Cooler weather has made several of the unfixed cats we know about a bit more regular to the yard. So we set off to try and catch whoever we could.
"Lil' Fuzzy"
Long hair seems to be gaining ground in the gene pool of feral cats in our area. We believe this little guy is from a litter that Wine Bottle Face had this spring.
"Cork"
We are always hoping to trap females over males, and regular colony members over roaming cats, so this TNR is everything we didn't hope for, but we'll take it over a completely failed trapping attempt.
"Mr. Clean"
We have had several unfixed cats show up recently. We've recorded them and have been working on getting them used to eating out of our traps to make things easier on trapping night. This just didn't work for us on our most recent evening fishing, only one of our new regulars showed up and then he/she wasn't interested in going into the trap for the bait food. We almost gave up for the night, but then this random stranger sauntered in. We have never seen him before, but he seemed comfortable around the other cats. He figured out the trap faster than most of the other male cats we've fixed, and actually went right in.
As for his name, we have discovered over the years that the feral cats in the colony have a distinct odor. Every morning after a successful trapping when we go to the garage to get the cat to take to the vet there is a very unique stink in the air. It happens every time, but it didn't this time. We noticed it when we opened the door this morning and we noticed it on the drive home in the afternoon after picking him up. This was the first vet-to-home transfer that didn't require driving with all the windows down (regardless of weather). So Mr. Clean has somehow avoided The Feral Smell.
"Wine Bottle Face"
Here's a fella that has been hanging around for awhile and finally became consistent (and helpfully friendly) enough to trap.
"Mr. Cheekers"
Mr. Cheekers showed up very early in 2021. He was so skinny that his ribs and spine were visible. This made his jowls especially pronounced, hence his name. Over the spring and summer, we'd see him from time to time and he started to look healthier. We assume he was taking his share of the bait food we use to attract new cats to the yard. As the months got chillier, he became very regular in the early mornings, but never in the evenings, when we typically trap.
He was never very skittish, but like most of the cats, he wasn't exactly friendly either. One day he decided he wanted to be pet though, and after that he kept coming back for a good jowl scratching. This was the key to trapping him. We were hoping to catch one of the new unfixed females one evening, but were having no luck attracting any unfixed cats and it was getting dark when he stopped by, so it was his turn. He did not want to go into the trap for food, but some petting and slow movement of the food bowl into the trap while he was eating convinced him to go in. With a tiny pat on the butt, he was all of the way in, and we closed the door. He hasn't trusted us since.
And with that, we reach a milestone. Mr. Cheekers is the 50th cat from this colony we've had spayed or neutered. Unfortunately, he's probably not the last. 🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈
We're discussing feral #49 second in this post, because this feral has not joined the list of fixed colony members. Feral #49 was a solid grey/blue cat that we trapped shortly before Mr. Cheekers. Unfortunately, like feral #31, this cat had an exceptionally bad case of FORL and would have had to have all of its teeth pulled. As this is a feral cat, the vet recommended euthanasia instead, and we agreed.
