Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 18

Good news, readers. My masterplan worked and I caught Sorrento last week. 

I went into the rumpus room to feed the cats and deposited some food into the open cat cage, which I had placed on the ping pong table some weeks ago. This was her particular feeding station and the objective was to make her feel comfortable around the cage so she thought it was a harmless object. Feral cats are notoriously clever in recognising when somebody wants to catch them and usually avoid confined spaces such as cat traps and cages unless they're starving.

I just had a feeling this was going to be the day so I kept watch on her out of the corner of my eye while I did other things such as clean out the kitty litter. Sure enough she calmly walked inside the cage and I just quickly and quietly moved across the room to shut the door on her. She was completely taken by surprise. I covered the sides of the cage with a towel and then carried her to the car and strapped her into the seat beside me.

I had to take my dog into the vet at the same time to get some stitches and it took me about ten minutes to drive there. This was the first time I actually heard Sorrento meow. She had a quiet scared meow and I just talked gently to her, reassuring her that it would be all right. And indeed it was. I got her chipped, vaccinated, desexed and put on post-operative pain medication.

That night I picked her and my dog up. When I returned home, I walked into the rumpus room and slowly opened the cage door and stood back. She tottered out – still wobbly from the anaesthesia – and then she ran and hid behind some filing cabinets. I left her some food and checked again on her about two hours later. She was doing okay.

For the next few days she avoided me and gave me the evil eye if I came near her. After that she started to relax.

Yesterday I decided she was ready for the big wide world again so I let the door open to the rumpus room. It was a beautiful warm day and about ten of the farm cats were lounging in and around the base of the stairs in about a 10 metre radius. The dogs were there too. We watched Sorrento tentatively come out onto the landing and look around – sniffing the air and the area. Then she slowly came down the stairs and looked around. I let her continue in this way for about 15 minutes – the dogs' eyes and some of the other cats and mine upon her. I knew the rumpus room was her safe-place so I kept the door open, although I was conscious of the fact that I didn't want Lulu (our little blind cat) trying to get out. I slowly moved towards Sorrento to see what she would do and as predicted she turned around and ran back into the rumpus room.

A couple of hours later I repeated the same process and then again a few hours after that. Each time she expanded her territory and interacted with great excitement with some of our other cats she had not met yet. Desexed males are usually the kindest and most patient with new cats – in this case, Boston, Saffron and Snow – and of course, Sorrento's best friend Samson. I don't have a current photo of Sorrento unfortunately as the camera I usually use is on holidays with my parents – the one you're looking at is about three months old. But I can tell you she's a pretty girl.

Today I let her out again. This time there were no cats in sight and I was standing some distance away watching her. And then she called me with her meow – wanting me there to reassure her so I came to her side and she stopped meowing and came down the stairs. I then brought Aspen and Mambo (her brothers) to her side so she could relax even more. Sorrento began rolling around on the gravel, exposing her belly and being completely in the moment. I've never seen her eyes as soft as they were in those moments. Even though I haven't stroked her as yet, there seemed to be a real communication breakthrough today that really touched me. 

Tomorrow I'll leave her out for longer and let her explore the area and make some new friends.

US Feral Cat Welfare Groups

Here's a list of US-based Feral Cat Welfare groups that I've discovered:

Shadow Cats (Texas) – Dedicated to Trap, Neuter, Return and strongly advocates non lethal measures to reduce outdoor cat populations.

Colony Cats (Ohio) – Their primary mission is to address cat overpopulation in central Ohio through public awareness and spay/neuter efforts.

Urban Cat League (New York) – Committed to improving the lives of New York City's homeless cats.

New York City Feral Cat Initiative (New York) – Helping New York City's feral and stray cats.

Alley Cat Allies (Maryland) – Dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of US cats.

I'll add these links to the right hand margin of this blog. I'd also like to add feral cat welfare groups from other countries so please send me any appropriate links if you come across them. 

Mimsy - the Houdini of Cats

Good news, everyone. Last week I finally captured shy Mimsy, the last fertile feral female living on the farm. This has been an 18-month endeavour and I'm mighty pleased with myself. I've mentioned her before on this blog – she and the other mature feral cats have just been too smart to step into cat traps so I've had to think outside the box so to speak. I worked out a strategy similar to that used on Sweetie a few months ago, although this time I actually used two cat cages instead of one in order to increase my odds of catching her, especially when there were other cats eating at that particular feeding station. 

I set the cat cages down inside the cattery (see previous post) where I fed them breakfast and just left them there with their doors open 24/7 so the cats thought of them as benign objects. In the mornings I would put a little pile of food on the outside of the door, in the interior of the cage at the entry point with a little trail leading to the back of the cage. I then sat behind the cage while the cats ate so they all got used to me. What happened was that the other less cautious cats would walk inside the cages and eat the food. I in turn would just ignore them. Mimsy, of course, witnessed this and began gradually letting down her guard.

