# Feral boy George



## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I was contacted on Friday about a local disabled gentleman with a feral colony who wanted to get his cats altered but has no way to trap them and transport them to a clinic. We made connections today and went out to scout the property. He says he has 7 adults and five surviving kittens. We were able to grab one kitty tonight (without a trap) and got four of the kittens (about five weeks old so a good age to gentle down). The fifth kitten is inside the house being bottle fed.

George is now currently shacked up in my garage having his dinner.  He's a pretty orange guy about 6-8 months old. The four kittens went with my friends and will stay there until old enough to be snipped and adopted out. The owner wants his adults back, so we will transport them all once caught and get everyone snipped and healed and then will release them back at his home. We're going out on wednesday to try to trap the remaining six adults.

I'll try to post a photo of George (already named by his owner) later on. He's a chatty guy.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Venus, You're going th have your hands, very full!!
Looking forward to those pictures! 
Sharon


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

It always seems to be two steps forward, one step back. I adopted out two kittens this week but now I have a new one living in my garage, lol.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Aha, here's the answer to my question in your thread about finding free loaner traps...

Good thing there isn't a car that wants to live in your garage...


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

We've lived here 5 years and never once had a car inside the garage.  

We caught two more on Wedneday of last week (one male, one female-the mother of the four kittens we have) and they along with George have all been snipped and are recovering well in my garage. We are going out tomorrow to try to catch the remaining four. Depending on how that goes, we will release these three. I'd *like* to catch the rest before we release these guys, but we will have to see how cooperative everyone is.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Good Luck tomorrow!! Hope you catch those little rascals!!


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## struckers (Oct 2, 2013)

Oh good luck! Ahh, catching multiple ferals in one day? I bow down to you! It's been months and I still have not managed to catch my one!  Practice makes perfect, it seems. Any chance you snapped pics of George? His description is reminding me of my feral baby and I'm a sucker for orange kitties!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

George (taken before his neuter and ear tip):




Boy on the left, Mama on the right:


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

George is a Cutie! He looks very much like our most recent dumpee at work..


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Caught one more last night. Solid black, owner says male. Getting there! I am going to reset traps tonight.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Caught two this morning (I've been up since 5 am, yuck!). Both females. Only one remaining female at the property, but owner hasn't seen her for a few days, so I'm just going to take these three up to be snipped tomorrow and we'll go back for number 7 if/when owner sees her again.

The five kittens have an appointment to be snipped on the 30th. We're getting there!


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Nice work! OMG getting up at 5 am is some serious dedication! I've lost track of how many you've caught - is the one female the only one left?


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Venus, 
You are unstoppable!! Great Job!


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## Sylvie'smom (Sep 9, 2013)

Great job - you deserve a sleep-in after all the hours you put in taking care of these kitties!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yes the one female is the only one left uncaught at the property, however the black male somehow got loose in my garage while I was trying to clean his litter box, so he is still contained, but if I can't get him trapped in the next hour or so, he'll have to put off his appointment a few more days. *sigh*


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

All three made it up to be snipped this morning, including the little escape artist.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

YAY! Glad you got Houdini re-caught! One left to go!:thumbup:


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

I hope you don't need to engage in cat-stalking at 5 am again in order to try to trap the female!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

No, owner hasn't seen that last female around lately. He's going to call me if/when he sees her again and we can try to trap her then.

Little black kitty escaped AGAIN tonight (into the garage). We finally caught him again and tonight he is back at his home, along with one of the females (who was pregnant...we got to her just in time!). The other female was in heat when they spayed her and they recommended that we keep her in for a few extra days as she will still smell irresistible to the boys and we don't want her getting injured while her body is trying to heal up from surgery. She'll go home sunday or monday. Almost done with this batch!


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## struckers (Oct 2, 2013)

You are truly amazing, wow. I wish I had someone as skilled as you to catch my feral, lol! And George does look like Pumpkin! He seems really friendly in that pic!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

George is super friendly. He's the only one though. The rest are little hellions.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

All 6 that we caught are now snipped and back where they belong.  We are still waiting for a sighting of #7 so we can try to trap her, and the five kittens have their appointment on the 30th for their surgeries, then 4 of them will be up for adoption (the 5th is already claimed).


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

WOW!! Well Done Venus! That's a lot of care and time, you've put into taking care of these kitties and helping this gentleman out!:thumbup: :thumbup: 
Sharon


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

Wow, Venus, I'm new and was reading your story, you are great in catching the ferals. I managed to catch 9 and have them TNR but the last black female is just too smart. Every time I see her and bring out the trap and she takes off, do you have any tips on how I can trap her? When she takes off, I don't see her for 2-3 weeks. I have 6 that comes to my house in the morning and evening to be fed, but should I leave the trap out overnight? I'm just worry that the other fixed feral might get in and it's a bit cold at night about 55-60 degrees and then there is an issue with ants eating the bait. I have this one and one more kitten to trap.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

We left our traps out overnight. We only caught one of the 6 while we were actually standing around waiting for a trap to spring. 55-60 isn't *too* bad, especially if you cover the trap with a towel or blanket and put newspaper on the bottom. If you catch the wrong one, you can let it go. 


Another option is to set out a crate (big crate, large dog size) and start feeding her in there. Once she's used to going in there, you may be able to close the door, or she may be less wary of a trap. We thought we'd have to go that route with one of our extremely smart females from this colony, but we ended up skipping her morning meal one day and caught her that night. Generally it's best to try to trap them where they are usually fed.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

No sighting on #7 still, so she may have moved on to another home or she could have passed away. 

We got 5 kittens off the property as well who were to be snipped and placed in new homes. All were snipped and 4 were placed. Sadly, the 5th kitten died about a week after his surgery. As it turns out, he had a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It's associated with certain breeds of cats that were heavily inbred, and while this kitten is not purebred, he is likely heavily inbred. None of the other kittens in his litter made it past one month old (in fact, we were originally called out to TNR at the property because so many kittens were dying), so likely they had heart conditions as well.

RIP little kitten, and good luck to the 6 adults who were TNRed and the 4 kittens that made it into loving homes.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Aw, I'm sorry about the 5th little kitten.  There are a couple of members who are, unfortunately, familiar with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Is it genetic, then? 

Still, wonderful work TNRing the adults and getting the kittens homes!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I'm not sure if it's entirely genetic...I didn't have any experience with it until kitten died, and then we've found out a little more about it since then. But my understanding is that it's more common in certain breeds, such as Maine Coons, that were heavily line bred. It's also really uncommon in a cat that young (he was about 3-4 months old is all), but that was definitely the problem. He was absolutely fine the night before, running around the house like a maniac...and then the next day he was just gone. It was bizarre and heart breaking.


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