The Costs of Cat Colony Caregiving

There is a lot of invested time, effort and money needed to help the feral cat colonies. But I wanted to share the numbers here to show what can be done, that it’s not impossible, and to thank all of you again so much for your support. Also, I know there are people out there who do so much, and I really encourage everyone to broadcast their rescue work. People do amazing things, and their stories can also inspire others to help more animals.

So, here’s a look at 2014, a year in review, if you will:

Colony medical costs were $2,767.37, for seven cats that I found sick outside.

Cat food and supplies cost $1,579.69

Thank you again to Barb G., Ben M. and Carolyn T., Carlin R. and Kathy M., Dorota Z., Elisa G., Erica R. and Rob J., Greer G., Heather F., Joyce K., Kristina R. and her mom, Linda R., Liz H., Lora M., Niuris R. and family, Rachel and Nick K., Rhodri K., Rob and Candice C., Zac and Beth N. Your Paypal donations totaled $1398.79

Thanks to Janessa and Forget Me Knodt for teaming up on the Feral Flowers Project and selling the flowers I grew in my garden last summer, and for hosting a Feral Flowers Design and TNR Class. Together we raised $1,181.50, and also raised a lot of awareness for the outdoor cats.

Thanks to my friend and bandmate, Julia B., for hosting a Halloween show of rock music, called Feral Fete, performed by my amazing, animal-loving friends, and donating all proceeds, $702, to Cats In My Yard.

Without donations and fundraising, this would have been so much harder. In total, as of the end of 2014, 177 cats were TNR’d in 20 locations within one square mile here since 2007. There are now 59 cats remaining outside. The other cats were either adopted out, died, or disappeared.

And sometimes the remaining ones get sick, especially now that the colony cats are aging. I believe all animals’ lives matter, whether they are feral or not, and will try to provide any medical care necessary. I want to thank North Center Animal Hospital, Roscoe Village Animal Hospital, and Village West Veterinary for their help, care and compassion in treating cats in traps.

Here’s another look at the cats that your donations and support helped with last year. Please note that some of these images may be distressing to look at.

Munkimo

Munkimo from the Mother Colony showed up at his feeder’s house in obvious distress during a winter storm last February. He was cold, wet, shivering, and there was blood on his back. I easily placed him in a trap and took him for multiple vet visits. His bills totaled $309.55 Munkimo tested FIV+, but he was sick because of an infected bite wound and upper respiratory infection, URI. The skin just peeled off of his back. He had a fever, and his paw pads were black with frostbite. After being crated in my house and treated with antibiotics, he bounced back within a few weeks. But I had to keep him inside crated for almost two months because this was during the Polar Vortex and he still needed the hair on his back to grow. He has been doing fine ever since I returned him.

Zombie Cat

Zombie Cat from the V Colony had sores behind her ears, disheveled fur, labored breathing, and a chronic URI. I trapped her and brought her in for multiple vet visits. She had several rounds of antibiotics and a dental. Her medical bills totaled $518.22 She stayed with me for two months in Feral Cat Recovery Lounge donated to me by Dave H. During this same time it got stressful because I was also treating another feral cat for URI (Sneezy), and then another cat (Wally) came in sick that I ended up treating and fostering because he was also friendly. And I had a planned vacation during this. But it worked out, and even though Zombie Cat still gets sick with URI, she is much better. And definitely doing better outside.

Sneezy

Sneezy from the V Colony was just with me for a week in a recovery Tru-catch trap. He was treated with antibiotics that just cost $10 for his chronic URI. Sneezy was absolutely terrified the entire time, so confinement is extra stressful for him. I had to weigh the stress of that against his overall well-being. He still gets a bit sick outside, and sleeps a lot, but is doing better.

Wally

Wally also showed up sick in the V Colony a few weeks after his TNR. He turned out to be incredibly friendly, so I ended up fostering him for two months while he was being treated for haemobartonella and taking him to the vet. His medical bills totaled $326.42 He made a full recovery and was adopted by my good friends Carlin and Kathy in St Louis.

Billy Idol

Billy Idol from the V Colony showed up sick while I was fostering Wally. His head was tilted to the side, he meowed nonstop, his eyes were red and had discharge, and he walked in circles. The vet determined that he was suffering possibly from toxoplasmosis and a URI. His medical bills totaled $257.05 Thankfully his feeders were able to treat Billy in a recovery trap for a week with antibiotics and medication. Billy seemed to get better and they let him back out into the colony because he was stressed from the confinement. So far ever since he seems to be doing well.

