Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 12/6/09

12/6

On Sunday we had the regular Tempe clinic. There was no overflow once again thanks to Suzie's extraordinary scheduling. There were two vets that day and there were exactly 110 cats, just what we had planned. No one can imagine how difficult it is to predict the exact number of cats that will be trapped. There are so many variables that make up the equation. Suzie is the expert, hand's down. No one could do what she does week after week as she has done for more than seven years.

12/7

I had what started out as 11-12 cat job on Monday night but it turned out there were only three or four ferals. Eight others were tame cats living in the house. These I'd do later through the MCACC voucher program. The caregiver was quite elderly, in poor health, had limited financial resources, and no vehicle. She needed help. I did manage to catch two cats that evening and would try for the others the next night when I'd be out trapping two more jobs in the same area with Suzie and Barbara.

12/8

I took the two cats to the vet in the AM. It seemed weird having so few cats in that day. The doctor looked at me and said, "Only two cats?". There was one other cat there for a total of three cats. It was sad as he could have done 15 cats that day and these vets slots were going to waste. It would be kitten season soon and every cat done now is critical, not only to prevent kittens but it is less expensive to do cats that are not pregnant. In this business it's all about money and timing.

I picked the two cats up in the afternoon, deposited them in the garage, and headed over to Suzie's with traps for another night of trapping. We first set traps at my previous night's job and drove off to the two other jobs. Of course my first stop was at the gas station.

The first was a mobile home in Glendale we had trapped twice before. This difficult and demanding caregiver is disabled and feeds at the top of a wheelchair ramp rising up from the carport. This ramp extends into the back yard with railings making it difficult to set traps (and also on the landing which is very small). One has to climb through the bars to set traps in the backyard after stepping over cat dishes and other debris on the small landing. We were going for six to eight cats and set ten traps before leaving for the third location. For sure we'd catch a couple of already fixed cats. We'd be back later in the evening to check traps.

This next trapping location was a new (first time trapping), an eight to nine cat job in the 85037 zip code. I think this zip code has more cats than any other place in the valley. Fortunately, this neighborhood association had money from the city of Phoenix for fixing a limited number of feral cats. The caregiver had suffered two broken legs and had an ambulatory husband confined to the bedroom. Both needed a full-time caregiver who was present. I have to comment that I'd never seen so much useless stuff in one house and garage. Collection of "stuff" seems to go with the territory - i.e. feeding lots of feral cats. I could not resist suggesting to her that she should donate some of these prized possessions to our next yard sale. She said, "You can have everything in the garage". This included several walkers, numerous models of toilets for the challenged, and even a wheelchair!

The cats went in and out of a partially enclosed back room. We had to navigate through a narrow passageway through a myriad of odd items stacked as high as the vaulted ceiling. We did manage to trap all the cats (seven that night and one overnight) despite several other impediments including setting traps in the backyard as well. To get in the backyard Barbara and I had to cut down an overgrown bougainvillea blocking the gate using a bent pair of clippers the caregiver managed to find in the garage full of "stuff".

Suzie would be checking traps in the AM. After a relaxing dinner with Barbara we loaded up, set traps overnight, and headed back to the mobile home to check traps. We had five cats in traps. Then we set off to the first location where we had caught the third and last cat. The fourth cat, the mother of course, had not been seen for a while.

12/9

I took the five mobile home park cats to one vet and met Suzie at the second vet with the other eight. She had the stragglers that had been caught overnight. We had a total of 15 cats in that day, ten at one vet and five at the other. There would be no second night trapping at either location.

12/10

After loading up 15 cats in the early morning I picked up Suzie for the release. We'd be at the three locations again releasing cats. Of course there would be the usual cleaning out and washing traps as we had a big clinic in north Phoenix on Sunday and lots of caregivers would need traps from me for that clinic. I love it when there are no traps in my depot. This means they are ALL catching cats and this is where they should be, not sitting idle.

That night I'd be down once again in "the hood" downtown trapping a mother cat and two kittens and trying to drop-trap a male cat a couple houses away. I'd been after him for a long time and now it was time to get serious. Well, I caught him within about 20 minutes despite having to wait for all the eartipped cats coming to eat first. Finally he could not resist! The other three were nowhere to be found and I'd have to make the trek down there in the AM to catch them. Another trip was required but it was well worth it as I had the tomcat in my possession and he had caused problems there for years.

