Update on Vito

Remember we were all worried about Vito the other day? It turns out he has made a full recovery because the mass on his jaw was actually an infection. Antibiotics took care of it.

Catnip makes him smile.

Vito won’t drop it like it’s hot anytime soon.

Vito is a former feral colony cat that was trapped-neutered-returned TNR’ed to the V Colony. Then he was adopted by my friends because he was so friendly. He shares this home with two other rescue cats: Sparkles was adopted from Chicago Animal Care and Control and Belial was adopted from the kitten room at PAWS Chicago.

Now Vito says to get off the computer and go enjoy the weekend!

Stop working!

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Careful! It’s a Tru-Catch Trap!

I have amazing, generous, wildly creative friends. Last month one of my bands, noise&light, played a Halloween show at Klas restuarant. My friend from my other band, The Columbines, is the mastermind behind this annual event. This year she organized performances from a dozen bands, delicious Czech food courtesy of Klas, a raffle for some amazing eclectic prizes, and a costume contest. Then she donated half of the proceeds to her charity of choice, Women for Women International, and the other half to help out the cats for TNR!

So far I used this donation to purchase four Tru-Catch traps. These small animal traps are preferred among feral cat trappers for Trap-Neuter-Return TNR projects. This humane trap seems to work best for me when trapping an outdoor feral cat colony, and I can fit four of these in my catty wagon when I take them to spay/neuter clinics.

Mooha approves.

If I can’t get in the box, at least I can sit on top of it.

Mooha is one of my senior indoor cats from La Casa de Vansassa. She is the first to get into everything.

Here’s a Tru-Catch trap in action with the Iron Works Colony.

Hey! He pushed me!

Here’s another look at the traps exposed and baited with food. This is the Eleanor Rigby Colony that I first TNR’ed in 2008. When the colony is hungry, the cats will go in safely without getting hurt.

Project TNR: One day they’re in, and the next day they’re out.

I already have some TNR projects scheduled next month to start using these traps and help get more community cats spayed and neutered.

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Get Well, Vito!

Vito is a former outdoor colony cat from the V Colony. When my friend from the Chicagoland Stray Cat Coalition was trapping there in 2011, she noticed how friendly Vito was right away. She TNReturn’ed him at first, but then he kept jumping into her car when she would come back to try and trap some more. I agreed to foster him.

Vito did not stay in my house long. As soon as my friends and band mates from The Columbines saw him, they pretty much took him into their home. Recently Vito has been acting funny, so they took him to the vet where they discovered a mass in his jaw. If you look closely you can kind of tell here. It’s on the right side.

Vito on his favorite cat ledge.

A mass can either be benign or cancer. Please keep your fingers crossed that the test results come back negative!

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Happy TNR Anniversary, Dash!

I found Dash, one of our colony cats, sunning himself in my yard this morning despite the cold. I call this little sitting area the Catio. He definitely has beefed up and grown a winter coat in preparation for the weather.

The catio is still open.

This is the closest Dash has ever allowed me near him. He is tolerant of the rest of our James Gang Colony, but does not hang out with them unless he has to. I just looked up his TNR surgery record from PAWS Chicago and saw that his surgery was done on November 18, 2007, and he’s been coming to our yard somewhat regularly for five years ever since. He was already an adult when I TNR’ed him, so that means he may be a senior cat by now.

Dash is proof that feral cats know how to live outdoors and survive. I do not know where he goes all day, but he feeds in our yard, and I have seen him sporadically throughout the neighborhood. He does not use our outdoor cat shelters – he goes elsewhere. He is pretty solitary as far as I can tell. Sometimes I do not see him for weeks at a time.

When I TNR’ed Dash in 2007 I did not know to get him microchipped because the 2007 Cook County Managed Care of Feral Cats Ordinance [07-O-72] had just passed and microchipping feral cats was still a new practice here in Chicago. I tried to re-trap him without success throughout the years until this past spring, for some reason, he went into one of my traps. I took him to Tree House’s clinic for their Feral Cat Maintenance Package, where he was updated on his vaccinations for distemper and rabies. Out of curiosity, I tested him for FeLV/FIV and he was negative, and he finally got his microchip. Having the microchip means he will always be traced back to me as his caretaker. I hope that will continue for many more years to come.

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Giving Thanks for a Second Helping

I purrfur to share sometimes.

Recently I discovered a local pet food store, Kriser’s, that has ALL of the brands of cat food my three senior indoor cats love. My cats all eat at the same time, but they each have their own special needs.

Kriser’s has agreed to donate cat food when available to help keep the outdoor TNR’ed community cats fed and healthy. If I get off of work in time today, I’ll be making a stop at some of the feral cat colonies to make sure they get an extra second helping of food.

My alpha female cat Mooha does not quite understand yet which food is hers, but she is always the first to check out anything new. What a wonderful start to the holiday season! Happy Thanksgiving!

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How to Find Cats in Other People’s Yards

People ask me how I find all of these cats. Sometimes, the cats find me, but once you know where to look, it is unfortunately very easy to find them yourself. Step one is when you see a cat, just follow him, and chances are he will take you straight to his colony.