Dice

Dice is from my colony, the James’ Gang Colony, and he got really sick last year. In the spring I trapped and took him to the vet where he was treated for URI, stomatitis, and had 10 teeth pulled with his dental. This seemed to buy him some time, but he was sick again in the fall. He showed up one day and just laid in my yard. He was down to four pounds and the vet thought perhaps he was going into kidney failure. His medical bills totaled $860.03 Also, confinement was incredibly stressful for Dice. He would only eat, and could barely move. Ultimately, after a few days, he was humanely euthanized at the vet’s office. RIP, Dice. My heart still breaks when I think of him. The last photo is from back when he was a healthy, TNR’d colony cat.

Woodrow Whiskers

Woodrow Whiskers from the La Vida Lydia Colony disappeared and then showed up sick at his feeder’s house. She took him in, and he was docile and clearly in distress. He would urinate sporadically. I took him for multiple vet visits where they treated his bladder, did blood tests, and determined he most likely has cystitis. His medical bills totaled $486 He made a full recovery with the antibiotics and medications. He showed his friendly side once he was indoors, so was admitted to a no-kill shelter for adoption.

I’ve got my eye on a few cats I’m concerned about out there, and am busy with the colony cats that decided to show their friendly side. And I have plans to help TNR colonies for other feeders. Onward to 2015!

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Feral Cat Recovery Crate

When feral cats get sick for extended periods of time you need to provide extra space for them to recover safely and humanely. I’ve run into that situation a few times this past year, and the Feral Cat Recovery Cage has been a lifesaver, literally, for the cats. My TNR friend, Dave H, invented this set-up, and actually ended up donating it to me. I am indebted to Dave’s ingenuity and generosity. The cats are lucky to have him working so hard for them, and I really don’t know how to thank him enough.

This set-up is so swank that I actually call it the Feral Cat Recovery Lounge. It’s a two-doored dog crate with a Tru-Catch trap attached to another opening cut out on the side. You can attach a standard-sized Light Duty Animal Trap or Fat Cat Animal Trap. This is what the lounge looks like covered, but you can see the door of the trap is lined up to the cut opening to the crate. The door is kept open with a secured stick.

The trap is attached securely to the crate with these removable springs on both sides.

The cat can go freely from the trap to the crate, and vice versa. You always place food and water at the end of the trap for the cat. That was s/he is acclimated to going into it, which makes it easy for when you’re ready to transport the cat to the vet, back outside, etc.

Zombie Cat was in the lounge first earlier this year. She was very sick with an aggressive URI and lived in the lounge for about six weeks, receiving three rounds of antibiotics, and visiting the vet several times. Here she is in the trap, ready to walk into the lounge area.

Once I opened the trap door, she walked right into the recovery crate, which has a litter box, cat bed, and room to stretch. Here she is on the cat bed looking from the trap end.

And here she is in the cat bed looking from the crate end.

She also had a choice of a cat bed on an elevated platform in the crate. The platform frees up even more room to stretch out in.

The lounge is once again occupied, this time by Dice, one of the cats in my yard from the James Gang Colony. Dice had a dental earlier this year, before I had this set-up, and frankly recovery was very stressful for him. We kept him in a crate, but had to prod him back into a trap when we needed to. This eliminates the need for such interaction.

Frankly Dice is so sick right now that he is allowing human handling, but the recovery lounge is a great place to keep him contained safely, and is easy to open up if I want to pet him, administer medicine, or pick him up. He has been sleeping non-stop – I doubt he could jump up on the second floor of the lounge because he is so weak.

I am so happy to have this recovery lounge at my disposal because Dice got sick very fast. I wanted to re-trap him earlier and take him to the vet, but he was still being evasive. When I came home last Friday from being out of town all week, I found him in the garden with black mucus all over his face, and meowing at me. I placed him easily into a trap and took him to the vet. He is not doing well – he is severely dehydrated, underweight at four pounds, his face is bleeding from the mucus, and he seems to be defecating and urinating uncontrollably. At the same time, he is seeking out food and seems to appreciate the care given to him, so this is not easy to figure out what to do. He received fluids and is on antibiotics for now. Please keep your fingers crossed him. At the very least, he is comfortable right now because of this lounge, and there is no stress involved in moving him.

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christine giantsos says:

March 14, 2017 at 3:49 pm

What size dog crate and two door? where are the doors located on the dog crate ….love this set up

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Recommending a Full Service Cat Sitter: Mama Bear Pet Care

Going out of town when you have multiple cats can be stressful. Not only are there pet cats to care for, sometimes with medical needs, but there can also be foster cats, sick feral cats resting in recovery lounge crates, and outdoor cat colonies.

Greer from Mama Bear Pet Care handles all of the above scenarios and then some. She cat sat for me a few times this year now. She has been a cat sitter for 20+ years, worked as a vet tech, and volunteers as a wildlife rehabilitator for Flint Creek Wildlife Center. She doesn’t just cat sit – she also cares for dogs and other pets.

In fact, she is currently pet sitting for a woman fostering a dog and her seven puppies for PAWS Chicago. Here’s Georgia and her one week old puppies. 10580719_507026606100650_7876362716078040356_o

Greer and I met last year when she adopted two former feral colony cats from me. Both of these cats ended up separately in animal control facilities. Their microchips were traced to me and saved their lives.

Louie is now the poster cat for her business. Louie is FIV+. So is his sister here that Greer adopted from Lulu’s Locker Rescue. 1890457_399810490155596_2111904987_o

Emrys is a bit more shy, but he is now also a total house cat. Emrys does not have FIV, and he mingles freely and safely with his cat friends. More and more progressive shelters are adopting this approach. 10365777_10152675473734610_1227857297545773598_n

See? Here they are together. They came from two different colonies with two different feeders a few blocks apart. I like to think they knew each other on the street and are reunited in Greer’s home.

When we were out of town last May I had Zombie Cat isolated and recovering in a feral cat recovery lounge. Here’s what the lounge looks like from the outside. It’s a crate with a Tru-Catch trap attached to it.

You could not touch her, but Zombie Cat was safely inside here and resting with a bed, litter box, food and water.

Zombie Cat is fully feral, and at the time, was in my house very sick with a URI, recovering from dental surgery, and required daily antibiotics. Greer took care of her and offered holistic suggestions from her own experience.

The cats in my yard also got her full attention. Greer kept their feeding stations clean and full of fresh food. While we were gone she gave me updates on their eating habits and who showed up for dinner.

She sent me photos. In fact, all of the photos in this post are taken by her.

Her photos made me smile because it obviously looked like business as usual and the cats barely noticed we were gone.

Bouncy Bear and Dice were still dining together.

Dash checked her out from the Jim Villa. And Funny Face stayed back on the Feral Villa.

Of course Greer didn’t forget my pet cats, Mooha and Mini. Mini is semi-feral and mostly bonded to me, but Mooha loved Greer.

I can’t say enough about Mama Bear Pet Care. Greer cares deeply about animals, and has devoted her life to caring for them in her home, in her work, and as a volunteer.

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Another Sick Cat from the Peacock Colony

When I first started this blog in 2012, one of the first colonies I wrote about was the Peacock Colony. They were in sad shape. Monorail Colony This colony of three, elderly cats were ultimately trapped, fostered, and adopted out into a life of luxury in their retirement home in New Hampshire. I regularly keep in touch with the women who fostered and adopted these cats out. They are amazing animal rescuers and friends.

Since then, the owners of the house where these cats lived have either died or moved on, I’m not sure. But the house is currently empty.

The other week I was jogging by there and I saw this sick cat a few doors down. 10606616_548140335290352_1844762927439071290_n I don’t know what is wrong with this cat, but a cat who is dirty and wet usually means they are sick or injured, or unable to care for themselves outside. This cat is also ear tipped, but I don’t think I am the one who TNR’d him. He is somewhat cared for, because there is a flea collar on him. Obviously, someone put that on him.

I talked to the people who live there and they gave me permission to set up Tru-Catch traps. There were two little boys and three little girls that day who were very excited to talk to me and learn how to help the cats. I don’t have a network of people that help me trap, but these kids would make a great TNR Team. Children love animals and want to help.

I set up traps for 36 hours and checked on them regularly to see if there was a cat, and to refresh the food inside.

Unfortunately, the sick cat wasn’t caught, but I caught this handsome, healthy cat instead sometime around midnight. Surprise! 10420016_548491651921887_3220117886908498240_n I named him Cosmo Moon Eyes and took him to the low-cost clinic for his TNR spa package, and he recovered quickly. I let him back out with a fresh ear tip and looking a lot more relaxed. 16691_548931418544577_3416553102203701833_n The sick cat has obviously been on my mind ever since and I keep going back to check for him. Today I talked to the two little girls at the house and they told me they’ve seen him again in their yard, but that mostly he hangs out at the Peacock Colony house!

Perhaps he’s a hold out from that colony and just was inside while I trapped the other cats? Who knows, but these little girls gave me all kinds of information about their block, and their dad came out to talk to me. They told me I can try to trap again in their yard, which is great, because I have now also seen this black cat roaming around there. photo-8 This cat almost looks like he had a lion cut at one point, but the little girls said he’s out all the time. They are so curious about everything – they asked all kinds of questions about the cats, why I was running (“why are you all wet?”, “is running like exercise?”), the vet clinic I am taking the cats to, why I was helping the cats, and what I do for work. You should’ve seen their faces when I explained I was a flight attendant. There’s nothing like kids to make you feel like a rock star.

Keep your fingers crossed that I’m able to trap the sick cat. I’m working all week, so if anyone can help in the meantime, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll keep trying when I’m back in town.

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When a TNR’d Colony Cat Shows Up With a Collar On

Today was really nice out finally so I decided to go for a run here and check on the feral cat colonies. I have not been able to do that since the new year started and we were hammered with this snow and polar vortex and Chiberia mess. I was also out of town during most of this – I’m a flight attendant and work ended up sending me out all over the country.

Well, today’s run was great. I saw Macario for the first time since he “ran away.”

Macario the outdoor cat was trapped by another colony cat caregiver that I’m friends with in the neighborhood. The cats in her yard are called the Thompson Twins Colony.

She trapped Macario using a humane Tru-Catch trap this past August, 2013.

She could see there was clearly something wrong with his paw.

After testing at North Center Animal Hospital, that big red thing turned out to be a benign tumor. The vet removed it. Macario’s caregiver had a fundrasier for his $500+ vet bill and we were able to contribute to it.

During his recovery, she noticed that he seemed friendly, and the goal was to get him adopted out or admitted to a no-kill shelter.

But Macario had other plans. One night he dashed out an open door and did not return.

We were worried, but then again, there are a lot of feral cat colonies around here being fed and sheltered so we knew he would be fine. A lot of the cats that I have TNR’d here visit multiple feeding stations regularly and cross-over into other colonies.

Today I saw Macario for the first time since then. He went right into the open back door of this house and up their back porch, where I was able to get a good picture of him and confirm that this was Macario. So Macario is actually part of the Martino Awesome Colony, where another friend of mine TNR’d six other cats in 2009/2010. He was clearly at home here, and now he was also sporting a green flea collar. Interestingly enough, the black cat I saw inside peeking out at me did not have a collar. I’ve talked to the people at this house before but at the time, they insisted they were only feeding a few cats. I’ll have to talk them again to make sure that the rest of the cats are spayed/neutered.

I’ve TNR’d multiple outdoor cats in this area that have shown up again sporting some sort of collar. There are a lot of cats here whose owners allow them in and out of their homes. Or sometimes, the cats become friendlier after being spay/neutered and THEN they are “adopted” by the people who are feeding them. Luckily most people are receptive to getting their pets spayed or neutered once we talk about it, as well as trap-neuter-return for feral cats.

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When a Colony Cat Gets Adopted from Another Colony

This year I’ve had several cats visit other colony caregivers for food and shelter. Sometimes they stay to establish new colonies, and sometimes they get adopted, like Babalu and Star.

Robert F. Cattedy first showed up in my yard this past June. He was a bold and beautiful tabby, and looked a lot like my cat Mowpa. Mowpa died this past winter and I miss him terribly. I thought for sure I was going to adopted Robbie into my home because he seemed friendly.

Robert F. Cattedy takes over my yard and pays no attention to Dice.

I trapped Robbie right away in a humane Tru-catch trap. He acted fierce and feral and wouldn’t look at me, so I took him for his TNR spa treatment at the clinic.

He never seemed to calm down during his recovery, so I decided to return him outside. He was not destined to be adopted into my home after all.

Robbie came back to visit a few times, but he never let me near him. The James’ Gang Colony cats in my yard did not seem willing to accept him. They had a few stand-offs.

Funny Face faces off with Robbie.

Eventually Robbie stopped visiting.

About a month ago I got an email from another neighbor who told me about a cat visiting her yard. It turns out it was Robert F. Cattedy! I was familiar with her block because I had seen orange cats over there and named her alley the Ginger Colony. She is feeding him, providing him with outdoor shelter, and named him Newt. He is also going in and out of her home. She said he is welcome to stay indoors permanently if he chooses to do so. I knew he was somewhat friendly, and am happy to see he found a home more fitting for him.