The nice thing about this place is that a concerned resident watches out for new cats in the area and always calls me before things get out of hand. TNR is truly a community effort.

12/11

I was up early and back at the previous night's location by 6:00 AM. The three cats were waiting for breakfast just as predicted. I caught all three within 30 minutes and was off to the vet with the tomcat, his girlfriend, and the two offspring. I say this not knowing of course who the father was, but if it was him, he'd have no additional child support to pay!

12/12

I released these four cats in the AM and was home by 9:00 AM to check out traps to the four caregivers trapping for the clinic on 12/13. We'd be shooting for 60 cats in north Phoenix and 75 cats in Tempe. Grant Erling and I would be trapping Saturday night to help fill the clinic the next day. We'd had a couple of cancellations and would have to find more cats to fill the clinic. These big clinics usually result in last minute challenges and this was typical. Stay tuned...

This week's blog post highlights some of the desperate situations out there. By this I mean there are caregivers in dire need of help. The Spay Neuter Hotline TNR Program depends on donations to help these cats and caregivers. I know you probalby get tired of my pleas but please consider becoming a monthly donor to help those in need. For information please contact Sonia Hernandez at shernandez@adlaz.org

To those of you who are already monthly donors...Thank you for caring.

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 11/22/09

11/22

I had another successful drop-trapping on 11/21. The caregiver had been trying for a long time to catch an elusive mother cat. She had trapped all the offspring over a course of several months. I told her I'd catch that breeder, don't despair. I got to her place late afternoon on Saturday hoping to trap her for the Tempe clinic on 11/22. I set up in the backyard and positioned myself inside the sliding glass door with the drop-trap located about 10 feet away in the backyard. The caregiver had a myriad of reasons why the cat would not cooperate. I always say, "If you keep saying the cat cannot be caught it won't". Bad Juju, I guess. The fixed kittens all came to eat several times and mom circled the fence finally ending up in the front yard. I waited, and waited. Patience is the virtue one needs most to successfully catch even the most difficult to trap cats. Finally she approached and I waited and then she could not resist - she went for the bait! I'd switched to that gross, smelly, tuna and egg cat food. This is the bait of last resort when they do not respond to tuna in oil, Fancy Feast Salmon or Original Recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken (with the skin off and really warm). I had her and she'd be going with me on Sunday to Tempe. No more kittens for her!

We were able to do all the cats on Sunday despite several of us, including me, showing up with extra cats. I had Sunday night off...

11/23

That night Suzie and I set off for El Mirage to trap at yet another trailer park. We'd been to this one before and trapped close to 20 cats but it had been a while. The caregiver had been waiting since early this year for help and now it was finally time to make the trek out there. It was a pretty easy trapping at two locations in the park. We managed to have dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. We trapped 14 cats that night and Suzie made the trek back out there the next morning to pick up four stragglers for a total of 18 cats.

All 18 cats would go to one vet in the morning and returned to my garage for aftercare. One caregiver set four traps out that night hoping to get one last kitten.

11/24

We set out early to release the 18 cats and pick up any second night stragglers. Well, we caught just one, big black male. The last kitten was sitting there looking at the traps. After releasing all the cats I dropped off Suzie and took the one male cat to the vet. All told, we had trapped 16 males, two females, and one previous female (not tipped) over two nights. The vet said he had never seen this many males in one colony. They even weighed the males and the biggest came in at 18 pounds! At least those two female cats will be able to relax and enjoy life this Spring.

11/25

I made the long trip back to El Mirage at 6:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning to release the one male cat. It was cold and no one was up yet so I just released him in the yard and he took off for places unknown. There would be no Sunday clinic and no more trapping until next week. I love my Honda Element, spending many hours in it driving and listening to the XM satellite radio broadcasts. I often think of it as my home away from home. I've never had the back seats in since they day I purchased it and had cats in the back that night. I figure the passenger mileage well exceeds the Toyota Prius as rarely do I have fewer than ten cats in the back!

