Saturday, September 24, 2011

Pam's TNR Blog - September 2011

September 2011

As of 9/26 I'd already TNR'd 167 cats in September. Had a couple of HUGE colonies. Most memorable was the one this week - 51 cats! I am going to emphasize again - Please do TNR before your colony becomes this big. It is less expensive to fix a mom cat and three kittens then it is to TNR 51 cats. Besides, it is a LOT more work. The photo here is of one of the cats fixed this week. Notice the ear-tip. Cats are ear-tipped to identify them as spayed or neutered. A good way to tell if a cat has an ear-tip if you cannot get close enough is to take a digital photograph and blow it up on the camera or on your computer. I
did this yesterday after releasing the last 21 cats and when I got home and downloaded the photos - I saw one cat I missed. Thank goodness it looked like a male.


Last week was especially busy trapping one 49 cat colony and one 51 cat colony. Thank you Andrea for all your help. I started this week on Saturday trapping in Buckeye, AZ. This is 52 miles from my house and I am already, on Monday, up to three round trips to Buckeye. Andrea went with me on Saturday night and we toured the town while waiting for the cats to go in traps. Not much going on there but is interesting to see other towns in Arizona once in a while. Today, 9/26, I have 15 cats at the vet from this location. Had to leave at 5:15 AM to beat the traffic to pick up four more cats trapped overnight. I arrived home from the vet at 8:45 AM. The good part is I got to listen to an entire CD of my eight CD book. It's over 10 hours long! There will be one last night trapping for the last three cats...I hope to finish the book!

Tuesday it is off to trap three 85019 colonies with Suzie. The 85019 is our target zip code for TNR in 2011 and 2012. Thank you PetSmart Charities for funding this important targeted TNR project. We are hoping for about 30+ cats. The logistics of trapping at several locations in one night can be challenging but it saves a lot on gas and time. I hope to have trapped over 200 cats by the end of September.




Please pass the word about the Spay Neuter Hotline's TNR program for free-roaming cats. We operate in the metro Phoenix area and fix about 10,000 cats/year. Most caregivers, or feeders, do their own trapping with our guidance. Traps are housed at "trap depots" throughout Maricopa County and we use a number of veterinary clinics throughout the valley. This program is a seven day/week operation. The Spay Neuter Hotline is part of the ADLA, The Animal Defence League of Arizona and the TNR program has been in existence since March of 2009. Since then we have fixed almost 25,000 feral cats!

If you are interested in our TNR program please call the Hotline at: 602-265-7729 (SPAY) or email: feralcats@adlaz.org
Stay tuned for October, National Feral Cat Month. We have lots of exciting things planned including a 20 year party and fundraiser and a big feral cat S/N event (TBD).

Donations are always welcome!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Pam's TNR Blog - August 2011

In August I trapped 147 cats...It was hot and at times I wanted to simply give up. Aftercare is a problem and often involves unloading all the trapped cats the night before in the garage to be kept cool The garage is a lot cooler thanks to the swamp cooler(s) running 24 hours/day in the summer months. The motor broke on one cooler and had to be replaced (thank you Grant!). Sometimes there are up to 40-50 cats in my garage including the ones trapped by Suzie. Nothing about TNR is easy...and summer makes things a LOT more difficult.






There were many memorable trapping jobs this summer...probably too many to even write about. The week of the 15th I spent in Buckeye. This required six round trips @ 52 miles each way totalling 312 miles. The good thing was I almost finished one book on CD. I'd recommend it: "Quantum Man; Richard Feynman's Life in Science". Feynman is one of my heroes and his life inspires me to keep tackling difficult, sometimes almost unsolvable problems...like that of homeless cats. Besides, having majored in Physics I am fascinated by the lives and accomplishments of great physicists and he certainly was one. Books on CD are great for long trips...BTW I trapped a total of 18 cats during this adventure over four days. Of course I trapped one last male the morning of the second release and had to drive all the way back to Buckeye to release this one single cat. It always happens this way. I had this happened in Gila Bend and El Mirage. Suzie once took one male cat back to Aguila!

The other memorable trapping the week of 29 August was in the W. Valley. The caregiver donated extra for immediate assistance. I love these kind of jobs...more $$$ for the SNH to help more caregivers in need (a growing list BTW - we need donations badly). There were about 10 cats and I trapped six the first night. The second night I trapped four more. I trapped the last kitten in the AM with the trusty drop-trap. This was challenging as he almost got out from under the dropper that was on unlevel ground (beware - this can happen with small kittens). I had to fix that and use the squirt gun on the far side while holding both trap doors up. this was in we dirt of course and I must of looked crazy - fortunately there was no one there to see me. The three kittens were too young and sick to fix so the caregiver is fostering them until they are bigger and healthier. And, there is an 11th cat, a male, still out there. Grrrr...




I did drop-trap two last cats for a very grateful caregiver last Friday night (9/2). What a rush! there is nothing like getting the last cat, especially when it is the breeding mother cat.




As the weather gets cooler in September I am hoping to ramp things up and hopefully beat last year's trapping record. I am shooting for 2,100 cats this year.





If you are feeding feral cats and want help with trap-neuter-return (TNR), please call the Spay Neuter Hotline at; 602-265-7729 (SPAY) or email: feralcats@adlaz.org




We operate valley-wide (metro Phoenix area) and have caregivers using our TNR program from as far away as Miami (AZ), Casa Grande, and Cordes Junction. One person even came from Agua Caliente! I had to look this one up on the map and it is beyond Gila Bend.





Contact us if you are interested in volunteering or in donating to help caregivers and cats in need. Donations can be mailed to:

The Spay Neuter Hotline
P.O. Box 33093

Phoenix 85067
Specify "TNR" in the memo


I'd like to thank all our volunteers and supporters who are making our TNR program a success!