Andy And The Feral Cat Shelter

[Q2U]

Andy was a 5-week old feral kitten when he climbed under my hood and into my motor. Tucked away in a crevice between my bumper and engine fan he survived a 90-mile ride before we realized he was a passenger and had the local Honda dealer extract him, unharmed.

Andy after extraction at the Honda dealer...

We adopted Andy, and here he is 10-months later...

Andy, the International Viral Celebrity & Fearless Wonder Cat...


To be continued...

 

[Q2U]

That was nearly 1-year ago and over the past year we've come to realize that Andy's mom, brothers and sisters are living in the woods behind our property. We started feeding the entire colony and I started building the "Feral Cat Shelter"...

Several days after this installation we have a visitor who we call "Ms. B"...


To be continued...

 

[Q2U]

The colony consists of the following members...

1. "Midnight" (Andy's mom we believe)
2. Unamed Kitten #1 (Midnight had 3 kittens early spring)
3. Unamed Kitten #2
4. Unamed Kitten #3
5. "Dwight" (Who may be Andy's father)
6. "Fluffy B" (Andy's sister we believe)
7. "Ms. B" (Andy's other sister)
8. "Tiger Boy" (May be Andy's brother)

Here are a few pictures of these characters...

Dwight...

Ms. B...

Fluffy B...

Midnight and her new kittens...

TigerBoy...

To be continued...

 

[maggiedemi]

Those are some good looking ferals! I like their chubby cheeks, they look so healthy.

 

[Q2U]

So now comes what I see as the hard part: trap neuter and release all of the colony members. I collected the following TNR devices in my https://www.livetrap.com cart...

Our intention is to...

1. Schedule an appointment for a neutering
2. Put an IP camera on the trap and trap a colony member
3. Release males within a day but hold females for a 4-day recovery period
4. Repeat TNR until all colony members have been neuered

That's it. Does anyone have any helpful comments or wise advise or experience to share?

 

[Q2U]

Those are some good looking ferals! I like their chubby cheeks, they look so healthy.

Yes, I imagine that they are all being fed by multiple people, not to mention that we feed them some of the most expensive cat food in the Universe.

 

[Q2U]

Mama Midnight vs. Rocky The Racoon
Midnight confronts a racoon so that her kittens can eat.

 

[shadowsrescue]

That is just precious. I find it best to only feed during day light. Once the raccoons come, they will not leave if there is a food source. I know the kittens might need extra food right now, but the raccoons can become dangerous to kittens. I always picked up the food at dusk, but left dry food out all day.

Thank you for all that you are doing. How is the TNR going?

 

[maggiedemi]

That raccoon looked so scared! My cat Demi tried to play with a raccoon under the garage door once, he was mad that I wouldn't let him be friends with it.

 

[KarenKat]

Well Andy is just magnificent!

 

[Q2U]

...How is the TNR going?

Dwight is the first and he was trapped this morning...



As I write Dwight is resting comfortably in the shade, with water and a liter box, waiting for his vet appointment tomorrow morning at 9AM. I put a camera on him so Mrs. Q2U and I can keep an eye on him...

 

[Q2U]

Here's a picture of the Tomahawk Trap system with poor 'ol Dwight in it...

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
Q2U - Bravo! I hope you'll post some or all of these to this thread:

Fervour For Ferals.

You're raising the bar - Norachan Class - on awareness of - and Loving care for - ferals!
.

 

[Q2U]

When Mrs. Q2U and I first started feeding and watching video of this feral cat colony I had some preconceived assumptions which observation has proven invalid. I originally thought that the entire colony would nuzzle up inside the Feral Cat Shelter I built (click here for pictures of the shelter) as if they were one big happy, furry, purrfeqt cat family. But it turns out that the colony has some relationship issues. Some cats are buddies (Fluff and B) while some cats don't like each other too much (Dwight and TigerBoy); some are very good parents (Midnight and Dwight). There's a bully (Dwight) and there appears to be a whipping boy (TigerBoy). The colony appears to have relationship issues, and I'm not too certain how it all works. Here's a subtle example of this as Dwight and TigerBoy take shelter from the mid-day storm...I sense some tension in the air.


As a result I'm going to reconfigure the Feral Cat Shelter from it's current single large room and divide it up into 2 or 3 separate rooms, each with it's own door because it appears that everyone who uses the shelter likes to settle inside and look out a door.

 

[Norachan]

Yes, it's good to give them a selection of shelters. There are always a few who squabble and one who gets picked on in any colony. Try giving them a choice of shelters at different heights. Some cats are happy at ground level, but others prefer a shelter that's raised up so they can look out and survey their territory whenever they want.

 

[shadowsrescue]

I only had 4 at the most and had 2 mid size winter shelters that were heated. Yet, I also had to have some smaller individual boxes as the cats sometimes just wanted some alone space. They enjoyed having many areas instead of just one.

I love seeing your footage. Bravo for getting Dwight. I hope the others so smoothly too.

 

[Q2U]

In a previous post to this topic I uploaded video of Midnight the mom chasing a racoon away so that her kittens can eat. That was 29 days ago, and there was quite a difference in her behavior towards her kitten this morning. We believe that this is because Midnight has given birth again, approximately 3-months after her last litter. Over the last several months, Midnight's belly got very large and then -- approximately a week ago -- Midnight simply disappeared, only to return briefly to eat yesterday, and then again this morning. We're certain there's another litter somewhere close by. We had been planning on Midnight to be the first TNR of this colony, but when she disappeared we decided to do Dwight (the father of the litters) first. Here's the video demonstrating Midnight's change in attitude towards her kittens...

 

[Norachan]

It's sad when that happens.



Could you give the kittens and their mum a choice of places to eat? They'll all need plenty of nutrition, the kittens to grow and mum to feed the new litter.

Those kittens will need to be spayed and neutered soon as well. They'll start having kittens themselves when they get to about 6 months old.

Do you have some spay and neuter appointments lined up for them all?

 

[shadowsrescue]

Yes, I would set up multiple areas for the cats to eat. That way they can all enjoy food without being scared.

 

[Q2U]

Here another example of Midnight's new attitude towards her kittens. From this morning...