Right now is the time to TNR feral cats. It will not be long and kitten season will be upon us. Not only do we want to prevent kittens being born in the Spring, but the cost of surgery for female cats is less expensive this time of year. So we can save lives and save $$$ by fixing the cats now, before kitten season. To sign up for our TNR program please call our hotline at: 602-265-7729 (SPAY) or email us at feralcats@adlaz.org.

Next week - More trapping in "the hood".

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 10/25/09

10/25

Well, as often happens, we panicked late last week and decided we needed more cats for the clinic on 10/25 in Tempe. We were not sure a few caregivers would come through so Suzie and I went out Saturday night to trap at a vacant house near 24th St. and Roosevelt. I managed to get in touch with the caregiver to withhold food. These cats were not fed much anyway. The photo from last week's blog tells it all. This colony needed help! This week's photos are of some of the cats after they were fixed.

We trapped 17 that night and soon realized we'd have to hold the cats until Monday. Of course everyone showed up the next day as planned and the cats had to be held overnight. After working at the clinic all day we set out to trap again that night - and forgot the drop trap! We trapped one cat and one very ill kitten. We decided to leave a trap out (hidden) out overnight despite our concerns about the area and did fill it for a total of 20 cats to take in on Monday to two different vets. Later that day I had to deliver 20 traps to a caregiver I was transporting for the next day, 10/26. Then it was off again to the vacant house to trap again. We caught one cat and two cats there overnight and we think this colony is finished except for one intermittent tom. The sick kitten did die before surgery but it was a blessing.

10/27

I picked up 19 cats from the other caregiver and ended up this time at three vets. Suzie helped me as it was impossible to be at three vets at once - and to pick up the two cats trapped overnight at 24th St. and Roosevelt. The other caregiver was in N.W. Phoenix. It was back to the QT once again - seems I was just there yesterday! All told we had 22 cats in between three vets that day. Suzie had a trapping job that night after we picked up at all the vets and transported the cats to my place for aftercare. I had a night off except for aftercaring the cats.

10/28

The caregiver with the 20 cats in N.W. Phoenix had two more cats to trap. Suzie had dropped off four more traps to her just in case, on her way to trap (nearby). She managed to catch one of the two cats overnight. The elusive "last cat" with a bad eye problem was out there but not going in the trap. The cat was under the trailer and came out to sniff around but no go. So, I rebaited the trap, had the caregiver shake the food, and waited in my car in the street. Round and round she went, then left, then came back - Grrrr! Then, she started into the trap and, the trap did not trip. So, with great stealth, I climbed over the fence and tip toed over to the trap and quickly bumped the door. I had her! It was off to the vet with the two last cats. This is a feeling only serious trappers can appreciate. Nirvana! As it turned out the last cat needed an eye removed and had to recover inside for a week - thank you Roni for taking care of her.

A word on elective surgeries. Often feral cats come in for S/N and the vets find serious medical conditions that are treatable. Many procedures are expensive, but without them the cats could suffer or die if left untreated. We try to raise donations to help pay for these surgeries. If you want to help with the cost of the eye removal, tail amputation, or other medical treatment for ferals, please contact ADLA either by phone at 602.273.7842 or email or donate online and specify "feral cat medical treatment fund". We've since had two more of these conditions and they are quite expensive. Your help is appreciate.

Later that afternoon I met Suzie at the place she trapped the night before. She had trapped two cats and the third one needed to be drop-trapped. We had her (the mother cat of course) within five minutes! ...two wonderful last cat success stories this week. We love having the drop-trap in our arsenal.

10/29

I took the mother cat to the vet that day and Suzie aftercared and released her the next day. I'd was off that night to trap at two locations in W. Phoenix - both in 85019, one of our targeted
zip codes for TNR. I set traps at the first location and caught them immediately. Then I was off to the other closer location. I ended up with a total of eight cats at that location including that night and overnight. There were still two left so I left my drop-trap knowing these two would have to wait until Sunday's Tempe clinic if caught (It was Friday). The caregiver managed to catch them both. I helped him transfer the cats into traps later that afternoon, held them in my garage, and took them in on Sunday, 11/1.

Next week - The yard sale.

