Wild And Wonderful Animal Rescue's Feral Cat Tails...

ashade1

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Hey guys! You have probably seen me posting a lot in the pregnant cat and kitten care thread! Our rescue is currently "closed for intake" due to the amount of sick cats and severe medical issues that we have taken in this summer it has completely drained our supplies and veterinary fund. During this "closed" time we are focusing on our feral colonies. We have a couple small colonies that we have been TNRing.
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These two beat up toms we just caught recently and got neutered. We were contacted about a few barn cats that someone inherited when they bought a ranch and moved into it. They said there was only a momma cat, two kittens, and a black and white tom cat. Unfortunately one of the kittens got hit by a car, the other we caught and were able to socialize and adopted. These two toms we had never seen before we trapped them- go figure! So we still have at least one more tom cat and a momma. I imagine there probably are more unseen ferals though.
We recently were notified about a colony living in a park near us... We are not so creatively calling them our Park Colony. We went out to evaluate last weekend. When we first pulled up we immediately saw a mom and 4 6 week old kittens. They ran away the second we looked at them. Then we opened a few cans of food and about 5 more adults showed up and an older kitten (6ish months). The older kitten was injured, the first day I saw him he was limping on his back leg. We went back the next day to leave a letter for whoever is caring for them (to get more information as well as to coordinate helping them). The injured kitten that day was just dragging it's leg :( I think it is just getting worse- who knows how long it has been like this and what happened. I feel like at this point they will probably have to amputate it. I am hoping we can catch him/her soon. My priority now is catching him and catching the young kittens asap. We are going back out tomorrow evening. I am thinking the 6 week old kittens we can probably lure into a carrier, I was planning on stopping and getting some KFC to lure them in lol. The injured one I am not sure HOW we are going to get him. He wont come within 30 feet of us without running. I think if we try trapping him we are going to catch one of the other curious ones and I don't want to do that until I get a plan of action set for spaying and neutering them. The current caretaker has gotten back to me. It sounds like he is an older gentleman who is coming to the end of his caretaking of them. He has been feeding them for 15 years and now is having health problems preventing him from caring for them like he wishes. He said there are 14 cats (I am not sure if he is including the 4 6 week old kittens) he said 6 of them are spayed/neutered. At one point he had it down to just one unspayed female. Now here we are again.
Any tips for catching this injured guy? I really want to catch him and the kittens and then I plan on planning a day to trap and take the adults to a low cost clinic.
Here are some pictures I have gotten of them with my phone! (I am a big picture person lol)
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A bad picture of the mom and babies because they wouldn't let me get very close lol
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This is the injured baby under the picnic table.
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This *May* be the mom of the kittens... I am not sure. It could be another cat that could be pregnant? She came pretty close to us the second day so I am thinking it isn't the mom because the mom would not get close the first day.
 
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ashade1

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Also another note. I was very impressed by the amount of shelters that this colony has! There are probably 10 or more shelters set up... insulated dog houses with straw, little buildings stuffed with straw, here are a couple pictures of ones I saw. A little worn and well used but how awesome that the caretaker was able to put these out for them!
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Lyzzie

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Wow, he's really taking good care of them! I guess you're going to more or less take over the TNR'ing, and the older gentlemen is going to keep feeding them?
 
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ashade1

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That is the plan! It sounds like he may not be able to feed for much longer.. he said he has health issues so I am not sure (we have only communicated by email thus far), but if that is the case than I will be more than happy to take over their care as well! I am going to need his help in the beginning identifying who all is already spayed/neutered. I thought I had seen one with an ear tip the other day but he will probably be more help! lol
 

tabbytom

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This is indeed a well taken care of colony. Please thank the gentleman on our behalf for taking care of them and wish him the best of health and thank you ashade1 ashade1 for planning to take over the platoon from this gentleman :clap:

It may take awhile to identify the fixed cats if they are not marked. But guess your priority now is to get medical attention for the injured kitten.

If you can get hold on a two way humane trap would stand a better chance of trapping the kitten but you need time for the stake out to ensure the best possible position as I don't think the trap can get below the park table.

