GOD is soooo good he even cares about my poor barn cat colony...great news...no euthanasia!!

So glad cute Socks found a home!

I loved reading this thread! Such great news indeed! Will keep reading for more updates [emoji]128154[/emoji]

I've been following your thread and being really sad for the situation, and it's soooo good to hear the good news coming!

Chin up everything works out in the end. Four have homes that is really beautiful. I glad for you and them.

Trudy1:  That is awesome news.  Yes GOD works in mysterious loving giving

ways.  Bless You For What You Do

Just an update. Captured My sweet Callie and Cutie Pie at the same time! This was my goal since they were always "joined at the hip". Callie was my first love when I started the colony. She would come to the truck when she saw me and cry when I always said "you kids be good and daddy will see you soon" as I started to leave. Cutie Pie was always the shy one and only recently had come up next to Callie for a scratch and pet. I reached down and picked up Cutie, dropped her into the carrier and shut the lid. Callie was still eating so I put her in the other carrier. Cried all the way to the vet! Wonder what people thought this old guy wheeling down the highway with a truck load of cats crying like a baby.
Anyway they are together at least. Tried three times to grab Cutie before but knew I could get my sweet Callie anytime. According to the vet they were adopted as barn cats by a trauma surgeon in the community who promised to supplemental feed the. I don't think either of them was ever taught to hunt. Just waited for the "food wagon" every other day. Told them, as I did all the other babies as I left them, that I was sorry, that I loved them but this was the last time we would see each other.

So now when I drive up to the barn where I used to look up and see daddy, Callie, Cutie Pie, cream, long legs, Socks and momma there is no one sitting on the hood of the broke down farm truck. I am still feeding Wildie whom I must live trap at some point. She just stares at me with those soulful eyes and crys. Momma had not been around since I captured Callie a week back. She has always been my wanderer. But this time was different. She did not eat but just looked at me from a distance as if she was saying goodbye and that she wouldn't be back.

Will follow up with what happens as I try to trap Wildie.

This is still so hard I can't describe it. Each day I seemed doomed to relive it but it's done, almost.

Thanks for everybody's support through this.

  Sending major prayers that Wildie returns and is rehomed with the rest of the colony!  I am so thrilled that Socks found a loving, inside home and that he will be giving comfort for the poor lady who lost her dog.  Your triumphs are inspiring to us all and I appreciate your testimony that will warm hearts to Him!  I know that Wildie just doesn't understand why you are making the others "disappear"....it could be that she is wandering into the path of another kind soul and may decide to set up permanent residence there. For your peace of mind, I hope that she decides to allow you to trap and relocate her with the rest of the colony. Thank you for the updates.  May you be blessed for your kindnesses

You've done SO amazingly!!! When I think where you were when you started -WOW!!!!!!!! Big pats on your back! You'll get Wildie---I just know you will!!! Which will just leave Momma? She may have already begun finding other food sources ---obviously she's out there making it!!!!!!! Keep us posted ---big positive vibes on Wildie!!!!

(If you just can't get her - is there any possibility in utilizing one of the others from the colony that she hung out with as "bait"? As in, bringing a buddy in a trap, setting that trap -unopened-at the end of the trap set for her. The idea is she wanders in, more curious than anything to see how her missing buddy is, and Wham! The trap shuts! Just a thought!!!!

Addendum to my above note - the "buddy trap" concept HAS worked for me before! 

kittychick said:

 
Addendum to my above note - the "buddy trap" concept HAS worked for me before! 

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I've heard people managed to get feral mother cats TNR'd by having their kittens in a carrier close by. I think it's worth a try of all else fails.

Sending you more vibes for the last few cats @trudy1

   

Thanks for the good thoughts and prayers. Poor Wildie all her litter mates are gone and she is left alone. I still go to feed her but she eats very little...I think she is depressed, as I am.

As I said I believe Momma was saying her final goodby to me the other day. Just looked at me with this forlorn stare, didn't eat anything and then she was gone. I just stood there and cried telling her how sorry I was to have done this. Remember all these babies were trapped as kittens from Daddy and Momma and released back at the barn. I started feeding them immediately and they had always been together, except for Socks, who was a drop-in.

So now they are all at two unknown locations as barn cats...no going back. Only Wildie now is left. I can't bring myself to stop feeding her so she will be hungry enough to trap.....maybe in a few weeks...this is really hard for me.

But thanks for the suggestions.

With the weather as wild as it is this time of year, I would continue to feed Wildie (and hopefully Mama cat - if she doesn't trust you, she likely went "ghost" on you). Wildie may become lonely enough that she will tame down a bit and either allow herself to be trapped or even better yet, go into a cat carrier to eat, allowing you to eventually close the door behind her. Who knows - maybe God has a better situation for Wildie in His plan but the future owner isn't able to have her yet.

I know that it is especially difficult for you because you don't get to visit your kitties. If I was the adopter, I would definitely have offered to allow you to visit the kitties - but that is just me.

