They say everything runs in threes and it certainly does.
We get our milk delivered. The milkman usually comes between midnight and 2am. My son (Ian) took in the milk and Oscar shot out of the door. Would he come back in - nope. Little did we realise Shady had snuck out too but instead of going straight up the path like Oscar did, kept close to the house so he couldn't be seen. Shady did come back within 10 minutes, Oscar nope.
Later that morning Oscar is walking past our garden on the pavement (sidewalk). Ian opens the door to let him in and the bold hero promptly takes off. As Oscar is an ex street cat, we know he can take care of himself but then again, it only takes one car so we decided to trap him. Had to buy a new trap as the one we had was old and broken. New trap works brilliantly and it folds flat for storage.
First we caught a Tortie and released her. She shot off up our street - closely followed by Oscar who had been watching somewhere that we couldn't see him
I decided at this point to charge up my microchip scanner. Next cat we caught was a kitten of about 6 or 7 months old. He didn't look too good, had an obvious flea allergy, no fur on the top of his tail and patchy fur all over his body. Scanned him for a chip and was surprised when it beeped - he was microchipped. Ran the scanner through my PC and he was listed as missing. Now, Data Protection in the UK is quite strict but I did track down the chip company. They tried to get hold of the owners without success (they would give the owners my phone number so they could make contact with me). They tried the next day too, meanwhile we kept this little chap away from our own cats in the kitchen. The chip company phoned me Friday evening to say they still couldn't get hold of the owners, their phone just went straight to voicemail. I told them the kitten needed to see a vet so we would take him to our own vet in the morning which we did.
Success! It would seem the kitten's owners were registered with our vets so they had a second number for them. Result is kitten has been reunited, is receiving vet care and his vaccinations and will be neutered soon. RESULT!!!
We then caught another three cats that were released immediately because we know they live in the street. On the Sunday, Ian decided he was hungry and we had waffle batter from the night before. I've got one of those stuffed waffle makers so we had home cooked ham and cheese. Ian dropped a piece of ham on the floor so I told him to put it in the trap as Oscar loves ham. An hour later the trap went off and our escapee was caught.
The strangest thing we caught was a large Hedgehog who was released into our back garden none the worse and just toddled off as if nothing had happened.
It seems Oscar, although adapted well to being an indoor cat, still wants to go out so I've now got an escape proof (or so the blurb says) harness and extending leash. I've started training him by leaving the harness close to where he sleeps and eats. Hopefully that will give him some freedom in safety and me some gentle exercise.
We have a new law in the UK effective from the 10th June. ALL cats 6 months and older must be microchipped by law. The only exemption are feral cats and very elderly cats but even with the elderly cats, a vet's letter would be needed. Failure to comply means a fine of up to £500 (about $700). All my cats except two, Shadow and his brother Shady were chipped so I booked them into our vets for Tuesday evening. Our vet was doing a special offer for cats registered there - £12 (about $15) per microchip so £24 for both cats was a good deal.
Since we were taking both cats at the same time I bought a new cat carrier. It is one of the soft type like a satchel, zips up and folds flat for storage. Our other cat carrier was the plastic rigid type that you could either put the cat in through the front or from the top. We bought it about 8 years ago and it wasn't cheap. So, Ian is carrying the cats while I walked on ahead to open the door to the cat clinic. Just as I did that I heard Ian shout "NO!" and I turned round just in time to see the rigid carrier break and poor Shadow dumped on the ground. Shadow took off and luckily he went towards the vet's garden and not down the front which leads onto one of the busiest roads in our town. Ian and one of the vet's nurses took off after Shadow while I took Shady inside. Thankfully Ian managed to catch Shadow who tried to run up a 6ft fence. Ian grabbed him by the tail. Disaster averted. Both boys got microchipped and they didn't feel a thing. Meanwhile Ian and me were shaking like leaves.
It was the clips at the side of the carrier that failed - broke off completely so the carrier has now been trashed and I'll order a second soft one which seems to be really secure. Then, of course, we lost Benji yesterday to a massive stroke
As Ian always says whenever we've lost one of or fur or scale family "Look to the living".
Here is the Hedgehog we trapped, now happily munching slugs and snails in our garden (I hope).
