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- Aug 4, 2014
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Hey everyone. Feeling overwhelmed and unsure how to deal with this.
Since January, I have been slowly TNRing a colony of 25+ cats about an hour away from me.
All but one of the cats is black, so we don’t actually know how many there are. It’s impossible to count.
We’ve also pulled a total of 16 black kittens from there for adoption + two Siamese looking kittens (from the one non-black cat). I currently still have 5 mini panthers running around the house I have yet to find homes for.
Every single time we think we’ve fixed all of them, someone inevitably gives birth.
And everyone is very feral, so ear tips are difficult to see.
Meanwhile, I have a similar problem at my house and in my neighborhood.
A black cat showed up at the colony at our house about a year ago. We fixed him quickly.
All of the cats are very feral here too and we only see them through cameras, and sometimes through windows.
So it took us a while - who knows how long - to realize that there was more than one black cat. We had him fixed too.
And then it happened again and again. Our cameras are pretty clear, but not clear enough to see the ears without just the right proximity, lighting, and angle.
We’d also heard of a black female and two black kittens somewhere in the neighborhood in winter, but could never find them. I’ve been frustrated that none of the black cats we’ve TNR’d have been female, as I knew there was at least one.
Well, last week an older (~6 months), mostly black kitten showed up a few times. Just a few small white markings, not a typical “tuxedo”.
And earlier in the week, my boyfriend and I were going for a run in our neighborhood very late at night and we came across an adult black cat, an older all black kitten (4+ months, maybe), and an orange and white cat hanging out together. They scattered pretty quickly.
On our way back to the house, another adult black cat ran across the street.
He disappeared under a fence and we went to see the house number and see if maybe there was a place we could set up traps, just in case.
We noticed a break/separation between some fencing close by and slipped through since it obviously wasn’t anyone’s yard, and it brought us to a wooded area.
I immediately said to my boyfriend “there’s gotta be cats over here” and as soon as I said it and moved my flashlight, two small kittens (maybe 5-8 weeks?) jumped up onto a tree before running away. One grey and white, the other - all black.
Then last night, I checked the cameras, and what do you know - a black cat that’s very obviously pregnant!!!
I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all these black cats and being unable to tell them apart and keep track of our progress. It feels impossible to know if we’re done or even close to done.
And it feels like I’m failing to stabilize these two colonies because of it.
I’m just at a loss of how to get this under control. It’s become so extremely evident this week that the problem is much worse than we thought.
It just feels more defeating than normal, I suppose. We feel so left in the dark about where we are and how much more we have to go and how to even tell when we’re finished and can finally transition into maintenance mode. It ends up feeling never ending, and that’s really starting to take its toll.
If anyone has any advice or simply encouragement, I could really use it right now.
Since January, I have been slowly TNRing a colony of 25+ cats about an hour away from me.
All but one of the cats is black, so we don’t actually know how many there are. It’s impossible to count.
We’ve also pulled a total of 16 black kittens from there for adoption + two Siamese looking kittens (from the one non-black cat). I currently still have 5 mini panthers running around the house I have yet to find homes for.
Every single time we think we’ve fixed all of them, someone inevitably gives birth.
And everyone is very feral, so ear tips are difficult to see.
Meanwhile, I have a similar problem at my house and in my neighborhood.
A black cat showed up at the colony at our house about a year ago. We fixed him quickly.
All of the cats are very feral here too and we only see them through cameras, and sometimes through windows.
So it took us a while - who knows how long - to realize that there was more than one black cat. We had him fixed too.
And then it happened again and again. Our cameras are pretty clear, but not clear enough to see the ears without just the right proximity, lighting, and angle.
We’d also heard of a black female and two black kittens somewhere in the neighborhood in winter, but could never find them. I’ve been frustrated that none of the black cats we’ve TNR’d have been female, as I knew there was at least one.
Well, last week an older (~6 months), mostly black kitten showed up a few times. Just a few small white markings, not a typical “tuxedo”.
And earlier in the week, my boyfriend and I were going for a run in our neighborhood very late at night and we came across an adult black cat, an older all black kitten (4+ months, maybe), and an orange and white cat hanging out together. They scattered pretty quickly.
On our way back to the house, another adult black cat ran across the street.
He disappeared under a fence and we went to see the house number and see if maybe there was a place we could set up traps, just in case.
We noticed a break/separation between some fencing close by and slipped through since it obviously wasn’t anyone’s yard, and it brought us to a wooded area.
I immediately said to my boyfriend “there’s gotta be cats over here” and as soon as I said it and moved my flashlight, two small kittens (maybe 5-8 weeks?) jumped up onto a tree before running away. One grey and white, the other - all black.
Then last night, I checked the cameras, and what do you know - a black cat that’s very obviously pregnant!!!
I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all these black cats and being unable to tell them apart and keep track of our progress. It feels impossible to know if we’re done or even close to done.
And it feels like I’m failing to stabilize these two colonies because of it.
I’m just at a loss of how to get this under control. It’s become so extremely evident this week that the problem is much worse than we thought.
It just feels more defeating than normal, I suppose. We feel so left in the dark about where we are and how much more we have to go and how to even tell when we’re finished and can finally transition into maintenance mode. It ends up feeling never ending, and that’s really starting to take its toll.
If anyone has any advice or simply encouragement, I could really use it right now.