Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 8/2 (Part 2)

8/1 and 8/2 ...So now that you know the history of this location, I'll continue. I trapped seven cats for the clinic on 8/2 and one more overnight for a total of eight cats. There is still one young male orange tabby out there but for now this job is finished. These older Phoenix neighborhoods, interspersed with lower-income apartments always have a LOT of free-roaming cats.

Of course there was the usual aftercare on Sunday night and setting more traps for the second night trapping.

8/3

I took in the last cat on Monday and met Suzie at the vet. She had trapped five the night before at two locations. I picked up these six cats for aftercare along with mine before setting out on Monday night's adventure...

When I arrived to trap, the caregiver's relative was there and explained that this would be difficult. Boy was she right! The elderly caregiver had cats in the house and several outside. It is always difficult when one does not know how many cats there are to trap. I set traps in the carport and a while later the caregiver's nephew comes over and a fight ensues between him and his aunt. So now I am caught in the middle of a family feud over the fate of these cats. So the nephew goes in the house and tries to put the cats in traps. Guess what? He gets bitten and has to go to the emergency room! With him gone I begin to gain the caregiver's trust. She now understands that the cats are coming back after being spayed and neutered. Problem was that the nephew wanted the cats gone. A lot of what we do as trappers is working with caregivers who love the cats often so much they do not trust our motives. I've actually had to have them talk to other caregivers I'd helped previously to assure them I was not there to take the cats away.

I ended up with five cats, several from in the house and some outside. One was caught overnight. On the way home I picked up a kitten from a caregiver where I'd trapped a total of 42 cats over a several month period. This was, I hope, the last cat.

8/4

I took six cats to the vet in the AM. On Tuesdays I always take cats to a clinic that helps those in need who cannot afford a donation. Unfortunately we have way too many caregivers in this situation and not enough vets who will donate their time. The result is a waiting list of caregivers needing financial assistance. Most often these are the same caregivers needing trapping and transport assistance due to large numbers of cats, no vehicle, elderly, disabled etc. This waiting list is growing especially due to hard economic times. Please consider making a contribution to help these folks. To donate visit ADLA's donation site.

I picked up cats for aftercare in the afternoon before setting out for Tuesday night's trapping. Then I picked up cats at another vet to aftercare as the caregiver lived in an apartment with no place to keep them overnight (total 12 cats to aftercare). Tonight's trapping was for a caregiver in a wheelchair who clearly needed assistance. Caught two then two more overnight along with the straggler and the location from the previous night's trapping. Unfortunately I caught only the kittens - mom was still out there!

8/5

Released the cats from previous night's trapping. Suzie took back the ones she'd trapped and picked up one more straggler trapped the second night. Our paths crossed at my house when she picked up the cats and then again at the vet. A word about our vets - we love them! Our vets are our most important resource. Without them this operation would come to a screeching halt. Fortunately we have wonderful, caring vets that always smile when they see LOTs of cats. Often we end up with more than we had planned and usually they will fix them. Sometimes we have to shuffle them around town but we always get them done. Once in a while they need to be held overnight and have to go to a vet the next day.

...picked up cats at the vet and more aftercare that night. This night's trapping was for three cats at a trailer park in north Phoenix. I'd trapped in this park several times before and now the word is getting out and management is TNR friendly. After setting the traps at this location I took my drop-trap to get the mother cat left over from the previous night. I had her within 20 minutes! This was especially nice because the caregiver gave us a substantial donation in appreciation for the help. I went back to the park to discover all three cats had been trapped - a nice surprise. I had four more cats that would not be breeding any longer.

8/6

I took four cats to the vet in the AM and picked them up for aftercare in the PM. My trapping job for that night was cancelled as the caregiver fed the cats. It has been reset for next Thursday night...

Mind you there is a lot more going on than trapping in this business. There are calls to return, appointments to set, traps and covers to wash, transport of cats for caregivers, dealing with cats in traps without a plan, spay pack preparation, etc. It is often challenging but I like problem solving and I always say; "if anything can happen to foil best laid plans while trapping feral cats it will". At least once a week someone has a feral cat confined in a carrier and needs it transferred to a trap. Or, the vet calls and someone has not signed their paperwork for surgery. My favorite is when there are 50 cats scheduled for a high-volume clinic and the vet is ill and cannot make it. Or how about dealing with 45 too many cats showing up at a clinic and needing a place to hold them overnight and fix them the next day?