We get our milk delivered. The milkman usually comes between midnight and 2am. My son (Ian) took in the milk and Oscar shot out of the door. Would he come back in - nope. Little did we realise Shady had snuck out too but instead of going straight up the path like Oscar did, kept close to the house so he couldn't be seen. Shady did come back within 10 minutes, Oscar nope.
Later that morning Oscar is walking past our garden on the pavement (sidewalk). Ian opens the door to let him in and the bold hero promptly takes off. As Oscar is an ex street cat, we know he can take care of himself but then again, it only takes one car so we decided to trap him. Had to buy a new trap as the one we had was old and broken. New trap works brilliantly and it folds flat for storage.
First we caught a Tortie and released her. She shot off up our street - closely followed by Oscar who had been watching somewhere that we couldn't see him
I decided at this point to charge up my microchip scanner. Next cat we caught was a kitten of about 6 or 7 months old. He didn't look too good, had an obvious flea allergy, no fur on the top of his tail and patchy fur all over his body. Scanned him for a chip and was surprised when it beeped - he was microchipped. Ran the scanner through my PC and he was listed as missing. Now, Data Protection in the UK is quite strict but I did track down the chip company. They tried to get hold of the owners without success (they would give the owners my phone number so they could make contact with me). They tried the next day too, meanwhile we kept this little chap away from our own cats in the kitchen. The chip company phoned me Friday evening to say they still couldn't get hold of the owners, their phone just went straight to voicemail. I told them the kitten needed to see a vet so we would take him to our own vet in the morning which we did.Success! It would seem the kitten's owners were registered with our vets so they had a second number for them. Result is kitten has been reunited, is receiving vet care and his vaccinations and will be neutered soon. RESULT!!!
We then caught another three cats that were released immediately because we know they live in the street. On the Sunday, Ian decided he was hungry and we had waffle batter from the night before. I've got one of those stuffed waffle makers so we had home cooked ham and cheese. Ian dropped a piece of ham on the floor so I told him to put it in the trap as Oscar loves ham. An hour later the trap went off and our escapee was caught.
The strangest thing we caught was a large Hedgehog who was released into our back garden none the worse and just toddled off as if nothing had happened.
It seems Oscar, although adapted well to being an indoor cat, still wants to go out so I've now got an escape proof (or so the blurb says) harness and extending leash. I've started training him by leaving the harness close to where he sleeps and eats. Hopefully that will give him some freedom in safety and me some gentle exercise.
We have a new law in the UK effective from the 10th June. ALL cats 6 months and older must be microchipped by law. The only exemption are feral cats and very elderly cats but even with the elderly cats, a vet's letter would be needed. Failure to comply means a fine of up to £500 (about $700). All my cats except two, Shadow and his brother Shady were chipped so I booked them into our vets for Tuesday evening. Our vet was doing a special offer for cats registered there - £12 (about $15) per microchip so £24 for both cats was a good deal.
Since we were taking both cats at the same time I bought a new cat carrier. It is one of the soft type like a satchel, zips up and folds flat for storage. Our other cat carrier was the plastic rigid type that you could either put the cat in through the front or from the top. We bought it about 8 years ago and it wasn't cheap. So, Ian is carrying the cats while I walked on ahead to open the door to the cat clinic. Just as I did that I heard Ian shout "NO!" and I turned round just in time to see the rigid carrier break and poor Shadow dumped on the ground. Shadow took off and luckily he went towards the vet's garden and not down the front which leads onto one of the busiest roads in our town. Ian and one of the vet's nurses took off after Shadow while I took Shady inside. Thankfully Ian managed to catch Shadow who tried to run up a 6ft fence. Ian grabbed him by the tail. Disaster averted. Both boys got microchipped and they didn't feel a thing. Meanwhile Ian and me were shaking like leaves.
It was the clips at the side of the carrier that failed - broke off completely so the carrier has now been trashed and I'll order a second soft one which seems to be really secure. Then, of course, we lost Benji yesterday to a massive stroke
As Ian always says whenever we've lost one of or fur or scale family "Look to the living".Here is the Hedgehog we trapped, now happily munching slugs and snails in our garden (I hope).
