# It begins!



## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

I finally purchased a cat/raccoon-sized Havahart trap yesterday, and I've set it out and baited it! There are four known targets--two ferals, two abandoned. At least one of the abandoned cats is clearly unneutered; the status of the ferals is unknown. I really really really wish I could get the two abandoned cats into no-kill shelters, but everywhere I've called is full.

Biggest thing for me now is--patience. My summer schedule is slower, so this is the perfect time to trap, but I don't have forever. It's raining tonight, and trapping tends to be slower then. Oh, and we have a resident raccoon and possum, and they're bound to set the thing off occasionally.

Despite these minor obstacles, actually getting the procedure won't be a major financial problem: There's a low-cost clinic in town that will do the whole procedure for less than $50, including a rabies shot. However, I have to get 'em in before 9 in the morning. For this and a few other reasons, I'm only going to have the trap set during the early and late evening hours.

Wish me luck!


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## Miss Callie Kitty (Jun 12, 2011)

Good luck and hopefully they can be rehomed or rehabilitated for pets.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Is there a waiting list at the no kill shelter that you could get on for the two abandoned cats? Good luck with your trapping


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Last night, I baited the trap and caught my first...raccoon. :???:  Figured this would happen. Oh well, we'll try again today. BTW, since it's right outside, I heard it go off, so it was in the trap for no more than a couple minutes.



Mitts & Tess said:


> Is there a waiting list at the no kill shelter that you could get on for the two abandoned cats? Good luck with your trapping


Didn't hear of any from the places I called. Do Humane Societies have such a thing? And aren't most of them low-kill shelters?


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Humane Society are mostly kill shelters. There are a few that have become no kill. Check to see which kind is in your area. Poke around for smaller rescues near you. They usually have waiting lists you can get on. It helps if your cats are already vetted. Most small rescues operate on shoe string budgets. Its easier to make room for a cat if he isn't coming in costing the rescue financial resources they operate on.


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Got one! It was one of the two abandoned, the one I can clearly tell is unneutered. Here is a recent picture:










I didn't even need the trap for this one; he's tame enough that I could go right to him. So I just picked him up and took him. Neither he nor my two cats quite knew what was going on, though! Anyway, while I wait to take him in tomorrow morning (the spay/neuter clinic only accepts cats from 8 to 9 a.m.), he's in a secure bathroom with food, water, and litter (the water and food are up on a ledge, but he's a jumper and can pretty easily get there). Two doors + one room separate him from my cats, just in case.

I am almost certainly going to have to scrub that bathroom heavily tomorrow after it's all said and done. But my oh my will it all be worth it!


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

Ooooh! I love his markings. He's beautiful.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

Good job, nice pretty tabby boy. 

The best thing would be to release him where you caught him.


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Greenport ferals said:


> Good job, nice pretty tabby boy.
> 
> The best thing would be to release him where you caught him.


Absolutely. It'd be nice to keep him, but it's just not practical for me.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Is there a small rescue in your area which could take him. Weve found out cats were once companion animals after the surgery. They even had a tipped ear. they still got adopted even with the tipped ear. 

Good job on your TNR. Hes a handsome man!


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## zcb (Nov 11, 2010)

Oh he's beautiful. I think the abandoned are the saddest of all. They once knew comfort and stability and all of a sudden that's gone. Wish I could have every one of them and show them not all humans are bad.


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## BT1 (May 11, 2010)

Maybe you could do a foster type thing. I know we have a place where they spay/neuter, vaccinate, and microchip all the cats. They pay for food and any vet problems too - they just have to live with you until they're adopted. They run adoption clinics often and all you have to do is bring it to one of them. I guess that's what a humane society would do though now that I think about it. These people are foster based only. They don't have a facility with a bunch of cages, so everything is volunteer based out of people's homes. Sounds sketch, but it's actually worked great thus far.


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

zcb said:


> Oh he's beautiful. I think the abandoned are the saddest of all. They once knew comfort and stability and all of a sudden that's gone. Wish I could have every one of them and show them not all humans are bad.


