ARGH!!! Remaining cats are mating

Scott, she is beautiful!! You are such an angel for these kitties, even though they don't know it when you catch them. One less female to add babies!

That is an awesome trap cage! I am curious, do you find they don't slam around the inside like they do when they are in the trap?

Yes, they do. We've had them ram their heads pretty hard against the side, and it's probably worse because they have some distance. We've had one or two (out of 14) end up with bloody noses.

It usually happens when I go to seal the latch shut. I hold the rope tight while I go and either latch the door shut myself or have a person do it for me. The cats usually freak out for about 1 minute, then they calm down. They might freak again when we try to move the cage. Overall, it hasn't been that bad - it usually lasts 1-2 minutes, then they settle down because they know they're caught. I imagine they freak out in the smaller traps, though, too.

I think the advantage of the crate method is that it's much more open than automatic traps, so the animal is [probably] more likely to go in. You also don't need to release them into anything else - just put a litter pan and some food in there, and you can house them until the vet visit. I've also caught a mother + kittens or (3) kittens at once with this method. Obviously, since you need to actually man the trap, there's no false captures or raccoons.

Luckily, for many of these, I haven't had to handle that aspect of it. We work with a local woman that takes them for the vet visits, while we handle everything for the kittens.

Here's the expanded view.

Obviously, the size of the crate allows you to catch mutliple cats or kittens at once.

Scott way to go congrats. OMG that black cat is awsome.

Well, since he's so popular, here's picture #3 because he's a black cat on Friday the 13th.

And just the eyes.

Wow..you have GREAT pictures...it would be awesome if you could put a book out of the feral cats you have caught so that people can understand that they are just as beautiful as domesticated cats...I think more needs to be out there about the plight of stray/feral cats.

Katie

OMG The last picture of the black male is wonderful. He looks so handsome. And his eyes are gorgeous.

Black Cats

OK....caught the last female today.

She's actually Tiki's mom...same exact face (shape) and eyes.

I didn't take a picture, but she had a bad URI. All of her kittens did (including Tiki), so it wasn't surprising.

It took me awhile to catch her. She's walked past the cage on a few occasions without even looking twice at it, including today. Eventually, I put some boards up so that she'd be forced to walk in the direction of the cage. When she went in for the food, my girlfriend (who was watching from 60 feet away in the apartment window) waved a big green folder. I couldn't see her, but I pulled the rope a boom! Got her.



Here's an older picture of her:

Congratulations Scott!!!!! Hopefully you will now get a little reprieve from cats needing to be fixed.

Katie

Well, there are a few still out there that seem to be males. Ironically, the furry cat spilled the food out of the trap and after she was carted off, I looked out to see two tuxedo (males) sniffing around.

The weird thing about those cats is that they seem to live with, or overlap, our colony. Yet I almost never see them at the food bins. I haven't quite figured it out yet.

There's a small abandoned building behind our complex and it's conceivable that they all live in there, yet there are certain ones I never see come out for food. And I do keep a pretty good eye out for the cats night & day.

Here is one of them. He seems to have something wrong with the right side of his face. You can tell he's missing hair. Mange?

You are doing such a great thing here! I don't know much about mange, but I had a cat that had an abcess from a fight and he lost all hair in that same exact spot. It has grown back now, but different colored.

Woo Hoo!!! How wonderful that all of the females will be spayed as of the vet visit tomorrow (I assume its tomorow).

It looks like the male has scratches in the middle of the bald spot. I have dealt with mange before (unfortunately) but never saw scratches ...instead the hair either fell out on its own, or the cat chewed it off. But...when one of my rescues has allergy flair-ups, he will scratch until it looks like that.

Scott, these cats are gorgeous! BTW - I don't know anything about Mange, but I'd maybe try to get him to a vet. Scratches would make me think a fight and infection could be responsible, but I just have no experience with that.

And I also agree with Katie - you should try to put a book together. I don't have my head on too straight today, but either TCS already hosted a special forum that a publishing author moderated, or is going to be hosting a special forum that a publishing author is going to moderate. But consider contacting Hissy, she'll know, and I think it's worth pursuing.