Yes, we discovered Kats have invaded our abode. Not Rats but cute, furry, young, feral and quite prolific Kats. As you have seen on the blog Kat Kam, the regularly appear each day, usually in the morning for BreakFurst when we put out the day's Plating for the little dears, feral they ARE! Well we had many befurr our trip over the water and now we have many more. What happened? Why this year? Why US?! Well, this time last year we had Jerry-Kat, white, not homeless but a Drifurr in Kat terms, came often to eat alone then stayed away for days. Then there was Gus-Kat, big orange cat, a stray, friendly with people mostly, a real pussy-kat. Smoky, the across the street neighburr Kat, "belongs" to the good dentist, she/he (who knows) comes, nibbles, wanders off. Others showed up at our door too but those three were prominent, total of about 5 or 6 daily. We occasionally fed them til the bowl was empty and sometimes it stayed that way for days and days as we ignored them or got involved with living our lives in ways not connected completely with Kats. That was LAST year. This is THIS year. A dozen daily with perhaps another dozen in the wings...every day bowl feedings, TWICE a DAY! Yes, things have changed. We have the Kat Family Felix, Black and white with overspray across their faces, #1 through #4 described by amount of coverage over their noses. Too cute! Young feral rating (yes we have a system now) of 3 Paws out of a possible 5. 1 is can be petted (a Pussy Kat), 5 is watch out they're sharp! (KatZilla!), 2 Russian Blues, feral rating of 4, 2 Dark Orange/Black marmalade Kats, feral rating of 5! 2 Adult All Blacks...maybe Mom and Grandmom of the Felix Family, feral rating of 5 for the younger of the two (possible Mom) and 4 for the sick, ailing, slightly feeble but watch out anyway GM. Those are out Regulars (including Gus and Jerry). They routinely gather to wait bowl filling and refilling exercises by us Big Kats. Other denezins (another 12 or so) drop in as they wish, day and night for a bite and growl. Some few Kat fights develop but we don't know who is involved, only growling and angry Katwords are said out of sight but not out of ear range.
We became tired of the scene about Christmas time and Kelly researched the iNet for a solution...how to get them FIXED! Yes, repair the parts in such a way that they don't work and maybe truck there will be fewer next year...maybe. Males and females alike perhaps...neutered for their and OUR own good!
Indeed after a few phone calls and some musings about when (hopefully SOON), who (I don't care...ANYONE with a knife will do!), how (In the back parts...the danglers on the men...the women's are inside somewhere), where (Within 100 miles!). Information gathered...yesterday we journeyed about 2 miles to a nice cat crazed ladies home in Fairfield (Furrfield really) to pick up 5 live animal traps. these plus the one I have makes 6. Upon arriving home I shooed kats from the porch and assembled a 6 wide array of traps and loaded them with small cans of wet Kat food. Traps set at about 3pm. With a big Kabang!! 3:05 One trap sprung...false alarm...oops, a tricky cage. I reset it and back inside we went to await our captives daring exploits. 3:15...KA-Bang, rattle, scratch, growl! Sounded like a truck hit the house, one loaded with Kats! One of the Felix's was caught! Terrific! We covered the cage with several old towels which quieted our captive substantially. 3:45..KaBOOM! Another Felix fell for the trap! Cool! Then at 4pm one of the Marmalade Twins made a move...Ka-POW! Got her too. 3 caught inside an hour, wow...such progress. Really! Others came irregularly and each were caught, One of the Russian Blues and a All Black one. 5 in only a few hours without removing any of the cages...only one remained as night fell.
We covered the cages with both towels and old blankets we had bought from Goodwill. Nighttime temp here was about 30 degrees at it's worst. Our cats would be a bit more comfortable anyway.
So...out I go to check on our little furry charges. All covered and cozy. I open one to a loud "HISSSSS" and a jump at its door. Yipes...still alive. All check out and the empty cage is reset and ready to go. Within a MINUTE of returning in doors to the trusty computer to watch...here comes another cat...the OLD broken up nearly dead-but-isn't Grand Mom...and she goes straight in to the open cage. It doesn't trip! Out she comes in another 2 minutes and wanders down the stairs and sits to lick her chops and groom the mess. Then, surprisingly she stays in place as I put another can of food into the open cage. Back inside I sit here to check...and sure enough here she comes. Slowly up the stairs and straight back into the cage she goes. SNAP!!! She's ours!!! We got GM! Fantastic!
Later we transport the herd into the back of my truck in preparation for their visit to the responcible vet on Sunday. Then a neighbor shows up to admire our work and retrieve GM...GM isn't a MOM at all, she is a DADKAT! The father of all our neighbor thinks. Nearly dead by all appearances his terrible looking self is because he was caught in a HOUSE fire some years ago (5 OR 6??? 7 years MAYBE). Here he is still with us, limp and scarred and nearly blind. Our HERO DADKAT indeed!
We became tired of the scene about Christmas time and Kelly researched the iNet for a solution...how to get them FIXED! Yes, repair the parts in such a way that they don't work and maybe truck there will be fewer next year...maybe. Males and females alike perhaps...neutered for their and OUR own good!
Indeed after a few phone calls and some musings about when (hopefully SOON), who (I don't care...ANYONE with a knife will do!), how (In the back parts...the danglers on the men...the women's are inside somewhere), where (Within 100 miles!). Information gathered...yesterday we journeyed about 2 miles to a nice cat crazed ladies home in Fairfield (Furrfield really) to pick up 5 live animal traps. these plus the one I have makes 6. Upon arriving home I shooed kats from the porch and assembled a 6 wide array of traps and loaded them with small cans of wet Kat food. Traps set at about 3pm. With a big Kabang!! 3:05 One trap sprung...false alarm...oops, a tricky cage. I reset it and back inside we went to await our captives daring exploits. 3:15...KA-Bang, rattle, scratch, growl! Sounded like a truck hit the house, one loaded with Kats! One of the Felix's was caught! Terrific! We covered the cage with several old towels which quieted our captive substantially. 3:45..KaBOOM! Another Felix fell for the trap! Cool! Then at 4pm one of the Marmalade Twins made a move...Ka-POW! Got her too. 3 caught inside an hour, wow...such progress. Really! Others came irregularly and each were caught, One of the Russian Blues and a All Black one. 5 in only a few hours without removing any of the cages...only one remained as night fell.
We covered the cages with both towels and old blankets we had bought from Goodwill. Nighttime temp here was about 30 degrees at it's worst. Our cats would be a bit more comfortable anyway.
So...out I go to check on our little furry charges. All covered and cozy. I open one to a loud "HISSSSS" and a jump at its door. Yipes...still alive. All check out and the empty cage is reset and ready to go. Within a MINUTE of returning in doors to the trusty computer to watch...here comes another cat...the OLD broken up nearly dead-but-isn't Grand Mom...and she goes straight in to the open cage. It doesn't trip! Out she comes in another 2 minutes and wanders down the stairs and sits to lick her chops and groom the mess. Then, surprisingly she stays in place as I put another can of food into the open cage. Back inside I sit here to check...and sure enough here she comes. Slowly up the stairs and straight back into the cage she goes. SNAP!!! She's ours!!! We got GM! Fantastic!
Later we transport the herd into the back of my truck in preparation for their visit to the responcible vet on Sunday. Then a neighbor shows up to admire our work and retrieve GM...GM isn't a MOM at all, she is a DADKAT! The father of all our neighbor thinks. Nearly dead by all appearances his terrible looking self is because he was caught in a HOUSE fire some years ago (5 OR 6??? 7 years MAYBE). Here he is still with us, limp and scarred and nearly blind. Our HERO DADKAT indeed!
