Success Story

I take care of a TNR colony, and a lady across the road had inadvertently lured some of them to her place, feeding them, but not doing TNR. I've been working with her and her husband over the last year or so to get the situation under control. They have dropped the ball a couple of times, including not getting the last fertile female cat spayed (they were supposed to handle that), so there was one last litter of kittens born September 3rd. I worked with her to impress on her the importance of handling and socializing them and prevented her from taking them to the local county shelter, which is an overwhelmed high-kill facility.

Instead, I used my connections to get them into a no-kill adoption program and brought them there yesterday. She did a great job with this litter even though they were born and lived outside on her deck. They showed no fear when we put them in a carrier, and the woman who is fostering them briefly until they're ready to be adopted was able to handle and examine them with no hissing or aversion to a new person.

I know it doesn't always work, but it is nice to find that you can work with people to educate them about the overpopulation problem and responsible cat ownership. For example, the woman I helped mentioned to me that she'd heard on the news about how overwhelmed the public shelter is, so she's definitely gotten the message that you can't just let cats have kittens with the expectation that there's somewhere you can easily drop them off where they won't be put down. They have about six cats on their place, and along the way, I've dropped a few tips about things they can do to make it safer for them, and they've done it.

It's supposed to get down to 30F tonight, so I'm glad to know that these four kittens are indoors and safe. Their mother is scheduled for spay surgery in 10 days.

What a beautiful kitten!

God bless you, David.  This is a wonderful report.  And your work with the feeder sounds like it might be taking hold, too.  Thanks - you made my day!

Thanks, Ondine!

The dilute tortie pattern runs very strong in this extended family group.

Here's Freya, one of her cousins:

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing the story.  

About 7 years ago, I did a similar thing when the whole neighborhood stood by just watching. They did not lift a finger. I stopped the cats' overpopulation and socialized and adopted out 4 little kittens. And I fixed and vaccinated the rest.  

So I know exactly what you went through. Unfortunately, some people can be educated to do the right thing, but some are just too lazy to get involved. And I think that we just need to look for the ones, who do want to get involved, just don't know how (like your neighbor). Sometimes you may not get the full cooperation, but some help is always better than nothing. 

Thank you for stepping in and doing the right thing. Your neighbors should be grateful to you, because by now, they would be well on the way to be overwhelmed by 100s of skinny, wild, and starving cats running around the subdivision. 

As an update, we FINALLY caught the mother of these kittens yesterday, and I took her in for spay surgery this morning. She's semi-socialized, but very smart and very wary of traps. This was the third attempt to get her in for surgery. The first time, the woman feeding her got her in a carrier, but she didn't latch the door properly, so the cat got out. The second time, I almost got her in a drop-trap, but she escaped, just as I triggered it. Yesterday, the first time I set up a trap, she came up, sniffed around the edge, and walked away. Even tuna wouldn't entice her. The husband of the woman feeding them managed to sneak up behind her and grab her when he got home and got her into a carrier before she knew what was happening.

This reinforces the idea that TNR works because the people feeding the cats are often the only ones that can get close enough to capture them.

Good news!  Thank you so much for sharing - and for all your hard work!  Kudos to the feeders, too.  They are learning and acting on what they've learned

Update: The kittens got the complete treatment during their fostering, vaccines, external/internal parasites, microchip, spay/neuter, and are now available for adoption at the local SPCA's kitten adoption program.

Hi David

"Dilute Tortie" sounds like a "not so good" label - but I have one too - Pandora aka Little Grey, who is a magnificent cat.  The last one of a born-feral litter to be rescued - now a happy member of our family and notable for:  great hunting skills (she has caught at least 3 squirrels, numerous birds, snakes and mice), strong bonds of affection with us and her family (mother, sister and brother all living with us), fearless nature (will face off dogs 5 times her size), very independent but ... offers love in abundance on her terms.  Also tough as nails.  She had an abscessed tail some months back, hid if from me until it was very bad, tolerated all the vet treatment and frequent bandage changes without a flinch.  Oh, and  earlier, when spayed, chewed out her external stitches (happily the internal ones held) and boy that must have hurt. 

So I think "dilute torties" are the most amazing cats,  whoever came up with "dilute" should have thought twice and said "ENHANCED tortie cats"

Thanks to you for the great rescue.  Keep up the great work.