This also shows how important it is to network with other neighbors. The cats are fed in other people’s yards, and it’s great to know they are cared for by the whole community. That is part of a successful TNR program.

Dawn says:

April 10, 2014 at 5:09 pm

Can you get Feedburner or something so I can subscribe to get new updates in my email? I dont want to miss any posts, thank you : )

Vanessa says:

April 11, 2014 at 4:06 pm

Currently we are updating our blog and will look into doing this as well. Thanks so much for your interest!

Vanessa says:

April 16, 2014 at 9:39 am

We just added the Feedburner link! 🙂

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Thank You for Your Support & Donations to Help Colony Cats!

A feral cat colony caregiver surprised me this week by signing up for scheduled monthly donations for the cats through Paypal.

THANK YOU! If you are interested in donating, there is a Paypal link on the right hand side of this page.

All donations are used to trap-neuter-return and continue to care for the colony cats by providing them food, shelter and medical care when needed. My current project is trying to finish TNR for the Cell Phones Colony. I am hoping they will come out to the baited Tru-Catch traps more readily now that it’s getting colder outside. People tend to forget to feed cats outside during winter because they are staying out of the cold. And the cats are hungrier than ever during these months.

This is how I managed to TNR the Eleanor Rigby Colony. Even during a snowstorm, the cats came out immediately to check out the traps baited with canned fish in oil.

Barbs says:

October 31, 2013 at 11:11 pm

Even $10 a month, while it seems like a pittance, can go a long way. I’ve been looking at “frugal” ways to entice and maintain the ferals, and things like tuna in oil, or sardines, or even the salmon cat food from Aldi, at under $.40 a can, can go a long way, for either trapping or caretaking of TNR ferals. In a perfect world, ALL the kitties would have fresh fish every day! But if the cheap stuff isn’t perfect, it will keep them alive, and their tummies filled. We do the best we can…
If you “think globally, act locally”, you can see that supporting your local TNR folks is a good thing to do!

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How to Win Friends and Influence People to Help with TNR

A friend told me that she successfully trapped a cat over the weekend, and Tree House’s BVDM Mac Lean Spay/Neuter Clinic informed her the cat was already microchipped and neutered last year. My friend lives a block from The Cell Phones Colony. This cat colony is much harder to TNR because of opposition from the main feeder and is an ongoing project.

Last year I joined Tree House staff in that alley and we managed to trap some cats because we had the cooperation from the staff of the auto lot next to the colony. But the colony mostly hangs out on the main feeder’s property. He is an elderly man who feeds diligently so we could not get all of the cats because they were not hungry enough to go in the humane Tru-Catch traps. At one point the man became enraged and threw out a trap. He would not listen to us or agree to TNR. His family that also lived there tried to talk to him, but would not go against his wishes.

There was another woman a few doors down who also fed the cats and disagreed with trapping and fixing them because she insisted we were not bringing the cats back. She wanted all of the cats there and for them to keep reproducing and catching the rats.

The project was at a standstill.

I’ve kept my eye on that alley ever since and when I was jogging through a month ago I saw what I thought was a dead kitten on the main feeder’s property. You can’t tell from the photo, but there’s a wrought iron gate in the way. I threw a few stones to try to get the kitten’s attention, and it became obvious that he was sick. He was lethargic and did not react much to me.

The auto lot next door told me there were other sick kittens besides this one, and they agreed again to have traps on their property. I spoke to another relative that lived at the main feeder’s property and it was the same scenario as last year – she agreed the cats needed help, and told me they even found a dead kitten that morning. But it ultimately was up to him.

It was time to resume Trap-Neuter-Return there again regardless.

I brought some traps the next night with two other friends who are experienced trappers and caregivers of TNR’d feral cat colonies. One of them lives a few blocks away. When I picked her up, we drove through her alley and came across some of her colony cats.

When we went to The Cell Phones Colony and set up the traps, we were met with opposition from the same woman as last year, along with a few other men who were in a garage hanging out and playing cards.

At first, communication was impossible, as they accused us of being “cat killers.” They did not believe we were going to bring the cats back. When the woman threatened to call the police, I told her she should as their behavior toward us was alarming and I wanted the police there.

That gave her pause.

Free feeding outdoor cats in Chicago is illegal. TNR is not, as there is a Managed Care of Feral Cats Ordinance that protects these cats and the people who care for them.

In the midst of this, we also trapped a cat with a trap we had already set up. The cat actually already had an ear tip, the universal sign that a cat has been TNR’d. We showed the people the ear tip, explained TNR again, and let the cat back out.