On another important note... there are the three things the Spay Neuter Hotline TNR program needs most to help more cats and caregivers:

1 . Help getting the word out about TNR and our program.

2. Monetary donations to low-income caregivers with TNR.

3. Help with trapping and transporting cats to clinics especially in Phoenix and the west Valley. We're looking for "a few good men (and women)" who like to lift heavy traps with cats, smell cat urine, spend evenings in alleys, and drive a lot...Oh, and do not mind a stinky, dirty car. You can see why there are plenty of job openings!

Next week - Queen Creek

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 8/2 (Part 1)

8/1 - Trapping

I trapped Saturday night for our Sunday clinic on 8/2. I'd trapped at this location but like many places we go - there is "more to the story". I'll digress with some history...


After having trapped at this location several years ago, I later found the source of the cats... an older apartment complex across the street. Setting out to trap 25+ cats at the apartment where they were being fed I encountered the husband of the caregiver. He refused to let me TNR the cats because he wanted them removed. What a disappointment after I had seen at least four mothers nursing newborn kittens on the small patio. I sat in the parking lot and cried that night.


Forward one year...The complex was being torn down for development into "high-end" condos and residents were being evicted. This was the height of the real estate boom and the owners were hoping to make a killing on the property. Feral cats just did not "fit in" with lofts. A trapping friend who lived nearby alerted me to this situation and she and I decided to try again. The caregiver was still coming to the apartment to feed despite being banned from the property. The apartment windows were shattered and the place was abandoned. Of course now all the newborn kittens I'd seen earlier were breeding adults. We trapped quite a few in the oleanders behind the complex. Then about 9:00 PM we decided to go on the small enclosed patio and discovered numerous covered cat beds. These were cat condos! At least fifteen cats scattered as we approached. Looking under one covered bed we found a dilute tortie nursing 23 kittens! Ages ranged from 1 week to 2 weeks. What a nightmare. Well, to make a long story short, we rounded up a set of industrial two foot-long tongs from the property owner and carefully one by one plucked the kittens from the mother and into a box. Just as the last one was taken out, the mother bolted (Suzie and I trapped her eventually with the drop-trap). All the kittens went to bottle feeders that night and most survived and found homes through a local rescue group. Susie and I later trapped most of the remaining cats. However, those we did not catch ended up at the place I trapped on 8/1. This was the person I had trapped for earlier and we now provide her food to feed the additional cats from the apartments.





By the way the condos never materialized due to the economic downturn. The apartments now have new tenants and there are cats still hanging out in the oleanders...but most of the ones I saw were ear tipped.


Feeding feral cats and not fixing them is, in my opinion, animal cruelty. Unless fixed, fed cats will breed more often and have larger litters. Truly "feral cats" have fewer litters and fewer kittens per litter resulting in smaller colonies. Not fixing ALL the cats , especially the females, causes the remaining females to go into heat sooner so as to maintain the colony size. "Culling" kittens from a colony has the same affect on the mothers. This phenomena is supported by scientific evidence.


So if you are feeding feral cats, please spay and neuter them. Do not feed them if you are not going to fix them. Contact the Spay Neuter Hotline TNR program at 602-265-7729 (SPAY) for assistance.

Pam's TNR Blog - week of 7/26/09

TNR Blog No. 2

Week of 7/26/09

Sunday 7/26

I did not trap on Saturday night as the ADLA quarterly meeting was on Sunday, 7/26. However, we hold a weekly clinic in Tempe on Sunday and I had to pick up the overflow of 15 cats to be stashed in my air-conditioned garage until we could get them to the vet on Monday. Cats had to be fed and watered as they had gone without food for nearly 3 days. It was 115 degrees on Sunday making it even more important that the cats have a cool place to go. But trapping goes on year round - we just have to adapt and we do. In the afternoon we had the ADLA quarterly meeting at the Glendale Public Library and Suzie and I talked about the benefits of TNR and trapping. Please consider joining ADLA whose mission is the protect and defend Arizona's animals. More information is available on the ADLA website.

