Trapping Mammals Tonight. Wish Me Luck! (Hey, SKITTLES!)

[bertha katzenengel]

Skittles, the cat who KICKED my ASS! at five weeks of age:



and who has lived all her life indoors



will be the hardest to catch. Wily critter... wish me luck with her. I've tried several times to grab her & get her spayed, and tonight I WILL be successful. I have to be -- we've installed a cat door and we can't watch her all the time.

I'm also attempting to catch ferals in humane traps: Big Charley, Domino, and "Baby Black," all male, and Ringtail, a very pregnant (I hope) female. Ringtail won't even come near my house tonight, of course, if she's already given birth. More luck, please.

Soon I'll go downstairs and prepare the traps, lining the bottoms with newspaper, making sure all the trip plates work. I'll try to get some sleep, then around 3 AM, I'll put oil-packed sardines on the paper at the back, put each trap in its place, set the trip plates, and put towels over them. (Having the traps covered helps to keep the cats calmer. I don't know why.)

If I set the traps out too early, raccoons & possums will get into them. I've already put out leftovers and dry cat food, hoping those critters realize feeding time here at das Haus des Katzenengels has come and gone. If another wild animal gets into a trap, no cat will go into that trap if it's reset because of the fresh smell of the other animal.

I have to have all the cats down at the low-cost clinic, Lucky Ones, by 7:30. They'll be spayed/neutered, shot for rabies and eartipped, and Skittles will be tested for FIV. Today I went to Walgreens and got eight of those little fleece blankets that are popular & cheap right now, two for $10, for the clinic. I asked what they needed and was surprised to hear "just blankets & towels right now." Wish I could do more.

I'll pick the cats up at around 4:30, bring them home, and let them go. Trap-Neuter-Return -- that's the name of the game.

I'm nuts. What the hell am I doing? People ask why. It's because I am too soft-hearted not to feed these beautiful animals when they come around -- feral or stray, neglected or kicked out, they're hungry, and they're frequently torn up from fights or beat to hell from being chased or from close encounters with cars. And if I'm going to feed them, I have to make sure I don't create more of them to feed. It's my moral imperative to get these critters altered so they can't reproduce.

No "good for yous," please. It's not why I'm talking about my plans for the night. Most of you know, anyway, that I do this. Writing it out helps me to prepare myself for a long and sleepless and probably frustrating night.

Anyway -- wish me luck!

[lizziegrace]

1. Sounds like a plan Bertha

I hope tonight you're successful. Your felines are lucky to have you. (Sorry, I couldn't help myself...)

:hug:

[bertha katzenengel]

4. heh

it's cool
thanks
:hug:

There's one male i'm especially worried about - Big Charley has a large wound on his neck. Can't tell what it's from. Mrs. V. thinks it might be ringworm. Hope I catch him & they can treat it.

[MidwestMomma]

2. Best of luck

Good vibes to your trap and release plan. :)

[bertha katzenengel]

5. Thanks, MM!

I need 'em :hi:

[laylah]

3. Best wishes to you

on your venture, Bertha. While I, too, have cats (those that have adopted me), my heart is not as big as yours. I feed them all (along with the 'coons and 'possums) and I will catch (humanely) and get them spayed/neutered and shot when I can but I am no where near as dedicated at you are. :hug:

Jenn

[bertha katzenengel]

6. Of course you're dedicated, Jenn -- you just do what you can when you

can. It's not a competition. And this is my first TNR night in more than a year.

Be well. And thanks for the earworm ("you got me on my knees") ;)

[laylah]

22. Thanks for the kind words,

and I hope your mission was successful.

Jenn

[jukes]

7. takes ptience,

but ive never had a feral elude me forever.

skittles will get lonely y help herself get caught.



LUCK to you both!

:pal:

[Flaxbee]

8. good luck, bertha! I hope you get all your anticipated critters

tonight...ferals (as you know) can be so tough, so be careful of your hands. The last truly feral we caught we lost in the garage for a few days and she just tore the damn place apart until we caught her.

I know you're not asking for it, but I admire what you do and it makes me feel that the world is a better place for people like you doing their best to help however they can.

