Cats of Colonia de las Rosas

We can't really help but feed the opossums -- they eat the cat food! And as for the squirrels, it actually helps to keep them out of the road, and we'd rather have them alive than dead on the road, if that makes sense. The problem with these guys is that they are now *tame* and keep wanting to come into my neighbor's house!

Have you thought about calling animal control back to see what kind of progress has been made? Thankfully we can put our shelters out without needing to get permission from anybody. Everybody around here is animal-friendly.

We haven't seen Baloo in awhile though, so we might just need the one shelter for Face.

I'm very tired tonight so this will be short.

I asked today and my resident manager has not gotten a phone call from animal control. I'll have to call him again tomorrow.

Yes, ghosthunterbeck, I seem to be the only one that cannot hide shelters anywhere. There really is not an inch of this property that is not scrutinized by someone. It's discouraging.

Little Alfie helped me eat some trail mix tonight. He ate some of the cashews, and he ate a raisin that I dropped. I hope his digestion is all right!

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 10 total.

I hope I see Mamie this weekend. I last saw her on Tuesday.

Good to know that Red showed up tonight!

I understand what apartment or trailer communities can be like, and I can also, to a large extent, understand why. But it's we, as humans, who have contributed to this problem, and I feel that we have some responsibility to the animals to do right by them in the end. Did you read the poem that I posted in Paws and Reflect? It seems timely.

Hopefully the man from AC will get in touch with the management and you'll be able to do something. I know that where I live it's beginning to get cold, and I want to set up Face's shelter tomorrow, since Baloo seems to be going home at night now -- we've determined that he's somebody's pet.

This was a good night. A fine night. Almost a holy night.

Mamie showed up for dinner -- only slightly after the other cats. I didn't want to disturb her, so after I poured out the food, I went and sat on another bench where I could watch. She stayed under the cat's feeding bench until the other cats were frightened away (by a little girl singing and dancing along with her mom), then she came out and ate. She stayed until she had enough.

While I was waiting, Red came too. Yay! What a great night.

I'm glad Baloo has gone home. I know we have taken so much of the wild animal's habitat that now they need our help to survive it seems.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Mamie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 11 Total.

Somebody devoured a whole bowl of food tonight, too! I don't know whether the opossums came up for anything, but it looks like it was mostly Face. I saw her tonight when I was sitting out. Loud noises scare her to death, poor baby!

I'm glad that both Marnie and Red were there tonight. What a great night for you!

Another good night. It's been months since Mamie showed up two nights in a row at dinnertime. I keep a record, but I mark down that I've seen the cats, not if they've actually come at dinnertime, so I'm not sure exactly how long it's been. Red slunk in late as usual.

Louie is a funny guy. He is a small white-with-brown-tabby-patches boy, but he is CHUBBY! One woman asked me if he was pregnant the other day! He makes me laugh because when he gets excited he loves to hit the ground and roll back and forth -- showing off his fatness. He is mostly white, but has a brown tabby ring around his tail -- it looks like a target and that makes me laugh, too. I'm so happy with him because he as taken on the care of little Alfie. He looks at me like, "I know cuteness when I see it." He seems really proud of his little boy.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Mamie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 11 Total.

Katie, have you read "Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul?" There's a story in there I think you'd really enjoy. I believe it's called "Coco's Cat." I read it last night and it touched me deeply. Very much reminds me of what you're saying with Louie and Alfie.

Awesome roll call! I hope they continue to be so good!

Mamie showed up for dinner again. I poured out the food and looked around, but I didn't see her. I went across the street to the convenience store and when I got back there she was! I hope she plans to make a habit of this.

Red didn't show up, but there was a gardner working on the path he usually takes, so I wasn't too surprised.

Thanks for the tip ghosthunterbeck, I can probably find that at the library.

Someone left a paper plate at the bench. It must have been some sort of offering for the cats, but whatever it was, they finished it off.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Mamie, Oscar, Sneakers. 10 Total.

I'm rather tired tonight.

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that Mamie would keep showing up. She did not come tonight, and neither did Red.

I was so hung up on whether she would show up that I failed to appreciate the ones that are there. Always adorable always looking at me with love and thanks.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar, Sneakers. 9 total.

I think it happens to all of us from time to time, hon. You're allowed to be tired, distracted, disappointed.

*hugs* You'll see them again, I'm sure!

I posted earlier tonight, but something must have bone wrong. Maybe I forgot to click the submit reply button.

I just picked up a voice mail from the animal control guy. He said that management is NOT going to allow me to put up the shelters.

My head had been dancing with shelter designs. I was thinking that one of the gardners might let me put a shelter in his garden. Then, if the other gardners liked it, maybe they would allow one in their gardens. But I know I will not be able to put enough in the gardens for all the cats, or even most of them.

I'm discouraged. I thought animal control would realize the alternative to my caring for the cats is the possibility of their department having to euthanize them. I guess either that wasn't enough, or I didn't make it clear enough. I wish I could express the situation more clearly.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 10 Total.

Is there a feral organization in your area? You live in a big city, there's a chance you could find an organization that might not only be able to advocate for you better than AC, but who might be able to trap, neuter, and release to a different area where the cats would be safe.

Don't talk about relocating my babies!