Pam's TNR Blog Week of 10/11

10/11

No trapping for Sunday's clinic in Tempe but we did once again have too many cats. Fourteen cats had to be overnighted and taken to two clinics on Monday. I had not expected to trap that Sunday evening but a caregiver nearby who had checked out traps from me needed some handholding. Figuring this would mean just setting the traps, I agreed to come by and help. Well, little did I know this would turn in to a five day commitment! The caregiver indicated there were only three cats - but I discovered three more younger kittens had just appeared when I got there. Mom had already had two litters and this had to stop...

10/12 and 10/13

I was tired from working at the clinic all day but I caught two cats immediately that night and two more overnight. I took a total of four to the vet on 10/12 and transported home some for Suzie. I went back for the remaining two cats that night - one was the mother of the two litters. Still no luck. I set the traps and found one cat in a trap the next morning. Still no mother cat. I set traps hoping to get her overnight while the other five were recovering. I had a big job in Goodyear that night and had to be there around 6:00 PM so time was running out.

The Goodyear job was a bust. There were supposed to be 15 cats at two locations on an open city property - commercial properties being the hardest place to trap in my opinion. Grant Erhling came with me as he had wanted to go out with me on a BIG trapping job. Well, it turned out to be not too productive. We only caught three cats! There were cats there but they were not cooperating. Traps could not be left out overnight and there was no way I was driving out there in the AM. It was disappointing. I did take two traps to a lady I'd helped before in Avondale to trap two cats for the next day. So on 10/13 I took in three cats from this job and one more kitten from the other job - but still no Mom cat.

10/14

The next morning I decided to go for the next line of defense - the trusty drop-trap. I planned to release the five cats hoping Mom would come by looking for her kittens. It was time to get this little super-breeder once and for all! I could not let her have yet another litter. She was a tortie of course...a perpetual breeding machine. I waited inside the house with the string for about 1/2 hour. This time, I put an entire can of sardines under the dropper. She was very hungry by now. Finally she could resist no longer. I got her! We were very cautious in transferring her to the trap as I did not want her to escape. It was off to the vet but not before releasing the three Goodyear cats and picking up two more cats in Avondale. They were kittens when we trapped there months ago and the caregiver had them captured. Before the trip it would be back to the gas station again - Goodyear is a long way from north Phoenix. I dropped all three off at the vet and picked them up later in the day for aftercare. Then it was on to two more trapping jobs in Central Phoenix.

One was a four cats job around 36th St. and Indian School. The other was around Camelback and Central for two cats - a mother an kitten. I was helping a couple of elderly caregivers who could not do trap and transport. I caught the mother cat immediately and left the trap for the kitten before setting off for the other four cats. I had them trapped within an hour - a tortie and three orange older kittens. I went back to the other location and no kitten. So I rebaited the trap for overnight.

10/15

The caregiver called early - no kitten. However, she was out there crying for food. The kitten only had three legs and "hopped" so I think it was impossible for her to hop into the trap without shutting the door. The drop-trap to the rescue once again! I sat inside the sliding glass door waiting (at 6:30 AM). I caught her under the dropper in about 1/2 hour. I released the mother from the day before, then released the four back at the other location and then off to the vet with with the one kitten. Turned out that the mother of the three orange kittens was already eartipped! Go figure. This happens occasionally. In this case the caregivers had seen another similar looking cat about one month ago. I guess this was the "surrogate" mother. The Sunday night trapping had indeed turned in to a five day adventure!




The photo above is of the three-legged kitten in the trap before I released her on Saturday morning, 10/16. She was happy to be back with mom and fed by a nice lady who truly cared. She cared so much about them she called the SNH and had them sterilized before two cats turned in to 20 cats.

A word on Torties and Calicos. As you know they are almost all female. From my experience, there a a lot more Torties and Calicos in the feral cat population. I cannot prove this scientifically but it makes sense. They are the most wary of humans, most difficult to trap, and seem to reproduce more often. In large colonies one sees an extraordinary number of them - hence my term "breeding machines". Along with them will be a lot of orange tabby male cats which I thing they are genetically connected to - although cat genetics elude me. I've had many a sleepless night thinking about the last cat I did not catch and it is usually a Tortie or Calico that had skunked me.

