I don't even know where to start without ending up in tears. This week I pulled up to feed at my very first colony. It is located beside a mini-storage building and behind an abandoned, but for sale, restaurant. This building has been empty for years now, so I guess it just didn't occur to me, or wasn't a pressing concern that it would sale.
It did. (They started tearing apart the old structure this week.)
I have a good friend that is friends with the property manager of the mini-storage next door. He watches out for the cats and feeds them when he can, so he knows them very well. I had my friend call him to find out what was going on and who had bought the property. She called me back with the news that a company from out of town had bought the property and the adjoining mini-storage property. They plan on leveling the building and building more storage units and hiring a new property manager from the sounds of things.
I went to speak to the property manager and will never forget the conversation the conversation. He (Mike) informed me that they were beginning construction, and wanted the cats out of there. He did not, for whatever reason tell me who had bought the land. He also told me that he had found 2 of my cats dead. They were my first 2 kitties that I began feeding, Henrietta and her daughter Corrine Corrine. I still don't have the words for how my heart felt at that moment or now. I just can't.
I've had to pull it together for the sake of the rest of the colony and figure out what to do. I have decided to relocate them to an adjoining back property for the time being. It is an open field surrounded by 3 treelines and a culdesac with apts on the North side. I have been using a lot of wet food, along with dry to bait them to the new area. So far, 3 of my cats are hanging around the intended area that I'm sure of. If anyone else has any tips or thoughts on how to get the rest of my colony to this area, please share. I'm holding onto the idea that food will trump all and they will come....
It did. (They started tearing apart the old structure this week.)
I have a good friend that is friends with the property manager of the mini-storage next door. He watches out for the cats and feeds them when he can, so he knows them very well. I had my friend call him to find out what was going on and who had bought the property. She called me back with the news that a company from out of town had bought the property and the adjoining mini-storage property. They plan on leveling the building and building more storage units and hiring a new property manager from the sounds of things.
I went to speak to the property manager and will never forget the conversation the conversation. He (Mike) informed me that they were beginning construction, and wanted the cats out of there. He did not, for whatever reason tell me who had bought the land. He also told me that he had found 2 of my cats dead. They were my first 2 kitties that I began feeding, Henrietta and her daughter Corrine Corrine. I still don't have the words for how my heart felt at that moment or now. I just can't.
I've had to pull it together for the sake of the rest of the colony and figure out what to do. I have decided to relocate them to an adjoining back property for the time being. It is an open field surrounded by 3 treelines and a culdesac with apts on the North side. I have been using a lot of wet food, along with dry to bait them to the new area. So far, 3 of my cats are hanging around the intended area that I'm sure of. If anyone else has any tips or thoughts on how to get the rest of my colony to this area, please share. I'm holding onto the idea that food will trump all and they will come....