Monday Pictures

To the left, Mistoffolees.  A picture taken on Saturday, actually.  It's completely unrelated, since he wasn't trapped this time, but he's cute, so I felt like sharing it. :) No, I don't know what those weird patches on his back/rump are-- they've been there for months.  He acts normal, though, so that's all right then.

 

I already wrote about Moday's release of the feral-five here, but I've got some pictures of the release for you now: You can click on each to see it bigger.  

The Beast, pictured below, is the kind of cat that all those TNR safety warnings are about.  He was angry the whole time.  Alert after anesthesia sooper quick.  After I released him, he ran straight into one of the tunnels.

In the trap, Paint, below, was much calmer.  He even let F (Bea's Mom) pet him a little (not recommended).  When I released him, he ran for the other side of the apartment complex.

 Honestly, I had expected Tuxie to be a good little (big) patient.  Not so much, though.  Upon capture he yowled and yowled piteously.  He was quiet most of Sunday, coming out of anesthesia, but back to hissing and howling on Monday.  His release, necessitating a trip down the stairs accompanied by his caterwauling, attracted us an audience of nosy neighbors in pajamas.  Thanks, Tux. 

He ran straight from his trap to a tunnel-- where he had to stop short because The Beast already occupied that tunnel.  (Yeah, it's a lousy picture with laser-eyed kitties, but it's amusing.)  He seemed completely at a loss as to what to do, despite the existence of another tunnel directly beside the first, and two more just a few feet away.

 Sorry for another lousy quality shot, but proof that after a few minutes in the clearly lesser tunnel (he finally went into the one beside The Beast), Tuxie came back out and started surveying the area as king again.

Tig(g)er dealt with captivity better than anyone else.  Upon original capture he did freak out a bit (he has a small cut on his nose from banging his head into the trap before I could get the sheet on it) but after that he was fine.  He meowed a little, wanting attention, arched his back into the crate for pets, and generally wanted love and food.

Consequently, upon being left out of his trap, he was calm and investigated the situation. 

 He sort of gave off an air of, "What now? What to do? What to do?"

 And within a few minutes, the obvious answer was "Go right back where I started and eat some food."

As you know, Miley had me and The Volunteer and even the vets nervous.  She took a long while to fully wake up from the anesthesia.  The vets gave her a shot of penicillin (because she looked like she needed it...) I was so happy that she ate in the trap, though-- great to get some calories into her, lots of canned kitten food.  

 You can't tell from this picture, but she's actually mid-hiss here.  I got a pretty good look at her teeth while she was snapping at me Monday morning-- gots pretty many of them, it seems. :)  As I said before, I chose to take her orneriness as a good sign, a sign of energy.

She was the last one I let out and she went for the tunnels across from where The Beast had gone.  I had to go to work then, and did not see Miley all day, nor in the evening.  As I mentioned in the last post, Neighbor E. came over to ask if I still had her since she had not shown up for supper. And we both were worried.  Read the next post for more on Miss Miley.

The Day After

This morning I discovered that all five cats-in-traps (the groggy moggies, if you will, which is so going to be my band's name, if I ever have a band) had eaten overnight, at least a little.  (A lot in some cases.  Miley had had tons of wet food [relatively speaking] although no dry food, so I wonder if there's something wrong with her teeth/mouth).  So that was a good sign.  Also, all the cats were more than ready to be let go.  Miley was even up and hissing at me.  (Hey, The Volunteer-- her teeth look pretty good on a quick inspection... heh.) 


So, I carted each cat down to the grass, one at a time, and left them out (one at a time), starting with The Beast.  I garnered an audience for a while, some nosy-people in nightgowns.  I think they were probably alerted to the action by Tuxie's incessant meowling which started as soon as I picked up his trap.  I was smart this time (unlike in 2008) and wrapped cloth around the handles of the traps I carted them up and down, and so didn't hurt my hands nearly as much as before. 

We grow our feral cats big in my apartment complex-- at least the males.  The Volunteer joked that even though he only took 5 of my cats to the clinic, in poundage he'd brought the most! :)

The Beast immediately ran into a tunnel upon release.  Tuxie ran for the same tunnel, but then saw The Beast and decided maybe he wouldn't hang out in there.  A few minutes later he was sauntering around the courtyard as though nothing had ever happened-- no, he wasn't trapped, or neutered or anything...  Paint rain towards the center of the complex, so I'm not sure where he ended up.  Tig(g)er sauntered out of his trap, paused to let me pet him-- then went back up the stairs I'd just carried him down so as to ask for foods.  I let Miss Barnaby-Miley out last and she went into a tunnel (a different one than The Beast.) 

I was gone most of today, so I haven't seen any of the cats, except Tig(g)er who was waiting by my door upon my return home.  This was somewhat surprising.  He let me pet him, and then wandered exactly two feet away and flopped down again.  He seems to have forgiven me rather easily.