Next week - National Feral Cat Day

Police to cat trapper: "Hands up and drop that fork!"

What a scare I had feeding the kitties on Sunday! As I was crouched behind the bush up against the building filling the dishes, I had no idea there was a silent alarm going off inside.

The next thing I knew, a police officer had two lanes blocked on Van Buren and was yelling at me from the curb to put my hands up! Of course I did – with a can of cat food in one hand and a fork in the other. They checked me for weapons and made me drop my fork on the ground … .

After 20 minutes or so when they decided I wasn’t a felon, the officers started giving me the lecture about how unwise it was to feed ferals, so I explained TNR. They ended up telling me how civic-minded I was to be performing such a community service!! I was wishing I had some of those S/N hotline flyers with me.

What an adventure this project is turning out to be!

Cathy

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 9/27/09

Photo above is of kittens feeding after their release on 10/8. "Yum, this food is sure tasty. Check out my eartip"!

9/27

There were fewer cats than expected on 9/27 at the Tempe clinic. Darn it - I could have trapped for the clinic! Frustrating to miss some vet slots when there are cats to S/N. I think there were about 63 cats.

9/28

I had been contacted by someone I'd helped drop-trap a cat in the past. Guess what? She had more cats to TNR. Having had health problems she needed "full serviece" this time and I was happy to help her. She said there were six or seven cats. I ended up trapping eight cats, several overnight. We caught them all (I hope)! I wish she had caught them all the first time around. It is difficult to do as often some do not come around until the next night and caregivers do not perservere. Sometimes this is because they can't stop feeding the cats. Leaving traps out overnight works well but can only be done in secure area like someone's backyard.

I've found a second night's trapping is essential to success at getting ALL the cats and making sure there will be no more kittens. For those in doubt, this does work. I often talk to caregivers I'd helped years ago and there have been no kittens for several years. And, most of those with large colonies of 30 or more say, "we are down to less than ten cats now". This proves that the life of a feral cat is often short. We rarely see "old" feral cats in our clinics. Most are young and amazingly quite healthly despite living outside.

9/29

I ended up at two vets on Tuesday due to a caregiver not getting to the vet on time. Thankfully one vet took her cats at 11:30 AM. Again, our vets understand the complexity of TNR and are usually willing to accomodate. It seems easy enough - set traps, trap cats and fix them. Wrong! The logistics of trapping and being sure ALL the cats get fixed rivals solving a a very complex physics problem with multiple variables. With people involved it becomes most challenging. I picked these cats up at both vets (at different times of the day course) for aftercare. It was a frustrating, although productive, day.

Later in the day I got a call from a caregiver I'd helped in early August. A cat that had been deemed a previously fixed female had kittens! What a mess. Occasionally this happens. It was made worse as I was the one who had helped her and she had claimed the cat had given birth before. The cat rejected the kittens and she was bottle feeding them. She wanted the mother fixed right away.

9/30

So I picked up the mother cat in the morning to go to the vet and later transported home cats Suzie and Barbara had trapped the night before at two different trapping jobs. I was back to two vets again due to overflow at one vet. And, if this was not enough, there were still five cats with no place to go. These five would have to be held in my garage until the next day. Things now were getting tight. I had to pick up 13 at two vets and had a trapping job planned for 6:00 PM.

When I arrived at the second vet they were still doing surgery due to our bringing too many cats. I had to wait 45 minutes at the cinic and still had to unload all these cats at home. There would be these 13 cats plus the five waiting to be fixed for a total of 18 cats in my garage. I arrived at the trapping site at almost 7:00 PM planning to trap six or seven cats. My friend Joyce was helping me as we planned on leaving traps overnight and a second night's trapping. Since Joyce lived near the trapping location this would save my driving back several times and we use a vet nearby - freeing up vet slots at the other vets for more cats.

10/1

Well, six or seven cats turned in to 13 cats (actually 16 as two more were trapped overnight and two the next night and one was a previously fixed cat). So there had been 18 cats in the garage and ten in the car overnight for a total of 28 cats at my place overnight.

