TNR catching

Meet our first capture. It will be going tomorrow to get fixed with Mica and Pip and Pip will be going to her new mommy's Sunday evening (her friend's a vet tech and is teaching her everything for watching the incision and they bought her like 20 toys and a scratching post and tons of food!)

This little one's a pretty black and white with a puffy tail and about 5 months months old (older sibling for the little 4 we just took in who are doing great on glop right now and is one of the siblings to the little black one we rehomed earlier this spring)

It hissed at us one time but the second we got it in the house and it saw the kittens it calmed right down. After getting it fixed, we may try to tame this little one to be a pet since it has a lot of potential and let me touch her.


And we JUST caught momma cat. The one who's had 2 litters this years and hates us (mother of this one and the newest 4) who we're not putting in a carrier from the cage so we can try to get others like we did with the calm young one becasue she is PISSED. But 2 ferals will be down (one may turn into somebody's pet. Have a nice quiet secluded room all ready for after it gets fixed to feed and coax into being a friendly little one in. May take a few months, but we'll try! Seems to not hate us and seems very curious. mom cat HATES us and just look at the look she gives us! She's in a dark quiet room in the trap with a beach towel covering it)

So those two and the oldest 2 kittens (Cheeto/Lily's being spoiled by her mommy and her mommy took her to get fixed somewhere else that does fixing, vaccines, flea and worming for $200 which I took my lab to for $75 to get all vaccines)

Going to see if they'll let us get appts for TNR each Friday until we can get them all. 2 down!

And how about a little flashback to our feral babies from that colony from this year?


Pip, Cheeto/Lily, and Mica at a week old (Pip had her eyes open so we took her in to give eye drops and put her back out at that point)


And another Lily (we called her Puff while she was here) who's the sister of the black and white and daughter of the tortie (she's being very spoiled in her home)

Hi! thanks for stepping up and neuterting and saving this liter! I have been doing TNR for 2 years now. Please don't have unrealistic expectations on the Mom. She maybe be too old to tame down. A few things to pay attention too..will she play with a feather? Will she look you in the eyes?  If you don't get anywhere then she needs to be released back where she came from, or relocated to a barn home..as far as the kittens almost always kittens are tamable.

The mom's being released back outside tomorrow because we know there's no way she'll ever be tame, but the 5 month old (who we've named Heather) is currently recovering in my lab's big dog crate (with his memory foam doggie pillow, a new litter box, the best cat food we could find, and a nice big box for her to hide under) and besides being a little shy, she'll sit there and watch me. No growls or hisses from this little 4lb girl. She even started falling asleep with me watching her.

If we catch her sibling we may try taming it to, but only those two. Maybe the older 3's mom (she's less than a year and doesn't run away until you're only a couple feet away and even then she doesn't go far and just watches you) but those are the only ones we'll try taming. The others are too feral, especially momma cat.

Heather updates sure to come as we make progress, along with pictures since she is such a good looking cat!

AWWW thank you SO much for rescuing and helping feral cats. I wish you THE best of luck in finding homes for these babies. I think "mom cat" was not given enough time for you to be able to judge whether or not she would come around. AND that is totally fine - you can only do so much at one time. Maybe down the road - if you have the time and the small room, then she could be recaptured and worked with. She did not hate you, she was an intact female, with kittens, of course, she would be angry with you. I am a firm believer in taming any feral cat or kitten. I do not label feral cats as being able to be socialized solely based on age. There can be feral kittens that will never socialize and some adult feral cats that will. The only way to know is to try and have much, much patience and hopeful expectations with them. I think you have to take each feral cat on a case by case basis. Some will socialize in the right hands and under the right circumstances and others will never be happy and thrive, no matter how hard you try. But you cannot say for sure about her coming around in only a matter of days or sometimes a few weeks. May take longer than that for some but in the end, they turn around to be very loyal and wonderful one or two person kitties. At least she is spayed and can no longer have kittens!! GOOD JOB!!! Good luck and keep us posted.

Iris said:

Hi! thanks for stepping up and neuterting and saving this liter! I have been doing TNR for 2 years now. Please don't have unrealistic expectations on the Mom. She maybe be too old to tame down. A few things to pay attention too..will she play with a feather? Will she look you in the eyes?  If you don't get anywhere then she needs to be released back where she came from, or relocated to a barn home..as far as the kittens almost always kittens are tamable.

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I believe that each cat needs to be taken independently from the next. I like to believe in a "hopeful expectations". One thing I am learning over the years of socializing feral cats - adults and kittens - is that each cat will be completely different from the next. I believe that it is their inherent underlying personalities that make the socialization successful or a failure. IF you give up too soon, and that is hard to tell exactly how long, you could be passing up on a much better life for that particular kitty - an indoor safe life, that is. Just my :2cts: