BIG FERAL NEWS!!

You know how there are cats I didn't catch last time?  And a few cats who have shown up randomly since?  Well, now it's time to turn my (and your!) attention to them.

In two weeks, we'll be trapping my ferals-- hopefully catching the 6 colony cats who still need to be speutered.  (Speuter = spay/neuter.)

Who are we aiming for?

Well, of course there's Pigpen.  Pigpen is my Arch-Nemesis because I tried to catch her last time and failed.  But she's gotten more friendly since then (if by friendly I mean comes up to the second floor to eat and only runs when I get within 6 feet of her instead of 10.)  So there's hope!

(Click the pictures to make them bigger if you like.)

 She's a cutie, and since she's a calico I can be reasonably sure she's a she.  Gotta catch her so that she can be saved from more litters of kittens.






Then there's Tuxie.  I've spoken at length about Tuxie before.  She's beautiful and she's brave (she comes running when she hears my door open as she knows it means food.  How she knows it's my door, I do not know.)  She routinely comes within a foot or so of me, sometimes following me all the way to the door.  I think she must have been dumped as a kitten, to be so calm around humans.  But what human wouldn't have wanted to keep this beauty?

Tuxie normally shows up whenever I'm outside, but today she did not until dusk (when it was too late for a picture) so this is an older picture.  The cat behind her is Whiskey (aka Sam), and is not feral but sometimes comes over to my apartment to munch on some stolen cat food and hang out with the ferals.

Also to be caught is Barnaby.  Barnaby, like Pigpen, has been around for a while, but I was unable to catch him/her last time.  However, Barnaby's been hanging out a lot more often, as evidenced not only by these two photos, but by the fact that I have lots of photos of him/her.  (Despite the masculine name, I'm actually guessing Barnaby to be female, given the petite size and plethora of colors.  This is only a guess.  And while kitten fur color can often have absolutely no relation to the color of the mother's fur, note how much Barnaby looks like the last full litter of kittens I had-- Dean, Zadie, Iso and Violetta.  Could this cat have been their mom?  Who knows!)

What? What do you want from me???

Fine, I'll pose.  Happy?!

So you're familiar with those three.  Then there's Paint.  Paint has never been seen on this here blog because s/he's so elusive.  The elusive, elusive Paint.  I don't see him/her often, and when I do I rarely have my camera with me.  (In fact, one of these photos is from my phone.)

I named Paint "Paint" because of the tip of this one's tail-- it looks like it was dunked in a pot of paint. :)

If I had to place odds, I'd say this kitty is the on I'm least likely to catch this weekend, purely because s/he's rarely around.  But fingers crossed!

Number five is actually the cat I have the highest hopes for catching (with Tuxie coming in at number two.)  I've mentioned this fuzzy before, but I don't know that I've ever told you all what I know about him.  This is Tigger:

Isn't he handsome?  (And he is definitely a he.)  He's incredibly friendly.  He has tried to follow me home (until he realizes that there are already cats in my home.)  Obviously he is not a feral.

Sometimes he wears a collar.  Sometimes he does not.  Sometimes he is really skinny.  Sometimes he is not.  Sometimes he is really dirty.  Sometimes he is really soft and clean.  He is a mystery.


But just last week I ran into a little girl playing with him, and said little girl knew some of Tigger's history.  Evidently there is someone here in the complex who calls him Tiger, and who puts a collar on him sometimes in the hopes that animal control won't take him away.  However, she doesn't actually consider herself Tigger's owner.  Apparently someone did once consider him/herself Tigger's owner, but then left him here when said "owner" moved away.

I would now rant and rant and rant about people and their choices when it comes to animals, but if you're reading this here blog you probably already understand and agree.  And there's no point in preaching to the choir.  So Tigger will get TNRed this weekend, and I will continue to feed him and show him love whenever I can.  I wish I could find him a home-- he's a lap cat, frankly-- but with so many homeless cats here already in Phoenix-land, and so many kittens easier to home... I don't have high hopes.  (That said, if you were looking to open your home to a sweet natured purring fuzzball who is already full grown and therefore unlikely to do all the kitten antics that destroy things in one's home, let's talk!)

So that's five, and I'd said six before, right?  Welllll, yeah.  There's no picture of number six, alas.  I tried to get one today, but number six is speedy and aloof.  S/he's a pale gray tiger cat-- a lot like Tigger but smaller and more dilute (which is to say pastel.) S/he showed up for the first time a few weeks ago (or at least that's when I first spotted her.)  I don't know what her story is but if I can catch her, TNRed she will be.

EDIT TO ADD: Turns out I *do* have ONE picture of the elusive dilute tabby...

The Volunteer is loaning me the necessary traps and providing transportation for any of the kitties that I catch.  A friend has agreed to help me on Saturday night (for moral support and company more than anything else.)  I will photograph and blog it all.

Buuuut, there's one more thing.  There's always one more thing, eh?  Yeah, it costs money for places like the Spay and Neuter Hotline and the Animal Defense League of Arizona to spay and neuter-- for the vets to work, to lend out traps, etc.  And Project-Cat's (ie: me, grad student earning a pittance) has no fundage at present (because much was spent on Meester Max, and of course on-going costs.)  So now would be the perfect time to donate even a few dollars to Project-Cat.  Thankfully the ferals don't need nearly as much as last time (when we caught 13!), but I do need to cover the cost of their TNRing (and the cost of tuna-in-oil to lure them in! Ewwwww!)  Please, if you can, drop a few bucks on the donate button?

(If you're into making things with yarn, you can check out my Etsy page, too, which has a few handspun skeins for sale.  I'm hoping to get a few cat toys for sale up yet tonight/tomorrow, too.  All proceeds from my Etsy site go to taking care of the ferals.)

Lastly, Daisy, who we TNRed two years ago, says Thanks for your help! (She was hanging out tonight so I snapped her picture.)

Can I go back to eating now?