- Joined
- Aug 17, 2005
- Messages
- 74
- Purraise
- 1
I was feeding a colony of ferals and have contacted AZCats about TNR, the numbers have been dwindling in the colony though... we had 8 but went down to 3 (several who are gone were kittens) ~ 2 adult males and 1 pregnant female kitten. The males eat away from the house (large property) and the female eats from my front porch. Anyway, I was put at the top of the list for TNR but the female had her kittens over a week ago so I was in watch and see mode.
I began to get worried because I hadn't seen her or one of the males since last Friday (3 days ago) and there has definately been a change in food eaten. The female comes when called every evening and will sit near me if I don't try to touch her and I even put out tuna for her but she didn't show up. The males make their presence known by being obnoxious. Another neighbor lures and traps, then turns in to the Humane Society so I figure either she got them or something else did. We're not far from the Mountain either, so coyotes aren't uncommon here.
Today (Monday) my husband and I went back behind the garage because we had a pretty good idea she'd had her babies back there and we just wanted to check. We heard kittens crying so looked in some vegatation near a wall but couldn't see them, we looked under a shed but they weren't there. We pulled everything out of the shed but still no luck. I asked the rear neighbor, whose wall is 8 inches from ours (they didn't give an easement, actually built right up to our easement, in the early 80's) if she had seen the mother or heard the kittens and she said " I've been hearing kittens crying for two days but I can't figure out were they are coming from! I haven't seen the Mom and I always see her at dusk on your roof".
Now these walls are old and the vegatation is also. Betwen them is a bueganvilla (sp?) bush that planted itself between the walls years ago and has spread about 60' down the wall and overlaps both sides heavily. It's pretty so we just keep it trimmed. Tenants here are responsible for their own yards (they DON'T maintain their yards ~I'm going to have to get on them about that) so I had to get permission to enter these yards through front doors to find these mewling kittens, I also am climbing on the walls (the bush is so thick it's supports my weight) at this point trying to find where the crying is coming from. It's a city canyon back there and noise echo's... stucco, concrete and bush everywhere. We head in one direction, hear it from the other way so went back to the previous apartment only to do it over again when it came from another direction. Finally we locate the crying the second apartment down and go through the whole search under, in and above the shed again, search the vegataion and determine it IS coming from here.
Well, there was only one place it could still be. IN the wall. How do we get kittens who have most probably been abandoned out of a wall passage 8 inches wide that is overgrown with 20 years of prickly bush that flowers and attracts bees?
I'll give you my directions. I sugggest calling the fire department if this really happens to you. First trim the top all the way back. This will take an hour and a half because the crying is echoing and you have to keep stopping to search the top of the bush to make sure their kitten mother hasn't made her nest in such an innapropriate place and your not going to chop a little body along with everything else. Then you need to carefully clip away the trunk that grows down into the wall. You're sure where the kittens are at this point because you have stuck your newly coiffed head and manicured hands down into the wall gap to see, by flashlight, if you are indeed at the right spot... You should be screaming at your husband that he's not being carefull enough with his clippings too because you have seen the two little bodies down there. I have found that panic and hysteria helps calm men down. If the kittens are still unreachable (unless you plan on using a noose and bringing up fillet o' kitten I don't know how else you'd reach them out of a 8' wall with those vines) you'll need to get a ball peen hammer and chip away at a section of the wall about 2 foot away from them. When your husband hits his hand with the hammer offer to take over ~ then do the job so innefectually he threatens to cancel your gym membership because it isn't doing any good. Attract the attention of the neighbors by yelling at each other... they wont come over and help but they will cheer you on and you'll be reminded of Kilroy. Clear the rubble away as you go because eventually you will be laying in the spot right outside it (Unless you're in a backyard that has dogs and then you will find out too late that no place is a good place to lie down). When you do break through the wall you can look into the wall with a flashlight. You cant see 2' down an 8" opening if you have a cinderbock size hole your head can't fit through! It's simple geometry, something about light reflection and pool tables. Anyway wipe the spider webs off for the moment and catch your breath. You need to reach in and grab them but since gloves block feeling you need to do it barehanded. Ignore the (insert bug of terror here) and reach your hand down the wall. You'll have to go all the way up to the shoulder (forget your hair and nails;they can't be salvaged at this point) and move slow so you don't injure them when you find them. Feel around the ground of that 8 inch opening untill you feel warmth. Alot of things feel fuzzy in there but unless it's warm you don't want to pull it out and kiss it. Wind your hand out like a Twister game so you don't stab them with any branches as you "rescue" them. After you have grabbed one the next one isn't so bad, or the next, or the next, or the next, or the next. Stick your ear to the hole and listen for mewling. Climb the ladder and look for any more tiny bodies. Cry like a baby when you see one that was pushed out. Kiss and thank your husband. Run to get KMR and BeneVac to save the ones left.