Continued prayers for both Wildie and Mama, that you get them caught and rehomed soon! and thank you for the pics and the update! When this is over, maybe you can consider fostering kittens for your local shelter and/or rescue groups.  or maybe be on the transportation list to shuttle cats.

Thanks catsknowme, I needed that.

Wildie has never in 3 years come any closer than the first day. Now she comes and eats very little but seems healthy. But she rapidly disappears after eating and I don't see her again. However, this is the way she was when the colony was all present. However, then she had Creamy, my off white lovable male to look after her. He would cry for her to come in the back of the barn so he could be sure she ate her kibble. I fed ground chicken warm on a board in the front of the barn. Then I would leave small piles of kibble throughout the barn interior so they could eat in quiet...the way it used to be.......

Thanks again

Wife said I need drugs for depression to get through this. I think she does not have the "investment " in this that I do but I try not to worry about those who are gone. Thanks for the prayers.

(Butting in and including my *PRAYERS*, too.)

Continued positive thoughts re: Wildie & Mama!!!! And I agree with - I think channeling this sort of new-found love for helping kitties into something like volunteering at a local shelter to help with socialization, or even fostering (most shelters desperately need foster homes-and will even let you pick which kind of situation you'd like to foster - ie, pregnant moms, moms already with babies where the babies aren't old enough yet to be in a shelter, healthy babies that just need to put on weight/be old enough to go into the shelter for adoption, cats/kittens who need time away from the shelter to heal after a surgery, etc, or kittens/cats that need a little extra socialization before they can be adopted. My husband and I are foster parents for a local shelter (as I've spoken of before)....and I can't begin to tell you how rewarding it is. Yes, it's really tough to let them go, but think how good you'll feel every time you find one of your amazing fosters has a new forever home----it's a feeling like no other!

And I am surprised you weren't offered the chance to come see any of "your brood" at the barn--maybe I missed it, but did you ask? They may not have offered simply bc they already know that most people, sadly, once the cats are out of their care, feel like they're "done with them" (out of sight, out of mind). So maybe all you need to do is ask! We always do ask - Nine times out of 10 the adopter has been THRILLED to have us either come visit our former babies, or at the very least, they send me photos!

We still see, on a relatively regular basis, these adorable two fosters from last year (dory & Dozer)plus their adorable brother Dax, who also lives with them...


And we get photos periodically from this gorgeous foster (Rosie) from last year:


And from 3 years ago, we still get updates with photos periodically from the parent of the 2 bl/wh babies ("Pip" & "Sydney")...and the occasional email update on the Orange/white boy ("Indy").


So fun to see them SO happy in their forever homes!

My heart goes out to you, I have placed many 'families' too, and we have to believe it will all work out and they will be happy again. You are depressed, that is a normal reaction. You love them and want what is best. I'll pray for them all, you will be blessed for opening your heart to them, and going above and beyond to help them. Thank you. 

Di and Bob said:

 
My heart goes out to you, I have placed many 'families' too, and we have to believe it will all work out and they will be happy again. You are depressed, that is a normal reaction. You love them and want what is best. I'll pray for them all, you will be blessed for opening your heart to them, and going above and beyond to help them. Thank you. 

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Please hang in there, Trudy1 ! Yes, you have invested more than time and efforts in caring for your colony; your efforts have paid off, too.  Please keep us updated! and you can PM any of us here, any time, day or night - cat rescuers instinctively understand each other.

And to TarasGirl, KittyChick, Di and Bob, and the others who don't/cant post a response----- Thank you to everyone whose prayers and vibes were added to mine! I do believe that God has a perfect plan for both Wildie and Mama and He will answer our prayers for them as well as He has done so far for the other cats.

Just a short update. Still trying to trap my little Wildie. She will not go near a trap. I have trapped many cats in my time but she is very trap shy. She does still come when I call but will only eat food not around the trap. It has been so cold I feed her every second day, wire the traps open for that day. She just looks at me with soulful eyes like she is asking "why did you do this to my family". Sometimes I just sit a ways from her while she eats and talk to her.

Momma makes the rounds about every week or so. She just appears. I hear this cat cry off in the distance and there she is. She does eat but all the time looking and calling for her family. Poor thing.

An odd thing yesterday. Wildie was coming from the back of the barn and here comes Momma. She had not been around for over a week. When momma got even with her, Wildie jumped her, rolled her over and really tore into her making her cry! I yelled and she quit. Momma came out by me and proceeded to eat. Wildie just ate on her rock as usual. Wildie has never in three years demonstrated any aggression with anyone. Guess her little world is upside down.

But at least they are still around and eating. Now if I could only figure a way to avoid driving up the road to the barn. Not seeing the "kids" sitting on the old truck hood waiting for me is heartbreaking!

Concrete guy comes soon to pour the slab and building will start. Poor things!

Wish I had better news. Thanks for all the prayers.

@trudy1  Have you tried with a drop trap? If you make one and leave it securely supported so that it can't fall down then Wildie and Momma will have chance to get used to it. If it's there all the time it will become part of the scenery for them. then you could try getting them that way.

Good luck, thank you for all you have done for this little family.