Again, too many cats and not enough vet slots as our one vet normally open on Thursday was closed. So, it was back to the Healing Hearts mobile with 11 cats. Thank you Jan Wilson for helping us out again in a pinch. Three were from my trapping job, five were the left overs from yesterday, and three were from Suzie's second night's trapping at the other job she had trapped. I keep saying trapping is not as easy as it might seem! Oh and Joyce took two cats to the vet near her. These had been trapped overnight, so we were at three different vets today.

I took ten cats to one clinic and 11 cats to the mobile and Suzie picked up the cats at the mobile mid-day. I picked up the ten cats for a total of 23 cats at my place that night - all having to be fed later in the evening. Joyce set traps out overnight and caught two more cats.

That night I had a trapping job for only one cat. The caregiver had offered a large donation if I would help her trap and fix this cat. Her husband was not in favor of TNR nor of having her even feed the cat. So we set up a "cover" trapping operation. It felt again like a "drive by trapping" as I had the cat in less than five minutes. The term "drive by trapping" originated from a drop-trap situation a couple of years ago. I literally sat in my car and pulled the string through a cracked open car door on a cat under the drop-trap. This took place in less than a minute - hence the term "drive by trapping".

10/2 and 10/3

I took in the one cat in the AM and then met Joyce for the release of the 15 cats. We found two more cats in traps from the second night's trapping. I think we had trapped them ALL. We both dropped them off at the nearby vet. she would pick them up and release them. When I retrieved the one cat at the vet it turned out to be a previously fixed female! She was obviously an abandoned pet. I returned her the next morning to the happy caregiver. She gave me the promised donation despite my trapping an already fixed cat. She wanted to help other cats in need and there arep plenty of them out there.

Having trapped nearly 30 cats this week meant lots of traps and covers to wash and get ready for next week. Thank you Bill.

More and more caregivers are in need of financial assistance due to economic hardship. The Spay Neuter Hotline TNR Program depends on donations to pay our vets. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help those in need. For information on how to donate click here.

If you know someone feeding feral cats please call the Spay Neuter Hotline at 602-265-7729 (SPAY) for assistance.

We are also having a huge yard sale on November 6th and 7th. We need items for sale. So clean out your closets! To donate items for the sale please contact Suzie at 602-689-6069.

Next week - Too many cats again!

Pam's TNR Blog Week of 9/20/09

The photo above was taken by Wayne Begun. I guess he did not like being neutered. Thank you Wayne for sharing this with us!

9/20

I did not trap on Saturday night for Sunday's clinic in Tempe. I volunteered at the clinic and was prepared, as always, to take any "overflow" to another clinic the next day. And we did indeed have too many cats thanks to master trapper Wayne Begun. Nine cats had to be held in my garage until the next day. I released one cat Suzie had trapped for the clinic the next morning after dropping off the nine cats at the vet. Suzie retrieved them in the afternoon and Wayne picked them up in the evening to go back to the caregiver. This was just another example of how labor intensive TNR can be.

On Tuesday I headed up North for another volunteer archaeological survey and documentation project for the BLM. No trapping until next week...Stay tuned.

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 8/23

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 8/23

Suzie passed this on to me so I am sharing it with you...

"I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again." - Stephen Grellet (19th Century French writer)

Now on to this week's trapping episodes...

8/22

We released the 10 cats from Friday's fiasco back to the trailer park in the AM. We returned there with 24 traps about 6:00 PM to trap. There were five locations in this park to be targeted. The other smaller park next door would be a challenge for another time. A mysterious feeder was dumping food there and withholding food for trapping would be difficult. The park manager was very cooperative and she and her husband followed us to the various locations talking to the caregivers. Having Spanish speakers to help made things much easier.

What made this difficult was making stops at so many places to set traps, check traps, pick up traps, label traps etc. We ended up catching 23 cats that evening and overnight for the clinic in Tempe. The nice part was that the manager made dinner for us in the community center. So we dined while waiting for cats to go in traps! Suzie checked traps overnight while I headed to the clinic to work as I often do on Sundays. I took 21 cats with me to the clinic. After Sunday we will have TNR'd 33 cats in the park counting the ones fixed on Friday.

