Trapping Mammals Tonight. Wish Me Luck! (Hey, SKITTLES!) [View All]

Skittles, the cat who KICKED my ASS! at five weeks of age:



and who has lived all her life indoors



will be the hardest to catch. Wily critter... wish me luck with her. I've tried several times to grab her & get her spayed, and tonight I WILL be successful. I have to be -- we've installed a cat door and we can't watch her all the time.

I'm also attempting to catch ferals in humane traps: Big Charley, Domino, and "Baby Black," all male, and Ringtail, a very pregnant (I hope) female. Ringtail won't even come near my house tonight, of course, if she's already given birth. More luck, please.

Soon I'll go downstairs and prepare the traps, lining the bottoms with newspaper, making sure all the trip plates work. I'll try to get some sleep, then around 3 AM, I'll put oil-packed sardines on the paper at the back, put each trap in its place, set the trip plates, and put towels over them. (Having the traps covered helps to keep the cats calmer. I don't know why.)

If I set the traps out too early, raccoons & possums will get into them. I've already put out leftovers and dry cat food, hoping those critters realize feeding time here at das Haus des Katzenengels has come and gone. If another wild animal gets into a trap, no cat will go into that trap if it's reset because of the fresh smell of the other animal.

I have to have all the cats down at the low-cost clinic, Lucky Ones, by 7:30. They'll be spayed/neutered, shot for rabies and eartipped, and Skittles will be tested for FIV. Today I went to Walgreens and got eight of those little fleece blankets that are popular & cheap right now, two for $10, for the clinic. I asked what they needed and was surprised to hear "just blankets & towels right now." Wish I could do more.

I'll pick the cats up at around 4:30, bring them home, and let them go. Trap-Neuter-Return -- that's the name of the game.

I'm nuts. What the hell am I doing? People ask why. It's because I am too soft-hearted not to feed these beautiful animals when they come around -- feral or stray, neglected or kicked out, they're hungry, and they're frequently torn up from fights or beat to hell from being chased or from close encounters with cars. And if I'm going to feed them, I have to make sure I don't create more of them to feed. It's my moral imperative to get these critters altered so they can't reproduce.

No "good for yous," please. It's not why I'm talking about my plans for the night. Most of you know, anyway, that I do this. Writing it out helps me to prepare myself for a long and sleepless and probably frustrating night.

Anyway -- wish me luck!