The timing had to be absolutely right and I had to keep refining my technique from morning to morning. For example, I had initially lined the interior of the cat cages with towels but found that it got under the cats' paws or would block their view of the food at the back. The cats also sometimes dragged out the towel when they snatched the food from the inside. I also found that if I slightly elevated the cage on a thin plank of wood it would aid in the swing-action of the doors. Furthermore, because it is getting colder over here in Australia (it's Autumn) I had to use a smellier bait (odour is suppressed in cold weather) – tinned fish did the trick. On top of that I had to position myself so that I could shift quickly and not give myself away with any sounds or extraneous movements. I also had to hold back on the milk and the dried food which I traditionally left out for the cats to get them completely focused on the food I wanted them to eat inside the cat cage. 

On the morning in question it all went swimmingly. It so happened that Mimsy was the only cat who came into the cattery. I had left two piles of food on the outside of the two cages to increase my chances of catching her and she ate the first lot then did a snatch and grab from the interior (that is, she would poke her head inside the cage, grab the food and then eat it on the outside of the cage). Then ... miracle of miracles ... she slowly walked into the cage. I had to wait until two thirds of her body was inside. I knew I would only have one opportunity and I had to make it count, otherwise she would be on to me and I'd never catch her again. But there she was – eating away with just her rump and tail on the outside. I just lurched over the top and swung the cage door closed on her backside and secured it. She panicked a little but then settled down more quickly then I had thought. I then walked the cage to my car and strapped it into the back seat with a seat belt then drove immediately to the vet (they open at 7.30 on weekdays). She did not meow once.

That night, I picked her up at about 6pm and again she was completely quiet. She was sitting up and seemed calm. I've never had an experience like this – most cats who are frightened will be very vocal. I had prepared the gym at home (where I had previously kept the Xmas kittens) and walked inside and put the cage onto the carpet. Then I just slowly eased open the cage door. Before I even had time to step back, she was out like a bullet and hiding under the mini trampoline. I left her some food and water and then quietly withdrew.

The next morning I made my way back to the gym to give Mimsy her breakfast and to check on her progress. She had eaten her dinner and I expected her to be hungry. I could not find her. I looked everywhere – behind  and on top of fridges, under exercise equipment, in boxes – nothing. I thought she may have been hiding in plain sight and then came back with a torch in daylight like a CSI investigator to see if I had missed her. Nothing. I then sent somebody else in to look for her. Nothing. I couldn't understand it. The window was closed except for about an inch and the screen door was completely shut and I knew nobody else had gone in to see her during the night. What's more, I had wedged a container against the door and it was still in place.

I was quite perplexed but thought that if she had escaped she would head straight home so I was up the hill and looked around the perimeter of the cattery. She was there – interacting with her friends Hissy Fit and Diamond. I was gob-smacked. Mimsy was obviously a Houdini and smart and supple enough to escape. My only theory was that somehow she had wedged open the screen door and squeezed through a gap either on the top or bottom.

The upshot is that she appears to be her normal self and that the entire episode didn't seem to stress her out too much. She just wanted to get back to business and for her that means reuniting with her companions and getting back to normal life on the hill.

Mimsy was an excellent mother – we have kept six of her babies who are beautiful healthy cats in their own right with wonderful temperaments – but her days of reproducing are over. Now it's her time, and if Sweetie is anything to go by (Sweetie has put on healthy weight and is having a wonderful single life) then Mimsy will do just fine.

Adventures of Mimsy's Kittens – Journal Entry 3

Thought I'd better hunt for Mimsy's kittens after she moved them a couple of weeks ago. I had a pretty good idea where she'd taken them – the old dilapidated shed we have right near the cattery. It's falling apart and a bit of a safety hazard so I spent Saturday morning removing iron sheets, fallen wooden doors and lots of scrap metal from the vicinity so that the kittens could move around in relative safety. They'll also be exposed to the elements because the shed has no roof and we a HUGE downpour the other day so I'll do what I can to make them comfortable without actually touching them and freaking out their mother. 

I also sadly found the body of the white and ginger kitten that had died – or should I say what remained of it. Only the dried out skin and hair from its back was left. I quickly buried the nameless kitten in some freshly sprung lush grass.

The other three kittens were under the broken floorboards as I suspected. They're very tiny and possibly malnourished. Their eyes are half-open but their faces haven't softened yet from that just born baby look to the traditional cutesy kitten archetype. I'd say it will take another two weeks for that to happen. The first time I saw them, the remaining white and ginger one was sleeping with its head on the side of one of the black ones who in turn was sleeping with its head on the white and ginger one. They looked like the ying and yang symbol. Pity I didn't have my camera on me. 

They're too little to be scared at this stage, although I did hear a little hiss this morning. They move around slowly and topple a bit. I had one question answered when I observed them – although they're only about four weeks old, one of them actively cleaning her- or himself so that was interesting information to file away in the memory banks.