They were starting to “get” it.

We pushed even more and started showing them photos of our colony cats on our phones, and how we care for them. Being called a cat killer really hit a nerve with me and I think the people were starting to understand what we were trying to do.

Nevertheless, we decided to leave because there was so much commotion already. The woman told us she also fed the cats around 5pm daily and we said we would be back later that week at that time.

We went back to my friend’s alley and decided to try to TNR there instead. There are already 10 TNR’d cats there, so we accidentally trapped and released a half dozen, but we also trapped three intact cats.

My friend took all three to PAWS Chicago’s Lurie Spay/Neuter Clinic to be TNR’d.

When they were ready to be returned after their surgeries, we took all three cats in the traps back to The Cell Phones Colony alley first to show the people there the cats with their brand new ear tips. We showed them the medical paperwork detailing their surgeries and vaccinations.

Now they were asking if we could come back and trap in their alley.

We returned all three cats back to their original alley. There was a bunch of kids hanging out there so we explained everything we were doing to them. We gave them fliers about TNR to give to their parents. One little girl, no more than four years old, told us about her new kitten that wasn’t eating. We asked her where it was and she took us into her home.

There is never a dull moment with this TNR project. TNR requires community effort and cooperation. If you can get your neighbors on board with TNR, it will be much easier to help the cats.

The little girl actually had two kittens. One had some sort of bulge on its side, so we convinced her mother that it needed medical attention. The other kitten was maybe three weeks old and they did not have anything to feed it. We went to Petco to buy some kitten formula for them.

Later that week we went back to The Cell Phones Colony alley to try to trap again. We saw some cats already TNR’d first.

Then we saw some of the cats hanging out on the main feeder’s property. Unfortunately we did not see the sick tabby kitten anymore. This time the woman helped us! She did not feed the cats that day, and helped us bait the traps with their usual food, along with sardines in oil to try to entice them. What a turnaround!

But because we still do not have the cooperation of the elderly man who is their main feeder, we managed to trap just two intact cats, a male and female pair who were also fixed and vaccinated at PAWS Chicago.

Baby Chocobo

Moon Pope

The rest of the cats were not hungry enough to go in the traps or leave the property. They just watched us. After Baby Chocobo and Moon Pope were recovered from their spay/neuter surgeries, we showed the woman again when we returned them outside to their alley.

This woman and her neighbors are now thanking us and trying to help. Unfortunately the elderly man who is the main feeder still will not listen, but we will keep trying. I’m hoping my friends in that area will also keep trapping.

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Dude, Last Night Was AWESOME

The boys are sleeping off their hangovers from Caturday.

Look who’s back! It’s been awhile, but today I saw Moby Dick the stray cat napping again at the La Vida Lydia Colony. He’s named that because so far he has eluded every trap I have set for him. In the meantime, Big Boy the orange feral cat was TNR’d two years ago, and I’ve trapped him again with a humane Tru-Catch Trap a few times since while I was trying to get Moby Dick! This community cat colony is on my block, so they visit my yard as well. The people in the house next door came out while I was taking photos and we talked about putting a trap in their yard. They have two little boys that really seem to like cats and asking questions about them. “Why are the cats sleeping?” Because they are exhausted from running around all night. “Do they have bunk beds?” No, but they totally should. They have all kinds of fancy places to sleep in my neighborhood, like cat condos, catios, and Feralvillas, why not bunk beds?

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A New Cat In My Yard To Be TNR’d

I have a new cat visiting my yard! It’s been awhile. The current line-up of my James’ Gang Colony was established when I TNR’d Honey Bouncy Bear in May 2011. So far the cats have been pretty accepting of this new visitor. He’s been coming the last few weeks, starting late night, and moving on to dusk. He leaves as soon as he sees me but I managed to get a dark photo of him through my window.

Introducing Puffy McWonder Tail.

He definitely does not have an ear tip yet, and looks a little disheveled. Jim named him Puffy McWonder Tail. Jim is in charge of naming the cats in my yard, since the James’ Gang Colony is named after him.

Puffy prefers wet food so we’ve been leaving it out diligently to keep him coming back for more. I hope I can trap him with canned sardines in oil in a humane Tru-catch trap next week when I’m off work.

Yesterday he actually came during the day and was waiting for wet food with the other cats. He will not stay in the yard with me but I got a shot of him on the cat path. Can you see him watching me from back there?

And here he is in the rest of my winter garden. It looks so bare! I can’t wait to start planting!

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