Cows and Cats

Another day up before dawn, this was one of those cool gray kind of days that is common this time of year in Texas. Not one of those misty-moisty days, but one where the clouds are low but not quite touching the earth. It was cooler than yesterday, a sweater and jacket day. One that was comfortable if you were moving around but chilly if you sat still. Rain was predicted starting at 1pm, once is starts raining trapping is over for the day.

I really dreaded telling  Phyllis that her cat had escaped, she took the news as well as can be expected, she did cry a little. The missing cat is the remaining son of one her favorite toms, BonBon.

Phyllis did come out to my property and called for him. The best I can hope for is that somehow he makes his way home or that he hangs around here and eventually I will be able to trap him again.

So, today we got 3 young adults, which makes 7 out of 9 caught. There are two mama cats left, one Phyllis has not seen in a couple of weeks and one who was around early but then disappeared for the day. So all in all it was a good trapping job, with only 1 or 2 cats left, Phyllis will be able to handle the rest herself. I thought I was done for the day, but no.....

I was to meet some friends for lunch at the Chess Club Cafe, I arrived early and took a seat by a window. Glancing out what do I see but a little cat huddled on the back porch of the restaurant. She was close enough to see that she did not have an eartip. Hmmm, now what? I asked about her and yes nobody minded if I tried to trap her to get her spayed. But I was warned “she didn't do humans”. Problem was all the traps I had with me in the car had cats in them. So what I did was transferred 2 litter mates into one trap, thus freeing up one trap. As I snuck around the back of the building, she scampered around the side, luckily I was able to see what hole she used to dive under the building. At first I set the trap on the back porch, no luck. Then I moved it to right in front of the hole. Bingo! She is a pretty little kitty, light orange and gray, not a torty, but a torby. Maybe I will be able to get a picture tomorrow. What a great way to trap. Set the trap, go in and have a nice lunch with friends come out and the cat is in the trap. Nice and easy!

Sally and Rosie supervised the trapping the last couple days.

Sally

Rosie

Another Trapper Would Understand

When trapping cats you have to adjust to their schedule, that means you are setting traps just before dusk and dawn. I usually trap at night, which causes me to have a somewhat broken schedule. I may sleep in the afternoon then stay up late trapping. Catch a few hours sleep then get up really, really early to be on the road by 5am to be able to get to the Humane Society by 6am. To be first in line.  It is important to be one of the first ones there, as first in, is first out. So if you are lucky you will beat Austin's afternoon traffic. Needless to say that by about 7:30 am I am tired, so it has been my habit to borrow a few old blankets to make a pallet in my car to sleep on. A slight misunderstanding arose when a worker saw me take the blankets. Thinking that I was stealing them. Later when questioned I explained that I was only borrowing them for the day to sleep on.  I explained that when I put 15 cats in 15 traps into my small car there is not much room for blankets, thus my borrowing for the day habit. This brought a round of laughter, and a bit of head shaking. Is it strange that I should park in a church parking lot and burrow under a pile of blankets for a few hours? Another trapper would understand!

Don't you just hate it when.......!

 

Three nights of trapping, three nights and was I able to catch that BIG Black Tom, No! He would not go into a trap. I thought that maybe a bigger trap might be more appealing to him, but no. He sniffed around at the entrance  but would not go in. Rotten cat, I Will get him, I have another plan.......
But until then here are pictures of the two girls I was able to catch.

They are both predators and prey!

They lurk in the shadows, between dawn and dusk, in alleys, cemeteries and barns. They are predators, that stalk campuses, prisons and warehouses. They are prey, that hide in barns, culverts and parks. They are the feral cat, wherever there are feral cats you will find the feral cat trapper.