Could you check with the gentleman where does he leave food for the kitten and place the trap there. I don't think a drop trap would be effective for the scared kitten.

Hopefully some members may come up with a better idea and I hope your plan succeed.

Please keep us posted :wink:
 
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ashade1

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Thank you! The caretaker emailed me back this morning, I asked him to give them a light meal this morning since we are planning to go out and try to catch the injured one this evening. I am meeting another rescue person there this evening to see if she has any ideas about catching the poor thing. I am just worried about setting a trap because if I catch one of the other adults I will have to let it back out... then it will make it harder to trap them again right?
 

tabbytom

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If you starve them for a day would be easier to get them in as they would be hungry. But to starve the whole lot just to catch one or two will be tricky but it's worth a try as you can't segregate them and hopefully the right ones will get into the cage.
 

rubysmama

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I've come here from your "Rescue Momma and Kittens..." thread. You, and others, who care for strays and ferals do such a wonderful job. It breaks my heart to see the poor, neglected, homeless kitties, but I keep reading to see the happy endings. And after I finish reading, I go and give Ruby, my own former stray who was taken to the shelter by a kind soul who found her injured on the street, a hug.

Good luck with the Park Colony. I'll be waiting for updates.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Told you I'd be here!

I am so impressed at the care this gentleman took that the shelters were shielded from weather coming in any direction! Some people wouldn't have even thought of that (there is a lack of commonsense in a lot of folks), but this guy did a great job! Tell him how much we appreciate his love and care for these cats, and give him this for me:

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And, of COURSE, that goes for you, too!
 
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ashade1

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Ok guys! Today was the first day we went in the evening! Definitely a lot less cats out in the evening (but he feeds in the morning so it makes sense they are all there in the morning). We didn't get to see the injured cat this evening unfortunately. One of the cats there used to be someones pet that was dumped because he lets us pet him! Good news is while we we're checking out all of the shelters we found the 4 6 week old kittens in one of them! Unfortunately while we were putting them in the crate one of them ran off, but we have three of them! I'm working extra hours at work tomorrow but I'm going to try to go out Thursday morning to try to get the injured cat again!
 
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ashade1

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The other rescue person that went with me today is going to go back out tomorrow and see if she can catch the last 6 week old kitten and try to get the injured one. I am worried because we didn't even see it today :(
I feel like the leg is probably going to need amputated since I saw it dragging it the other day. I can only imagine the vet bills for that. And then that will mean that it definitely will not be returned to the colony (that wasn't the plan anyway- I was planning on socializing it and getting it adopted). I am hoping that the problem isn't that it is broken and that it is something else simpler (and cheaper) to fix, but I am afraid the chances of that are low. Starting a fundraiser now for when we catch him/her. Funds will also go towards spays and neuters. This is going to be an expensive project. lol
 

rubysmama

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Awww... they're so cute. Didn't notice the 3rd set of ears till I looked again. The poor little guy on the left looks so sad and worried. Poor baby doesn't realize this is the best day of his life.

Hopefully the 4th kitten will be re-joining his siblings soon. And that you also get the one with the injured leg.
 

Sarthur2

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I sure hope you can get the injured kitten. I'm guessing from being bitten and it is infected. Must be painful. I hope the leg can be spared.

Did you get the kittens' mama yet?
 
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ashade1

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We havent gotten mom yet. I dont have anywhere to put adults right this moment so I haven't really tried just yet. My priority is the kittens and the injured cat. I am working on planning a trip to the low cost clinic that we go to for the spays and neuters. I have to get a day off of work, and it is about an hour and a half away so I am hoping to trap the entire day before we go so we can take as many as possible! It will definitely be an experience. And I really need to raise funds to get all of this going. Sigh. Trying not to get overwhelmed.
 

IndyJones

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Have you caught Amp (broken leg cat) yet? Very hard to say for sure but if she's this scared of people she may have been beaten or hit. I'm not sure this is what happened to Amp but not impossible. She may have to adapt to being an indoor cat though if her leg is amputated. Would be easy to get hit by a car

On a lighter note, that stretching silver blue tabby is the spitting image of Snuffles, a runny nosed stray that we looked after until she had to be put down because of severe sepsis.
 
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