I began to get worried because I hadn't seen her or one of the males since last Friday (3 days ago) and there has definately been a change in food eaten. The female comes when called every evening and will sit near me if I don't try to touch her and I even put out tuna for her but she didn't show up. The males make their presence known by being obnoxious. Another neighbor lures and traps, then turns in to the Humane Society so I figure either she got them or something else did. We're not far from the Mountain either, so coyotes aren't uncommon here.
Today (Monday) my husband and I went back behind the garage because we had a pretty good idea she'd had her babies back there and we just wanted to check. We heard kittens crying so looked in some vegatation near a wall but couldn't see them, we looked under a shed but they weren't there. We pulled everything out of the shed but still no luck. I asked the rear neighbor, whose wall is 8 inches from ours (they didn't give an easement, actually built right up to our easement, in the early 80's) if she had seen the mother or heard the kittens and she said " I've been hearing kittens crying for two days but I can't figure out were they are coming from! I haven't seen the Mom and I always see her at dusk on your roof".
Now these walls are old and the vegatation is also. Betwen them is a bueganvilla (sp?) bush that planted itself between the walls years ago and has spread about 60' down the wall and overlaps both sides heavily. It's pretty so we just keep it trimmed. Tenants here are responsible for their own yards (they DON'T maintain their yards ~I'm going to have to get on them about that) so I had to get permission to enter these yards through front doors to find these mewling kittens, I also am climbing on the walls (the bush is so thick it's supports my weight) at this point trying to find where the crying is coming from. It's a city canyon back there and noise echo's... stucco, concrete and bush everywhere. We head in one direction, hear it from the other way so went back to the previous apartment only to do it over again when it came from another direction. Finally we locate the crying the second apartment down and go through the whole search under, in and above the shed again, search the vegataion and determine it IS coming from here.
Well, there was only one place it could still be. IN the wall. How do we get kittens who have most probably been abandoned out of a wall passage 8 inches wide that is overgrown with 20 years of prickly bush that flowers and attracts bees?
I'll give you my directions. I sugggest calling the fire department if this really happens to you. First trim the top all the way back. This will take an hour and a half because the crying is echoing and you have to keep stopping to search the top of the bush to make sure their kitten mother hasn't made her nest in such an innapropriate place and your not going to chop a little body along with everything else. Then you need to carefully clip away the trunk that grows down into the wall. You're sure where the kittens are at this point because you have stuck your newly coiffed head and manicured hands down into the wall gap to see, by flashlight, if you are indeed at the right spot... You should be screaming at your husband that he's not being carefull enough with his clippings too because you have seen the two little bodies down there. I have found that panic and hysteria helps calm men down. If the kittens are still unreachable (unless you plan on using a noose and bringing up fillet o' kitten I don't know how else you'd reach them out of a 8' wall with those vines) you'll need to get a ball peen hammer and chip away at a section of the wall about 2 foot away from them. When your husband hits his hand with the hammer offer to take over ~ then do the job so innefectually he threatens to cancel your gym membership because it isn't doing any good. Attract the attention of the neighbors by yelling at each other... they wont come over and help but they will cheer you on and you'll be reminded of Kilroy. Clear the rubble away as you go because eventually you will be laying in the spot right outside it (Unless you're in a backyard that has dogs and then you will find out too late that no place is a good place to lie down). When you do break through the wall you can look into the wall with a flashlight. You cant see 2' down an 8" opening if you have a cinderbock size hole your head can't fit through! It's simple geometry, something about light reflection and pool tables. Anyway wipe the spider webs off for the moment and catch your breath. You need to reach in and grab them but since gloves block feeling you need to do it barehanded. Ignore the (insert bug of terror here) and reach your hand down the wall. You'll have to go all the way up to the shoulder (forget your hair and nails;they can't be salvaged at this point) and move slow so you don't injure them when you find them. Feel around the ground of that 8 inch opening untill you feel warmth. Alot of things feel fuzzy in there but unless it's warm you don't want to pull it out and kiss it. Wind your hand out like a Twister game so you don't stab them with any branches as you "rescue" them. After you have grabbed one the next one isn't so bad, or the next, or the next, or the next, or the next. Stick your ear to the hole and listen for mewling. Climb the ladder and look for any more tiny bodies. Cry like a baby when you see one that was pushed out. Kiss and thank your husband. Run to get KMR and BeneVac to save the ones left.