My Midnight was abandoned. I knew the people who owned her...they were my neighbors. I was actually good friends with the wife (at least until I found what kind of a person she really was). I actually met Midnight when she was a tiny kitten of about 3-4 months old. She jumped into my lap and I picked her up to hold her. She snuggled into my arms, shoved her tiny little head into my left armpit, and fell asleep. She stayed like that for a good 40-45 minutes. Fast forward another 4 months to April 2005. My former neighbors moved, leaving Midnight behind. Midnight had a brother and a sister, but I don't know if my former neighbors took them when they moved, or if they were abandoned as well. Fast forward again to the next month, May 2005. I was walking past my former neighbors townhouse, when a black cat came out from underneath one of the bushes. She meowed at me. I stopped, looked really hard at the cat, then said, "Midnight?? Is that you??" As if to say yes, the black cat meowed back...louder than the first time. To make a very long story short, I ended up bringing her in the house about three days later. Then two weeks later, on June 9, 2005, Midnight gave birth to four kittens. Two were stillborn and two were alive. Kitten #1 was stillborn, then Star was born. Kitten #3 was stillborn as well, but he/she also had serious birth defect, so it's doubtful he/she would have survived. Lucky was the fourth, and last, kitten born. However, he was barely breathing and he barely had a heartbeat. Using a squeeze bulb medicine dropper, I suctioned the fluid out of his lungs. I wrapped him in a thick washcloth and rubbed his little body until he took his first real breath. Then he mewed. It was the cutest little sound I have ever heard. I held him and I whispered in his tiny little closed ear, "You are certainly a lucky little boy." And that's how he got the name Lucky.


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## KittieLover (May 2, 2011)

Good luck and that kittie you posted is gorgeous!
Hope he/she gets a home!


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

All good with the TNR. Unfortunately I haven't been able to place him, though. 

BTW, in the last couple of week's he's about the only feral/abandoned cat I've seen, at least anywhere near the feeding station. Either these guys hate the heat or they know I'm out for 'em!


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Haven't seen him much since I released it. But that may be because he's found one of the feral feeding stations around our neighborhood (we seem to have a few feral-friendly people around here).

Earlier tonight, I saw my second "target" on the back porch. He or she is a true feral, so only trapping will be able to bring it in. The trap is now set, wish me luck...and may the possums and 'coons stay away for once!


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Finally got another one! It's the feral, evidenced by the fact that it never meows nor allows humans to come close. I've been trying to trap it for weeks now, and it finally set it off! This all happened not half an hour ago, so it's no doubt quite stressed, not to mention it's nighttime, so I'll wait 'til tomorrow to get a picture.

Off to the spay/neuter place tomorrow morning!


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## bailey'smom (Aug 19, 2010)

YAY! You should be so proud of yourself! I know I am proud of you!!!!


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## Miss Callie Kitty (Jun 12, 2011)

Good luck....could you not enlist facebook with helping to rehome your ferals?


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## toll_booth (Jan 31, 2010)

Miss Callie Kitty said:


> Good luck....could you not enlist facebook with helping to rehome your ferals?


I could, but I'd have to round 'em all up again. Heck I've only seen the brown tabby twice since I TNR'ed him.



bailey'smom said:


> YAY! You should be so proud of yourself! I know I am proud of you!!!!


Thank you.  Usually I hate getting up so early, but this time it was well worth it. TNR successful yesterday, I freed it this morning. Here is a pic:










Don't worry--his right eye's fine, I just got the angle a little off.  It is a male--no surprise, given the color. He was as quiet as a mouse the whole time. But apparently he did just fine during and after the surgery!


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## Lenkolas (Jan 18, 2011)

Wow you are a wonderful person!

I'm so happy you are being successful! I wish I had one of those traps a few months ago!!

My4kitties, Midnight's story made me cry. I'm so happy she (and the little Lucky) found you.

Hugs!


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