I've been leaving low-lactose kitty milk in a shallow dish for them in the morning – shallow so they can crawl up to it and drink over the lip but not fall in and drown. The milk is gone when I return but I'm unsure whether it's been drunk by them or their mother. I also tried some soft kitten food but again I'm unsure of whether they're eating it or not, as I've not had the time to actually sit down for an extended period and just watch them.

I poked my camera through the floorboards this morning and here is the result. I'm going to push a bit of straw inside so it's a little bit more insulated but my master plan is to catch them in about two weeks.

The reason I'm visiting every day is so they get used to me and make the connection that I'm a food source for them. This is my pre-socialisation training. It usually doesn't take long to rehabilitate kittens that have had this kind of preparation. Mimsy's kittens have always been good that way. After that I'll need to focus on catching Mimsy and getting her desexed. I've already set the cat cage up near the cattery so she and all the other cats get used to it. I'll start putting food in there too so they (and she obviously) think of it as a benign object, get a false sense of security and actually walk inside to eat the food while the door is open. And then sometime in the near future when I just so happen to be sitting nearby, I can just close the cage door on Mimsy and whisk her down to the vet.

Feral Female Farm Cat Caught

Good news on the homefront. Many of you may have read about the ongoing saga of Sweetie – one of the fertile feral females on the farm and how I've been trying to catch her on and off for about a year. Well, I caught her two evenings ago and she's now back home desexed and recuperating in our rumpus room, which overlooks her territory on the outside. The vet did a splendid job and she has dissolving stitches in her abdomen which means she doesn't have to make a return visit.

The entire experience has been traumatic for both the cat and myself because she trusted me and I felt as though I was betraying that trust when I caged her up and took her offsite for the operation. She's doing well now and is communicating with me again with her soft meow whenever I visit her. I paid extra for pain relief so I hope it's holding. I'll release her in the next 48 hours or so once I'm content there are no complications from the surgery. The best signal for me is that she appears to be relaxed and has eaten a lot since her return last night. This is a great relief. Her last litter was the Xmas kittens, which I've written about in the Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens series – two of which are sitting on a cushion right next to me in the office as I write this blog post. The emotional stress was a temporary discomfort to the long term stress of having the cats constantly reproducing when I'm trying to curtail the cat population on the farm, and then having to socialise and find loving homes for the kittens. I don't indiscriminately give kittens or cats away without checking out the character of the human companion who will be taking them. The quest is on now to find good homes for Sweetie's offspring.

At a later time I'll write a dedicated post on the subject of how to and how not to catch feral cats based on all the tricks I've learned during the last 12 months.

Hide and Seek and Kittens

Mimsy, the tortie and white mother feral cat on our property, has been walking around with a bulging belly full of kittens for the last few weeks. She has about three litters a year, and is too intelligent to walk into the cat trap I have consistently set up for the last six months in order to get her to the vet to be desexed. I've switched around the bait, switched locations, switched tactics but to no avail. Our vet said that cat traps in winter are often unsuccessful unless the cats are absolutely starving, because the cold affects the smell molecules in the food so the smell doesn't carry in the air. I just think our older ferals are too street smart to walk into the traps. Anyway ...

I fed the cats this morning in the cat shed we had built for them and I noticed that Mimsy came in last. Her stomach was still a bit puffy but not the awkward swaying balloon I had been accustomed to seeing. I thought she may have had her kittens but when I looked into the nooks and crannies in the shed I couldn't find them. (The shed itself has many levels and many escape routes so that the cats have free passage in and out. I have lined the ground with straw which keeps it very tidy but also warm in winter.)

I later saw my cross border collie Belle, who is absolutely incredible at sniffing out kittens, sitting to attention near a fenced in cattle yard. Mimsy spotted her too and, in a great display of maternal courage, ran across the grass to launch her hissing self at Belle who promptly backed away. When I investigated further, I found two dug out burrows in the long grass with an entry and exit to each. When I peered into one, I spotted four tiny black and white kittens nestled inside and squeaking for either attention or in fear at being disturbed by the unfamiliar sounds around them. 

I took our two dogs away and then returned. I found two lengths of old criss-cross iron (don't ask me what it's called or what it's used for) and then attached them to the fence that ran around the burrow so that the cats could still walk through the holes but the dogs couldn't get in. Then I left them alone.

As I mentioned before Mimsy has had three litters this year. The first one was the most beautiful bunch of cats I had ever seen – all five of them were completely different in colour (a tabby, white with black stripes that looked like paint, a tortie and white, black with white face and paws, and a silver and white tabby). Gorgeous. Their temperaments were lovely as well – they bonded quickly with humans and were and are very loving. I found good homes for three of them and kept two. 

The second litter died from the cold I suspect. We had a bitter winter this year and unfortunately they must have been affected, despite the fact they were completely sheltered in the straw of in the cat shed. I heard their tiny meows for about two days and then they stopped. When I looked for them on the third day, all four of them were dead. They were ginger and white. My cousin buried them in his garden.

This one is the third litter. I wonder how they'll go? You can mark my words I will keep you posted on their progress.