8/24

Nothing is ever predictable in this volunteer work... The next morning before releasing the cats, I had to take 11 cats in. A caregiver who trapped Sunday night arrived with extra cats, and upon reaching the clinic I discovered another caregiver with 14 cats. If 25 cats was not enough, Suzie got an early AM call from another caregiver who was turned away from another clinic because of too many cats and had to be diverted to the same clinic. And while I was there yet another person showed up, for a total of 31 cats! It took a while to check in and after this we had to release the 25 cats back to the park. Five stops again to release. By this time it was late morning and in a few hours we'd be back at the vet picking up Suzie. We picked up the diverted five cats and drove them almost to the Arizona border (Waddell), and I picked up the 11 cats to deliver them back before loading up to trap near my favorite area - 20th Ave. and Van Buren. I'd trapped there before and remembered "Buddy", a favorite feral that escaped unsterilized from my garage because the back door on the trap was not latched. I had hoped he'd find his way back but he did not. Some of these were his offspring.

8/25

I took five cats to the vet on Tuesday. That night was quiet. Suzie and Barbara were trapping on the west side but I was saving up my strength for a big job on Wednesday night.

8/26

Back at it again...I had another solo Central Phoenix trapping job for 20-25 cats. Upon showing up I realized the feral cats were coming from some apartments next door. Well, these were sort of apartments. According to the caregiver who was feeding reluctantly, this had been a horse property and the the apartments were converted stables! They sure looked like it. The source of the cats was a man who was feeding but did not sterilize his cats. It often seems people need some sex education when it comes to understanding how one cat turns in to 25 cats. I cannot remember exactly but we trapped about 17 that night and two overnight for a total of 19. I did not catch the mother as is often the case. I'll have to go back to make sure this colony is finished, if ever. In my opinion it is animal cruelty to feed feral cats and not fix them. Many feeders are not aware of this concept. Fed cats breed more often, have bigger litters, and more kittens per litter.

8/27

Checked traps in the AM and caught a few more overnight. Was at the vet at 7:00 AM to unload. I calculated that trapping say 50 cats/week required loading and unloading of cats and empty traps as well. I calculated for full traps at 21 lbs each and 5 loadings and unloadings equals moving 6,000 lbs. There are five steps in loading and unloading empty traps for a total 3,250 lbs. This is a total of 9,250 lbs or 4.63 tons of cats and traps/week or 18.5 tons/month or 222 tons/year! Anyone considering being a trapper needs to realize it requires a LOT of lifting but it is very rewarding seeing direct results of your work. It is good exercise too!

I picked up the cats for aftercare (another couple of lifting steps) and fed them in the evening. I do go through a lot of cat food - thank you Costco for your bargain on Friskies.

But before this I had two more smaller trapping jobs that night. It was 105 degrees at 6:00 PM. But the heat never stops me and I've become adapted over the years. One job was for six cats and the other for three cats. I caught all six at the one location and only two at the other. Again, one left. No luck overnight either.

Picked up the six cats in the AM as the caregiver did the trapping while I was watching traps at the other location. I then released the 19 cats from the night before. Had to leave empty traps there as I ran out of room in the Honda Element - a car perfectly designed for carrying traps and cats - and for cleaning out afterwards...then it was off to the vet with the eight cats. Picked them up for aftercare in the afternoon.

8/29 (Saturday)

Released the eight cats back at the two locations and picked up the rest of my empty traps from the big job. Saw the white female cat taunting me in the driveway. Darn it! I need to fix that cat. Lots of traps and covers to wash. All traps sterilized with bleach water and rinsed and all covers are washed with bleach between use. Anyone wanting to donate bleach, tuna, or moist cat food for aftercare, please let me know. It will be put to good use.

Next week - What we do when there are too many cats at a clinic??

Please pass the word about spay and neuter. Tame cats, often abandoned, are the source of a large number of feral cats. The Spay Neuter Hotline provides referrals for low-cost and even free spay and neuter for companion cats (and dogs). Please visit our website at: http://www.spayneuterhotline.org/

If you are feeding feral cats and need assistance, the ADLA Spay Neuter Hotline has a TNR program. Please call our hotline at 602-265-7729 (SPAY).