[bertha katzenengel]

9. It rained. I didn't know it would but this was my only chance - next chanc

chance is in 3 months. Can't do TNR in the rain - cats want to stay dry if they're not hungry enough to go out. Guess they wanted to stay dry.

I'm one for five. Five traps, two cats caught, one already fixed. But I got a big one - the sick one, Big Charley.

And I. Did. Not. Get. Skittles. I must learn not to Misunderestimate that little girl. I had her and she wiggled away! :(

Off to the clinic! :hi:

[jukes]

10. she'll be back!

y hungry this time. try rubbing a little catnip near the entrance, y use 1 of the facial-pheromone sprays, too.

[progmom]

11. you astound me

You have such a generous heart. :hug:

[LaurenG]

12. I'm glad you caught Charley

Let us know what was up with his neck. Ringworm, hopefully. Skittles is a real beauty, I hope you catch her soon, the little stinker.:hi: :thumbsup: :hug: You do good work Bertha!

[lizziegrace]

13. Me too!

What did you find out about Charley? Is he okay?

:hi:

[bertha katzenengel]

16. See post #15, LG, m'dear...

Charley sure seems okay, king of his domain again just a couple of hours after getting home. :hug: Thanks

[bertha katzenengel]

15. No chance to talk to the vet, he made no notes, gave no indication of

his opinion on the neck wound to the tech who was there when I picked Charley up. At first glance it seems cheap, but then, it is a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. I won't say what it cost for Charley's surgery, eartip, rabies & FELV vaccine, but it a was far, far lower cost than it would've been at my own vet.

I am very thankful that the docs do this work at all. I don't even know if they're paid.

The doc marked his ear wrong, though. Until now, all of our ferals had the straight-line eartip of the left ear; he cut a "v" notch in Charley's right ear. :shrug:

I wanted to keep Charley in the garage for a day or two, but he was awake enough to run out of the carrier and go for the windowpanes in the garage side door. He jumped like hell for the window, several times, at least four feet, trying to get out. I let him go. A couple of hours later he was walking the deck, sniffing around and making sure he was home. :)

:hi: thanks, OB

[BikeWriter]

14. Sardines sound good. Try some Nuoc Mam sometime.

[bertha katzenengel]

17. Is that smellier than sardines packed in oil?

Sounds Vietnamese or Cambodian. (Whatta detective... you're a Vet... I grew up near Little Saigon in Orange County, CA... think I should apply to the cops right away??? :eyes:) ;)

Can I find Nuoc Mam online?

[BikeWriter]

20. You can find it in most any grocery with ethnic foods...

It's fermented anchovy sauce. Your cats will adore the smell. ;-)

[bertha katzenengel]

23. oh, my god . . . sounds perfect

:puke:

Thanks, BW :hi:

[BikeWriter]

25. You're welcome. It will keep forever in a fridge, and...

all you have to do is dribble some into the trap. ;-)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. It's getting ready to thunderstorm here...

I hope they come home first, Bertha!

[bertha katzenengel]

19. Ah, one of the problems with kicking a day-old thread.

This was last night. But thanks, Goddess!

We're getting some thunder here, but radar looks like it's going to pass us by.

[Squeech]

21. Late to this thread

I took in one feral one really cold winter. He was coming around for handouts (to several houses in the neighborhood) and when it went below zero we took him in. We also had to keep him away from our own cat, an altered male named Squeech (from whom I stole my DU username) because they had dominance issues, so the random cat ended up in the attic, but I don't think he would have been socialized under the best of circumstances. We also arranged to have him altered, and he's never forgiven us-- always suspicious of us. He's still around, a family down the corner now claims responsibility for him so we don't feed him any more.

Also the days we fed strays we got all sorts of extra attention from opossums and raccoons.

But basically we're not seeing strays these days; every cat we see nowadays is attached to some known human.

The new cat Lila was a feral we got from somebody else. She's a sweetie, albeit determinedly nocturnal (i.e. when we're trying to sleep), and her attention span seems to be measured in nanoseconds.

[bertha katzenengel]

24. LOL nanosecond attention span

I have always loved your username. I thought maybe you were a ham radio operator. ;)

It's challenging to take in a feral. :hug: