Saturday, January 16, 2010
Henry's Cats - 2nd Trapping
On Wednesday, Jan 13, at 1pm, Kallie & I met at Henry's to trap 10 cats. Kallie got there first and found out the news of the new kittens, born Sunday. There were 2 out of 4 left. One or more cats killed the first two. Henry said they were pretty bloody. The other two, tiny little things, look like they're going to be long hair grey tabbies. They were in the corner in a Friskies 48 cans box in the corner. They have rudolph noses, mouths and butts - could be sick.
We set up the traps and got 8 cats within about 20 minutes. One of the traps got triggered with no cats and the other we were saving for the new mom. We'd put the kitties into a carrier with the trap in front of it with a sheet over the trap and carrier - the idea being that mom would only be able to get to the kittens by going through and into the trap.
8 hours later, we still hadn't gotten mom. We weren't sure which cat was the mom. We tried to identify her. We tried many things during the hours we were there. We left the trap in front of the carrier for a couple of hours then were concerned that the babies weren't getting nurished so we took it away. Several times during the day, Kallie and I sat in the car in the driveway while waiting for things to normalize hoping to catch mom. At one point, Henry was sitting next to the trap and when mom entered, he was to close the door. He did. Unfortunately, he didn't close it properly and mom burst through the door. Cats can be pretty strong when they're panic stricken. We tried putting a long rope through carrier tied to the door while we waited for her to enter so we could pull the door closed and run to fasten the lock... Didn't work either.
We found a place for mom and the kittens. Safe Harbor agreed to take them. Best with mom but even without. They are great with bottle babies. We had to get them there by 6pm and they were about an hour away. We were still trying for mom.
The delima was, leaving the kittens in a house where they were being killed.
Henry's house can be divided. At one point, we thought we had all the cats but the one we suspected being mom in the living area with the rest being locked in the basement. Henry lives in a tri level with a finished basement. We had a trap set for mom near the kittens. Kallie and I went to the car. When we came back in Henry said, 'There are about 3 cats running around up here!'
We ended up using the two unfilled traps to catch two more cats for TNR at Treehouse the next day. We were pretty sure the mom was one of the two young grey tabbies. We checked the cats in the traps from the bottom and couldn't see any swollen milk glands.
At some point in the afternoon, we took the 8 cats we had in traps to an empty apartment Kallie's mom owns near Fullerton & Laramie. It's closer to Treehouse near North Ave & Ashland and more convient for the morning. We had to be there by 8:30 am Thursday.
At one point, we put canned food in the basement at a point where we could see the feeding cats through a window. We saw cats we hadn't seen but knew there were more hiding. There are 2 cats that Henry's described, a white one with black spots and a brown one. One of the cats looked like it had bald or light spots but it didn't look like ringworm.
We left Henry's at about 8:45pm with the remaining 2 traps now with cats. Kallie agreed to keep them in the basement for the night so we didn't have to drive all the way in the city. I got home about 10:30pm.
We found homes for 5 of the 10 cats we had in traps. Jane, a TNRer in DeKalb was going to take 3 of the sick cats, one's with URI's to access for sociability. Adrianne and Jenny at Tails made the arrangements. When the cats are socialized, they will adopt them out. That's if they're socializable. If not, they'll go the way of many cats too scared to socialize. They'll be killed but they will at least have a chance. We have 5 cats with no place to go.
WE NEED HOMES FOR 5 CATS. Plus at least 8 cats left at Henry's. Cats are great companions, even those that can't be held and touched. We're hoping they'll go in 2's and 3's. They are family and the transition will be hard on them. They are stressed and have had lives abnormal to a cats natural surroundings. Separating them even further would be cruel too. They need each other. Please email us at catvandotnr@yahoo.com. DONATIONS ARE ALSO NEEDED to cover the cost of surgeries, vet care and meds, supplements and essences and food.
THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU GENEROUS ENOUGH TO SHARE YOUR MONEY TO HELP THESE CATS AND KITTENS.
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