Monday 7/27

I met a caregiver in south central Phoenix in an alley at 4:45 AM to trap 10 cats. Some areas are safer for trapping in daylight rather than at night. The alley has lots of cats and I trapped 10 cats there previously. Last time I trapped there a man called 911 claiming I was trapping his cat. We stayed until 8:30 AM and caught 8 cats - mostly kittens. A man came out of an apartment asking for help with fixing his tame female cat that has had several litters. I promised to help him knowing that some people have few resources for S/N and do not know about low-cost options. Most I come across do not have transportation to the vet or even know about spay and neuter or even cat reproduction. I think some of the "feral" kittens in the alley were from his cat. These cats went to the vet at 9:00 AM. Meanwhile Suzie picked up the 15 cats in my garage and took them to a different vet for S/N.

After picking up cats at the vet in the afternoon, I helped a lady drop trap some cats she had been trying to catch for months with her own trap. Turned out she had no clue how to trap and did not know about the Spay Neuter Hotline (SNH). We caught both of them - one under the dropper and the other overnight. Of course there were 23 cats in the garage waiting to be fed when I got home at 8:30 PM - 15 left over from Sunday and the 8 from the alley (in case you've lost track!).


Tuesday 7/28

Released the cats down on Van Buren and 20th St. before 6:00 AM. Suzie picked up the cats from the Sunday clinic and returned them to Mesa. After washing traps and covers in the AM, I began preparing for the trip to Aguila and Wickenburg. We had planned on taking a mobile clinic to Aguila but decided it would be easier and less expensive to trap and bring the cats to Phoenix for S/N- I say easier but definitely not easy! Nothing about TNR is easy, believe me.

Suzie and I left Phoenix at 2:30 PM with a total of 42 traps in two vehicles. First stop (after the gas station) was Wickenburg to deliver 12 traps to a couple living in a condemmed apartment. Not sure how they manage in such marginal conditions. The Humane Society in Wickenburg could not help them. Somehow they got our phone #. Most of the cats were trapped inside and a couple were in an abandoned trailer on the property. We then visited a 94 year old lady we trapped for earlier in the year in Wickenburg and guess what - she has more cats to trap in the alley behind her apartment!

On to Aguila...Aguila is a small rural, agricultural town 25 miles west of Wickenburg. We'd been through there before while trapping in Salome which is further west. We were headed to help a 92 year old man who claimed to be feeding 29 cats. This man would never have found help otherwise and these are the caregivers we like to assist. He lived in what was an old lumberyard that serviced the railroad when it was built in the 1920's. There was a large house and several outbuildings. Upon arriving I commented; "this will be like shooting fish in a barrel". The porch was amass with about 12 cats, half of them Calicos! Within an hour or so we knew there were more than 29 cats and we started doubling up cats in traps. Later we dined at the Coyote Flats restaurant - the only place to eat in town. Dinner was exciting as I swatted 18 flies while trying to eat. The locals say they imported flies to eat the insects killing crops in Aguila...definitely a mistake. That evening we trapped a total of 32 cats. We left 2 traps out overnight.

We left at about 9:00 PM stopping in Wickenburg to pick up cats - they had filled all 12 traps. Turned out all 12 were female! After arriving back in Phoenix we had to unload the now 44 cats in my garage as it was still over 100 deg. and we could not leave cats in our vehicles.


Wednesday 7/29

Suzie left at 4:15 AM the next morning to go back to Aguila to collect 4 more cats. Two were trapped overnight and there were 2 were kittens in a shed the caregiver could get in traps. She delivered 5 traps to each caregiver to trap again that night. We now had 38 cats to go to the vet. I took one load of 26 cats to one vet and 22 cats to another vet. LOTS of lifting but it helps one keep in shape...Suzie met me at the second vet with the additional 4 cats caught overnight. We now had a total of 50 cats at the vet. We each picked up cats later in the day and now had 50 cats to aftercare in my garage (not a record but close).

Thursday 7/30

We loaded up early and after hitting Starbucks shortly after they opened at 4:30 AM and getting gas (again) it was on to Wickenburg to release 12 cats and pick up 4 more trapped overnight. Ants had attacked the traps set overnight and I ended up with ants in my socks as I jumped around trying to get my shoes off - fully awake now. Next stop Aguila where 2 more cats were trapped overnight for a total of 6 more cats to go to the vet on 7/30. We were now up to 56 cats over 3 days. The Aguila release (pictured) was classic. There had been an abundance of Calicos in this mix and seeing their eartips was like heaven on earth. Tortie kittens that would never give birth were a sight to behold. This is why we do this week after week...

