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- Aug 4, 2014
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Hey everyone. Just need to vent.
A very small colony of mine has recently disappeared one-by-one over the last month.
Initially there were 6 adults with an undetermined amount of kittens.
3 kittens were able to be socialized and adopted, but the others disappeared.
One of the adults unfortunately never caught on to the new feeding schedule some months ago, so I’m not sure if he is even still around anymore. Another adult needed to be retrapped for a medical issue and has been recovering with us for weeks, and is now nearly adoptable if I can get her to reign in some aggression issues.
So as of about early November, the colony was down to just four adults.
Only one of them had been TNR’d so far. I’m working on three different colonies right now, so it’s taking a while to get through everyone. I had just gotten the other female to eat at the back of a carrier at the time of her disappearance. I was just waiting for my clinic to reopen the following week to get her in.
The last kitty to go missing did so about a week ago.
So now, every morning, I drive to the colony, no cats to greet me, and set out the food and water, then come back later to pick up the completely untouched bowls.
Every morning starts with heartache and worry. Every morning I hope a cat will be there again, or our camera will catch someone eating. Every morning, I am let down.
I want to keep feeding for a while in case any of them come back, but I’m not sure how long it’s reasonable to do that for. A few weeks? A few months? This past week in particular has been extremely draining emotionally.
I don’t think it’s likely someone did anything to them.
Most people here are positive or neutral toward community cats. All of these cats also have a history of having disappeared once or twice before, though one has never disappeared for this long previously.
Also, about a week after their respective initial disappearances, two of them randomly showed up for a day or two before disappearing again, and both looked good at the time.
I have also been able to confirm that one of them has not actually technically disappeared.
I’ve posted about his situation most recently here. A neighbor has started feeding him and wants to adopt and declaw him. I was able to confirm with the neighbor that this cat is still around - he comes to eat at his house, but never stays long.
So considering all of these factors, I don’t think it’s likely someone has harmed them.
I am really hoping that instead, someone else in the area has started to feed them in their yard. It makes sense that the cats would prefer more access to food than the once a day, 30 minute window they have with me, like the one I know my neighbor is, in fact, feeding.
But I just don’t know, and I don’t know where they’ve gone in the past when they’ve disappeared either. I don’t know how long to continue going to the former colony site just to feed no one.
This is all so hard, and I feel so sick over it.
A very small colony of mine has recently disappeared one-by-one over the last month.
Initially there were 6 adults with an undetermined amount of kittens.
3 kittens were able to be socialized and adopted, but the others disappeared.
One of the adults unfortunately never caught on to the new feeding schedule some months ago, so I’m not sure if he is even still around anymore. Another adult needed to be retrapped for a medical issue and has been recovering with us for weeks, and is now nearly adoptable if I can get her to reign in some aggression issues.
So as of about early November, the colony was down to just four adults.
Only one of them had been TNR’d so far. I’m working on three different colonies right now, so it’s taking a while to get through everyone. I had just gotten the other female to eat at the back of a carrier at the time of her disappearance. I was just waiting for my clinic to reopen the following week to get her in.
The last kitty to go missing did so about a week ago.
So now, every morning, I drive to the colony, no cats to greet me, and set out the food and water, then come back later to pick up the completely untouched bowls.
Every morning starts with heartache and worry. Every morning I hope a cat will be there again, or our camera will catch someone eating. Every morning, I am let down.
I want to keep feeding for a while in case any of them come back, but I’m not sure how long it’s reasonable to do that for. A few weeks? A few months? This past week in particular has been extremely draining emotionally.
I don’t think it’s likely someone did anything to them.
Most people here are positive or neutral toward community cats. All of these cats also have a history of having disappeared once or twice before, though one has never disappeared for this long previously.
Also, about a week after their respective initial disappearances, two of them randomly showed up for a day or two before disappearing again, and both looked good at the time.
I have also been able to confirm that one of them has not actually technically disappeared.
I’ve posted about his situation most recently here. A neighbor has started feeding him and wants to adopt and declaw him. I was able to confirm with the neighbor that this cat is still around - he comes to eat at his house, but never stays long.
So considering all of these factors, I don’t think it’s likely someone has harmed them.
I am really hoping that instead, someone else in the area has started to feed them in their yard. It makes sense that the cats would prefer more access to food than the once a day, 30 minute window they have with me, like the one I know my neighbor is, in fact, feeding.
But I just don’t know, and I don’t know where they’ve gone in the past when they’ve disappeared either. I don’t know how long to continue going to the former colony site just to feed no one.
This is all so hard, and I feel so sick over it.