I travel for work. This week I ended up in downtown Billings, MT. I decided to go for a run, and ended up in a quiet residential area. My run was not going very well because I am not used to the dry heat or the elevation there. So I slowed down and soon enough saw a black cat cross my path. I followed him, and saw him dart into some bushes.

Then he ran across the street and led me straight to a “cat house.”

The Cat House was next to an abandoned house, so I just walked into their yard and immediately saw some more cats. This one led me down a path. He had a collar on and seemed pretty curious about me.

Orange you going to follow me?

Another cat did not want anything to do with me.

This cat was checking me out from the next yard.

The orange cat was clearly the owner of the Cat House and blended right in.

Gnomes!

No one was home to talk to about TNR, but these cats were clearly cared for and I can only hope they were spayed and neutered as well.

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Networking for Feral Cats

I was talking to a co-worker who mentioned a friend of hers has “tons” of cats outside on her block. We started talking about TNR, and it turns out her friend lives in one of the zip codes that Tree House Humane Society is helping with their targeted TNR grant.

This friend does not feed the cats because she has a dog that likes to chase them. But everyone else on her block feeds, including the neighbors on both sides of her. I went over there to take a look, and yes, saw at least six cats outside during the late afternoon.

These cats lounge in a beautifully kept garden, are well-fed, and have shelter in the iron works business next door.

Feral cats playing follow the leader.

I am calling these cats the Iron Works Colony.

This is an ideal situation for the cats to breed, and the neighbors estimated there were anywhere from six to fifteen cats in this colony. The cats are fed twice a day, by multiple houses, and look quite smug about it, as they should.

Who is hunting who?

Some of the cats are very friendly.

I bet this cat would stay inside once he's fixed.

And they all seem really comfortable.

When are they going to stop talking about us and just give us food?

I hope we can get this colony TNR’ed in time for the winter.

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TLC with TNR

Latte is one of those cats outside that could use a little help. We trapped him last week in the midst of a thunderstorm at the Frontier Colony location. He was neutered and vaccinated immediately, but he also had a visible wound on his back and conjunctivitis.

Latte could use a little TLC.

Tree House’s clinic cleaned his wound and gave him Clavamox antibiotics for a week. He was easy to treat because he ate everything they gave him, and slept a lot. By the end of the week he was getting bored and hissy, which means he was feeling much better. I was happy to see how good he looked when I picked him up to be returned outside – his eyes looked clear, he definitely gained some weight, and his fur looked fluffy.

Can I go back outside now or what?

Latte was hesitant to leave the trap when I returned him, but then he bolted and went straight for an abandoned garage. My next task is to see if I can get access to that garage because it was clear this was part of his home territory, and I bet there are other cats using that space as well. He went in through one entrance, and then poked his head out another to spy on me.

You're STILL here? Um, got any noms?

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If You Feed Them, They Will Come

I met another cat-caring neighbor named Joe this week because he contacted Tree House Humane Society looking for TNR assistance. Tree House introduced us through their Feral Friends network. I was happy to meet Joe because he lives next door to the Frontier Colony, which I TNR’ed in 2009. Tree House admitted two of these cats into their shelter this year. The Frontier Colony is also just one block over from the Peacock Colony. At this point I thought I knew most of the cats in this area, but Joe has been seeing even more.

So far Joe has adopted two other cats from his street, and can not keep taking more in, so we decided to trap in his yard this week. One of the cats we trapped needs to be TNR’ed, but he has an upper respiratory infection and is on antibiotics first. He also has wounds on his back so we’re glad we could give him this much needed medical attention.

We trapped another cat who was already eartipped. We named him Tang and decided to bring him into the clinic for booster shots and to trace the microchip.

It turns out this cat was TNR’ed by me a year ago, six blocks away, for another colony caretaker who free feeds in her garage. I love microchips because they always reveal more pieces to the puzzle. The only thing better would be kitty cameras to really track these cats.

Somehow a year after being TNR’ed Tang made it to Joe’s house, which requires crossing a fairly busy street. Tang has turned out to be incredibly friendly. He head-butts everything, rolls over for belly rubs, and meows for attention. He also eats anything you put in front of him immediately. One can of food after another. Tang is hungry, and probably not used to eating regularly. He has lost weight since he was first TNR’ed. It’s no wonder he traveled across a busy street from one feeder to another.

Tang is available for adoption. Here he is showing his skills in the litterbox and laser vision.

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Neighbors Helping Cats in Their Yards

Callie the kitten was found two blocks away from me. She was actually on the same block as the Rockstar Colony so I’ll have to find out if there are more cats that need to be TNR’ed there. She is underweight with sore paws, so it looks like she was wandering around for awhile. She followed one of my neighbors home, and is available for adoption. Tonight she is resting at Tree House Humane Society’s clinic for vaccinations, spay surgery if needed, and a thorough check-up. As you can see, Callie is very comfortable here and wants to stay inside.

I can get used to this.

Please contact me if you are interested in adopting her. I love to see my neighbors caring for cats in our community!

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