This afternoon I spoke with The Volunteer to hear about my options as far as Miley and further testing/lab work/vet care is concerned.  Monetarily, it can be done (at least as far as finding out what's wrong via blood test, etc.) but it depends on a few things like, can we catch her again? and what happens if we find out some particularly bad news? or even mediocre news in a tame cat, but bad in that she's feral and how do you treat something ongoing in a feral?  So I'm not looking forward to any of that... I'll worry about it a bit later.  Neighbor E. agrees that Miley doesn't look well, and is all for my taking her to the vet, etc. It even turns out that she's been feeding Miley kitten food (different than the other cats), which is good, since it's high calorie.

Frankly, there's a more pressing worry.  Neighbor E. came over this evening to ask if I still had Miley (no), and if I'd fed her (not since this morning), or if I'd seen her  (ditto.)  Apparently Tuxie, Pigpen(Hannah, the Arch-Nemesis), Tig(g)er and even Whiskey (!! Hey, silly cat, you have a home!) all showed up right on time for dinner tonight, but not Miley.  As if knowing something was up, Pigpen(Hannah) even let E. pet her (!!) and walked along with E. as she walked around calling for Miley.  But no Miley tonight. 

Obviously we're both worried, and this is hitting E. very hard.  We sat and talked for a while, and we're hoping she's just lying low tonight, huddled in a cozy tunnel, sleeping and healing.  If she's not out and about tomorrow, though, I'm going to be really worried and it'll be time to start searching the spots I know of, and looking for spots I don't know of...

Fingers crossed. 

Oh, and Neighbor E. is concerned that Pigpen/Hannah might be pregnant.  It's certainly possible... And while equally certainly don't need more kittens, it would, if we find the kittens, mean we could probably catch Pigpen and put an end to this pregnancy/kitten madness. 

Anyway, more updates as they come.  Also, I took some pictures today of the cats more alert and awake in their traps, and I'll post those later, too. 

Peek-chures

In the trapping and blogging last night, and recovery today, there wasn't much time for pictures.  Let's catch up.  (There aren't many from last night 'cause, y'know, it got dark.)

Tuxie watches as I set up the traps.

Nine traps, not yet set.

You read all the posts from yesterday, I'm sure.  Other than Pigpen, trapping went really well.  First we caught Barnaby (Miley), right outside Neighbor E.'s door (neighbor E. cried, feeling like she was betraying the poor fuzzy.)  Then the Mysterious Gray Cat was trapped behind a bush.  I moved another trap to behind the bush, which is where I caught Paint AND Tig(g)er.  But before then, we caught Tuxie between some bushes. 

The Volunteer picked up the cats at around midnight so that he could take them to the clinic first thing this morning.  Then he called around 1 and delivered that cats to me.

The cats on the balcony to recover.

Things haven't been as smooth as they could have been, alas, but everything is stable at the moment.

Tig(g)er

Tig(g)er is doing just fine now, and has eaten three helpings of food.  He's also looking for love.  But during surgery, while under anesthesia, he spiked a fever and the techs drenched him with water to cool him down.  It worked, and as I said he's fine, but it also meant that his paper was wet, he was wet, and such.  Also, he vomited earlier this evening (and wasn't that a joy to clean up, although thankfully, since he's tame, I was able to change his paper and everything) but that was before supper and he's keeping his supper down fine now.

The Beast.

The big gray cat, who is huge and male and who The Volunteer suggests we name The Beast because he's so big.  He was also very awake even at 1, which was reassuring.  He's also angry.  He's definitely the most feral of the five we caught.  ANGRY.  But really handsome.  He's not eating, presumably out of anger and//or fear. He'll be fine, though.

Miley

Miss Barnaby, aka Miley, is the one I'm worried about. Now that we've caught her we can see that she's really really skinny, like scary skinny, even though we know she's been eating (since she's been eating dry food at my house and canned at Neighbor E.'s.)  She had a really hard time waking up.  She looked sick, I guess, so she was also given a shot of penicillin.  When she came to me, she was groggy, couldn't stand up and seemed miserable.  A few hours later she was trying to stand up but kept flopping over, breaking my heart every time.

The Volunteer has contacted the clinic and I think we'll try to get a bloodtest next weekend (if we can catch Miley again) to see if she has something we can do something about (which... I dunno.  If it's teeth? Yeah, we can fix that.  If it's something that requires long term medicine?  Well, she doesn't come to humans... so... eek.)

But, lest you think all is lost, she is up and about now.  AND she ate three helpings of food, which is a great sign.  I think I'll offer her more before letting her go, too.

Paint disdains your offering.

 Mr (yes, Mr) Paint is doing quite well.  He woke up easily and has been very calm since He hasn't eaten, but I'm not concerned.  He has actually let F. (Bea's Mom) pet him a little (both today and yesterday when she thought she was petting Tuxie.)  [Yes, I told her to be careful, after that it's her choice if she wants to risk limbs!]  I'm not concerned about him.