Flies - If there nasty ants in Wickenburg, the flies in Aguila made the ants look tame. After unloading the 24 cats in my vehicle I could not see the tarp on the floor for the flies. They were thick as, well, flies! We loaded up the traps and 2 cats (total of 6) caught overnight and headed for Phoenix and the vet. A fly swatter is not part of the trapping kit but should be. We swatted flies with trap covers and tried to let them out the windows but bought back several hundred from Aguila to Phoenix.

Suzie picked up the 6 cats at the vet that day and kept them inside her place that night.

Friday 7/31

Suzie returned the cats to Wickenburg and Aguila in the AM. I spent most of the day washing traps and covers. In all, Suzie made 4 trips and I made 2 trips to Aguila and Wickenburg to TNR 56 cats. Thank you XM radio! These 56 cats would never have been fixed without the help of the Spay Neuter Hotline TNR Program and supporters like you.

The Spay Neuter Hotline TNR Program needs your help. We need donations to help caregivers in need with TNR. Caregivers with the most numbers of cats have the least amount of resources to fix the cats. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help the cats. You can find information on how to donate at http://www.spayneuterhotline.org/

The good news is that 100% of donations go to pay the vets for surgeries. Please help us help the cats.


Next week - Stay tuned for more exciting TNR adventures.

Pam's TNR Blog

Pam's TNR Blog N0. 1 - Week of 7/19/09








7/19/09
It's been a busy week. Suzie and I trapped last Saturday night at a trailer park in S. Phoenix in a dust storm. We trapped 22 cats plus 7 cats overnight for a total of 29 cats. An Arizona Republic reporter and photographer were with us gathering information for a future article on the S/N Hotline and our TNR program. Cats were fixed the next day at the N. Phoenix S/N Clinic where the SNH spayed and neutered at total of 51 cats. That night we aftercared these and a couple other colonies in my garage. My garage is cooled in the summer and this time of year it gets a lot of use as many caregivers have no place to aftercare cats. All cats must be fed and watered later in the evening once they recover.
7/20/09
We released cats the next morning for several caregivers including the 29 cats in S. Phoenix. The caregivers caught 2 more cats overnight for a total of 31 cats (plus 1 cat done the week before making it 32 cats total). Suzie picked up a couple more in W. Phoenix finishing up a colony that had tbeen trapped the previous night. It is so important to finish colonies and multiple night trapping makes a big difference in making sure ALL the cats get fixed.
7/21
I had an emergency trapping job Monday night. The caregiver was to trap on her own but threatened to take the cats to the AHS. I agreed to trap and transport the 8 cats for her if they could come back. She lived in W. Glendale. Suzie agreed to come with me and help bait traps the gail force wind required heavy taping of papers in the traps. Cats were scarse but we caught 2 cats over night. The morning of the 21st we had to pick up these cats to go to the vet and make three stops delivering cats including the last 2 cats in S. Phoenix. One delivery was in S. Scottsdale at Babe's Cabaret. Suzie's daughter Beth and her son-in-law John trapped at Babe's on Saturday night and trapped another cat Sunday night that still needed releasing... Thank you Beth and John for all your hard work!
7/22
My trapping job for Tuesday night was for 15 cats in N.W. Phoenix. Suzie and Beth were trapping at Grand Canyon University, Beth's alma mater. My job turned in to 24 cats over two days requiring multiple trips to and from my house to the caregiver and to the vet. The first night I had to run home for more traps and I asked Suzie to go bait the traps at the Glendale location (second night trapping) as I ran out of time. I took 18 cats to the vet on 7/22 and Suzie took 11 cats from the college plus 4 more from the Glendale location for a total of 33 cats! Of course all of those had to be aftercared in my garage that night and released the next AM. All the cats at the college are now fixed - Go Suzie!
7/23
I trapped six more cats overnight for a total of 24 cats! That colony is now all fixed, however, there are more cats in the area and the caregiver and her daughter are going to flyer the neighborhood and talk to people about TNR. There was more aftercare on Thursday night...and I picked up 10 tame cats to go to the vet on Friday for a caregiver in a trailer park at 127th Ave. and Glendale. The cat owners had no vehicle and no $$ for S/N. These were "free-roaming" pets but free-roaming tame cats are the #1 source of the feral cats so it is important to fix the tame cats too. I discovered many feral cats in this park also and the kids will pass out TNR and S/N information - LOTs of dogs to be fixed too.
7/24
I released the last 6 cats on Friday morning and took the 10 tame cats to the vet and took them back to 127th Ave. and Glendale in the afternoon. The vet is at 40th St. and Cactus near my house so it was about a 2-hour round trip which I had to make twice.