I would consider it if I thought it would make a different in their quality of life, and if they could adjust, but this is about as safe a place for feral cats as is possible in a city.

I've asked for help, but either no one cares enough or no one really understands what I need. Very few feral cat colonies are located on apartment house grounds -- or at least apartment houses owned by the county. It IS discouraging, because what I'm really dealing with is indifference not outright hostility.

I lost my keys today and my daughter agreed to come and bring me her spare. While I was waiting, time to feed the cats was getting close.

The other cats must have elected Blackie as their spokesperson, because he kept coming over to the bench by the parking lot and telling me that it was time to feed them. It was very cute.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 10 Total.

I've lived in places that have been horrible to ferals. I might not have been reading long enough to completely understand the story of your colony, but my concern would be that it goes beyond just putting shelters out for the cats. Even then, I wish that there was something you could do to keep them warm in the winter!

I know you've been saying that AC and the management isn't helping, but is anybody working directly *against* you in terms of taking care of these cats (I don't mean the shelters, I mean feeding them). Are they safe (for the most part)?

I tell you, none of this would have occurred to me before I "met" Face, and then everything changed in my life... We'll hopefully have her shelter out this weekend, before it starts to snow.

Hi ghosthunterbeck. There are about 158 apartments in the complex. There are four buildings in a rectangular pattern facing a common yard. The cats live in the yard. The tenants have private garden patches there, too.

Most of the people do not take any interest in the cats, actually. A few people dislike them, and a small group likes them. Before I trapped and spayed/neutered most of them, there were a lot of complaints to management, but that has pretty much died out. Management still remembers that though. That's why I got petitions signed -- to show that most of the cat-oppposition has died out.

Many of the people here come from small villages in Mexico and think more in terms of population control by killing newborn kittens than by spaying/neutering. Management would be happy if I trapped the cats and took them to animal control.

However, there is ONE man, Mr. Flores, who was caught trying to kill a cat with a slingshot and marbles. He was investigated and fined. The cat he was trying to kill later just disappeared.

Long before that, when I had recently moved in, two cats' bodies were found just on the other side of the fence from the complex, where the family apartments are. I could easily see the holes where -- I thought, at the time -- bullets had entered their bodies.

I made the mistake of thinking management would be outraged and very concerned about this. I took it for granted it would be reported to Animal Control. I was totally wrong. Nothing happened, and probably the bodies were just disposed of by ground maintenance.

I also made the mistake of thinking these two incidents would be linked by animal control, but now I realize that since the bodies were never reported there was nothing for them to link. I may be the only one that made the connection.

On another note, although I seriously want the shelters, the weather here in L.A. is not life-threatening like it is in other parts of the country. We do have cold windy rainstorms, dry strong winds from the deserts -- the famous Santa Anas, and nights with temperatures in the forties are common.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Mamie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers.

People like that really make me angry... These are living beings who are dependent upon us. It isn't their fault that their circumstances aren't what they should be -- it's *humans* who are to blame for not taking care of the population problem by spaying or neutering their pets. It's humans who dump their pets rather than taking them to a no-kill shelter or humanely rehoming them. It's sad as heck to me!

We've put a bed out for Face tonight. I'm going to convert it into a proper shelter as soon as I can, but we need to find out the degree to which she's willing to use it before we do anything more drastic to make it friendlier in the elements.

Thankfully, everybody around here are animal lovers.

I'm sure your little cat will use the shelter you provide. She'll need it in the cold weather.

It was a beautiful day today. The kind of day people come to L.A. for. Not too anything, just perfect.

I wish I could understand what goes on between the female cats and the kittens that come here. Alfie was so full of spit and vinegar, so sure of himself, but now both Mamie and Sneakers are spatting with him. He's losing some of his confidence.

Mamie experienced the same thing at the paws of Sneakers, Lady Day and Bonita.

There must be something about survival to it. Maybe something about not having other females' kittens taking food from their own? I can't figure it out.

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 10 total.

This is my second attempt to post, because the first one went to a blank white page.

It was a raggedy day for the cats.

I went out about 2:30 p.m. and left them about a third of their food. When I got back about 7:30 it was gone, but the cats were still hanging out waiting for me. I poured out the rest of the food for them and the attacked it like it was the first food since yesterday.

They miss the ceremony of waiting by the front door and walking with me to our bench. I call each of them by name and I can tell by their ears, their tails, and their prances that they recognize their names. Louie always does his drop and roll which always makes me laugh. Even little Alfie knows his name.

The roll call is short because some of them wandered off after they ate, and I didn't come at 6:30.

Roll Call: Alfie, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar. 6 Total

Some friends joined me at the feeding bench today. Somehow the cats knew they were friends and didn't run away. Even Red came right up to the food while they were there. How do cats know these things?

While they were there, Louie and Alfie cuddled up on the sidewalk. They were so cute that my friends tried to get pictures with their phone camera, but all they got were two pairs of eyes reflecting back at them. We were all laughing.

They really wanted to catch Alfie, but he would not be caught.

Henry and Dude got in a big spat IN THE TREE!

Roll Call: Alfie, Blackie, Dude, Henry, Josesito, Lady Day, Louie, Oscar, Red, Sneakers. 10 Total.

did whitey come back...