If Tuxie ignores you, will you go away?

Which brings me finally to the suddenly camera-shy Tuxie.  Tuxie, it may surprise you to learn, is a boy.  A big boy, actually.  He came out of anesthesia just fine, but is cranky pants (although not as cranky pants as he was when he was yowling in the crate last night.  I got some video of what Tuxie sounds like when hungry, and will post it at some point, but he was even louder and sadder in the crate.)  He hasn't eaten, and won't investigate much, but he's alert and coming out of it just fine.

Tomorrow morning, if they seem alert and well, I'll release them.  Alas, I won't write about it 'til much later because I'll have to dash off to get ready for work/class/rehearsal/etc.

Keep your fingers crossed that they continue to do do well. :)

Oh, and no sign of Pigpen today-- she seems to be keeping a low profile for now.

The Cats are Home!

All five kitties are in their crates, being groggy, on my balcony.  More details later.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Generally, cats are ready for pick-up from clinics around between 12 and 2, and it is now 12.  So I'm officially all set to greet The Volunteer whenever the cats (and he!) are ready for me.  We'll bring all five up to my balcony and I'll tend their after care, poor things. 

This part makes me nervous because there's always a risk any time any animal (including humans, of course) goes under anesthesia.  So fingers crossed that all my feral friends come back safe and sound to me.

But hey, when they return we'll know exactly if they're male or female.  We know Tig(g)er is male, but everyone else is up for grabs.  Anyone want to place bets* on Tuxie, Barnaby/Miley, Mysterious Gray Tabby, or Paint?

Once the kitties are back here, I'll take some pictures of the groggy moggies, and post the pictures I took last night, too.

-----
*Please note that I am not actually suggesting betting as that would be gambling and then Project-Cat would be in trouble and that would be bad. >^.^<

Throwing in the towel

Alas, no Pigpen tonight.  I have to feel pretty good about the 5 we did catch, of course, but it's still disappointing.  She sat around all evening, never near the traps, but never far away either.  Then around 10:30 some teens were hanging out nearby and being kinda loud, and we haven't seen her since. 

Now it's midnight and The Volunteer is coming by to take away the 5 we were successful with.  Poor Tuxie is curled up in the smallest ball I've ever seen her make-- turns out she really is mostly fur!  Paint is actually the calmest.  Barnaby/Miley came right up to neighbor E. when E. wanted to see her to say goodbye 'til Monday.  And Tig(g)er is rubbing his back on the top of the cage asking for pets.  All in all, fairly calm kitties. 

I'll update more tomorrow, of course-- they'll be out of surgery and back here for after-care by afternoon.

Pigpen, staying true to her epithet

Caught a fifth cat-- Paint! This is good.  But we're still missing Miss Pigpen (aka Hannah.)  So five cats in crates are on my balcony, awaiting pickup, and four more sit, loaded and ready, outside. 

Three of the five cats were caught in the same place-- I just keep replacing that crate with an empty one.  Fingers crossed, maybe Pigpen will visit there next. 

Funnily enough, I've caught 6 cats tonight and 5 were ones I wanted.  The sixth was Raven, a domestic  (and already spayed) black cat wearing a collar who is sibling to Whiskey (aka Sam).  Obviously I let her go right away!

If I'm interpreting DNL's comments correctly, though, Miss Pigpen had a litter of kittens this past Spring (which were domesticated and taken to Petco, apparently), so she's definitely not speutered. 

Everyone, please send "Pigpen go in the trap," vibes.

Fourth!

Neighbor E. had a great plan involving letting Ti(g)ger eat at her house like he normally does and letting us catch him that way.  Tig(g)er had other plans, though, and when Beatrice's Mom came over to hang out, she pointed out "Hey, there's a cat in that trap."  And there was indeed-- a rather angry Tig(g)er who started throwing himself against the edge of his crate, poor kitty.  He settled down quickly once the cover was atop, and he's now awaiting pick-up with the other three.

That leaves Paint and Pigpen.  It figures that my nemesis would, once again, refuse to cooperate.  But it's only 8:30, so we shall see.

Another one caught!

Tuxie is VERY angry about it, but she's been caught.  She is now in a trap and yowling.

This leaves Tig(g)er  (and we have a plan for him), Pigpen (MY NEMESIS) and Paint, who I've seen around, sniffing at the traps, but has not deigned to yet go in.

We wait...

Amidst the Trapping

While hanging out with neighbor E., who is unfortunately not well enough to help trap tonight, we caught Barnaby/Miley! Huzzah!

And then another neighbor came to my door to tell me that there was a cat in one of my traps-- and we've caught the sooper mysterious grey tabby! Huzzah!

But Tuxie is just taunting us.