Cats #5, 6, and 7

It's been a while since I updated, but since the last post, I've caught and fixed three cats!  I had to take a couple weeks off because of rain and because one week I was sick.  After the two weeks off, the first one I caught was a female and the girl at the SPCA thinks she was actually pregnant, but they can still be spayed if they're pregnant apparently.  Here she is: 

The next one was one of the four little orange ones (my favorites, but shhh, don't tell the others!).  This one was the first boy of the little orangies so far.  I thought I would have trouble getting him because when I pulled up in my car to their area, he came out right away towards my car and watched me while I was putting the newspaper and food in the trap.  Then I set the trap and set it where I usually put their food and went to my car to wait it out.  Right as I was texting my husband that I was waiting to catch a cat, I heard the trap snap!  I think that little guy sniffed around it for about 30 seconds before he went in for the food.  Here he is:

Lucky cat #7 was a black cat again, which turned out to be a male.  I have to say, I much prefer catching females to males because the females don't stink!  Two of the males I've caught have sprayed or peed in the cage and when I take them in my car to release them, my car reeks for a couple days!!  They have some strong smelling liquids in them!!  Oh well, it's worth it.  Here are a couple pics of the last guy: 

Cats, cats, and more cats

I just wanted to post a few pictures of some of the cats during the daylight to show how many there are living on the campus.  Everytime I go there, I feel like there are all these eyes on me.....probably because there are: 

Here are some pics that show the little orange ones. 

So far, I've caught 2 of the 4 younger orange kitties.  The other 2 are proving harder to catch!  Probably because they've watched the others go in the trap and won't fall for the same thing.  We'll see though. 

Lastly, here's a pic of one of the orange kitties I got before.  I can tell by its right ear, which has a V notched into it: 

Happy to see they're doing well :)

Ferals #3 and #4

Last week was a busy week.  I caught one cat on Tuesday night and took what turned out to be a "her" to get spayed.  This time I had caught a black kitty. 

This one was really subdued compared to the others. 

The next one I caught was on Thursday night.  When I took it to the SPCA the next day, it was full of ferals!  They were overloaded that day and I was turned away with a feral cat in my backseat.  I really didn't want to release it without having it fixed because odds are that I wouldn't be able to catch it again.  I called a few local vets to see if they worked with ferals and I found one that is around the corner from my house.  Luckily they had an opening and they offer a discounted rate for spaying/neutering ferals.  I dropped this one off, and it was actually a boy!

It's so hard to tell them apart.  There are SO many black cats at the school.  The vet notched his ear and I tried to get a picture up close: 

You can see the little V taken off the right ear so that people can tell this one's been fixed already.  When this one was done recovering, I took a quick video of me releasing it.  I think releasing them is my favorite part because they always run away and seem happy to get back to their home. 

Feral #2 Fixed

So it turned out this kitty was a girl, again!  She was much more mellow after her surgery and really didn't make a peep the whole way home or even the rest of the day.  I did leave some tuna in her cage and I noticed she ate it later in the evening, which was good.  I had already decided that I would release her Thursday night, which means I had kept her for about two days - same as the previous kitty.  Here's a picture of her just before I released her. 

She sure was excited to get back to her brothers and sisters! 

One night last week when I was feeding the cats, the security guard told me that a lady who works at the school contacted a local Humane Society and they might come out to help trap and spay/neuter some cats, which would be awesome.  In the meantime, I'll keep on with what I'm doing and prevent some more little kittens from running wild!

My first blog!

I've decided to start a blog about my adventures in trapping, neutering, and releasing some feral cats that live at a school nearby my house.  I first noticed these cats over a year ago because the school is part of my running route.  Over the past year, it seems as though the colony of cats has grown, and will continue to grow unless someone starts to get these animals fixed....and this is where I come in apparently.  After seeing a group of young, cute, orange tabby cats, I knew I couldn't ignore the problem the same way the school administration is doing.  To make a long story short, I finally got my hands on a humane trap, thanks to my sister who has experience trapping feral cats.  With the humane trap in hand, as well as some stinky tuna food, I am ready to begin my "fixing feral felines" project!