I see your pictures I just want to jump in..really. Wish that we had that spay and neuter program here, but our vets here are to stuck up to participate. I just could not effort it on my own. Its is cheaper here to get a horse fixed(with anesthesia) then a cat. believe me I have been there....
Glad you could catch some and everything went well. Hooray for the snippet lady..lol!
Andrea.

Unknown said...

Bonito trabajo el que haces.Esos gatitos son muy lindos y como bien dices muy inteligentes,por eso no es facil atraparlos.Buen trabajo.Y suerte en la proxima captura.

Ronna said...

There is now a similar thing here in Hawkesbury, Ontario where they are trapping, spaying/neutering and innoculating an entire feral cat community with support from the local town council. Well done and love those kittens!

Unknown said...

Ohh, I want them all Carie! Stop by my blog when you can,. I have an award for you!

lisanelsonart said...

So sweet and so lucky to be caught! My two 'previously known as' feral kits are the sweetest most demure little ladies. Actually sweeter in temperment than some non-ferals I've been owned by. Thanks for all your wonderful work, Carrie!

Anonymous said...

Great job with the TNR!!! Doesn't it make you feel so wonderful when you release them, knowing they can't reproduce! I am a volunteer with a local TNR group. We have a clinic coming up on the 31st. Hoping to get 10-15 cats done that day.

You mentioned the drop trap..... We've never used one before, but have the plans to construct one. We are hoping to use it on one of our managed colony cats who has a very bad eye wound, but will not go in a regular trap.

Keep up the great work!!!
~Dana, mom to the creek cats~

Little Dollings by Brenda O. said...

Carrie -- see, this explains perfectly why you can't have just one cat! I could sneak lil Olivia home in a heartbeat!! I've a mental image of her, with those adorable little knees you do... ;)
hugs!
Brenda

Jenny Carter said...

oh those kittens are so precious! I miss mine! I am sorry you had issues with those mama cats. I am going to be dealing with potentially 4 to 8 more kittens. Momma had them and well she is not bringing them out. Wonderful huh?

Anyway, at least you got some males! Any one is good!

have fun with the kitties!!!

Jill said...

Your new little foster babies are just adorable! I wish I could reach into your pictures & feel their fuzzy bodies! That's great that you were able to TNR 4 lucky cats last weekend. You are amazing! ~ Jill

quitethecrow said...

Hi Carrie...I come to your blog quite often and absolutely love your sculptures!

We've had a feral mama tuxedo cat take up residence in our garage and she gave birth to three white kittens about 7 weeks ago. This evening we successfully trapped two of the kittens and have them snuggled down in the bathroom off our family room. I hope to take them to the vet tomorrow morning. I am also hoping we will have success at catching the third kitten and mama. We already have 7 other cats and four dogs, so I don't know what we will do with these new ones. They melt your heart. Yours are so darling and I love to read your blog. I wish people would act responsibly, but know that is not likely to happen.

Well, I just wanted to drop a note and let you know how much I enjoy your blog. Wish us luck with these new kittens...Elizabeth