In between all this trap covers and traps need to be washed as wello. We TNR'd a total of 80 cats this week not to mention the transport and aftercare of many other cats.

Stay tuned for the Aguila and Wickenburg adventures next week...

If you are feeding feral cats please call the S/N Hotline for assistance: 602-265-7729 (SPAY). If you are interested in volunteering to do trapping and transport, please call or email us at:feralcats@adlaz.org

West Valley View: Pet Dumping on Rise at County Parks

West Valley View - July 17, 2009

Forgotten victims
Pet dumping on the rise at county parks

by Beth Kristin Ott
assistant editor

At a time when budgets are tightening, some of the first victims are often the family pets.
Cats, dogs and even reptiles are being left to fend for their lives in record numbers, in record heat.
“An animal being dumped in the elements of our weather, without food or water, is a cruel and horrible way to leave your pet,” said Sonia Hernandez, Animal Defense League of Arizona’s outreach coordinator. “Give them a chance. If keeping your animal is no longer an option, then we urge people to take their pets to a shelter, which may mean ‘the pound.’”
Hernandez, a Goodyear resident, is saddened by the effect the economy is having on pets, she said. Leaving domesticated animals to run wild is not the answer.
“First, it is a crime in Arizona to abandon an animal. Second, your animal will suffer, it is 115 degrees outside. Third, we already have too many homeless animals in our communities,” she said.
If families cannot afford necessary services such as vaccinations and spaying/neutering, assistance is available. The local spay/neuter hot line is 602-265-SPAY.
“We cannot stress enough the effectiveness and importance of spaying/neutering your pet,” Hernandez said. “If your pet is spayed/neutered, you are guaranteed that there will be no surprises and additional animals to worry about feeding.”
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Maricopa County Animal Care & Control will hold a free rabies vaccine clinic at Ace Hardware at 610 N. Estrella Parkway, Goodyear. Applications will be available for no-cost spay/neuter vouchers, as well.

Fido and Fluffy can’t make it in the mountains

Ranger Doc Talboys is seeing an increase in domestic animals at White Tank Mountain Regional Park. Stray dogs can be seen in record numbers in the park and on the roadside in Waddell, he said.
"It’s more than I’ve ever seen before,” he said. “We are seeing dogs and some snakes being left around here. Forgotten victims Pet dumping on the rise at county parks I am seeing dogs running loose in packs, which can be dangerous.”
A dog left in or around the mountain parks isn’t likely to survive, and some can be dangerous to the wildlife and people in the park.
“They won’t survive the heat,” Talboys said. “They get hit by cars, or wild animals get them. These animals are not used to hunting and having to find water.”
Stray packs of dogs can also be a threat to the natural wildlife, killing the park’s deer and rabbits.
“It’s sad that we live in a disposable society,” Talboys said.
A few people have also decided they can no longer care for their pet snakes and are turning them out into the desert.
“A domesticated snake is not going to survive out there,” he said. One king snake was rescued and approved by the county and Arizona Game & Fish to be adopted by White Tank Park. It now lives in the Visitors Center.
Estrella Mountain Regional Park in Goodyear has also seen an increase in abandoned pets, Ranger Patricia Armstrong said.
“People need to not drop things off,” she said. “We’ve always seen dogs, but now it’s more than ever.”
The park recently opened a tortoise habitat with two desert dwellers, and soon after found two additional, very sick, tortoises that had been dropped off in the habitat.
“These animals can have diseases that then affect the wildlife. The wild animals can be killed off by viruses not normally carried by them,” she said.
Anyone who needs information can call the Arizona Game & Fish Department at 602-942-3000.
The department runs an official desert tortoise adoption program. Domestic cats and even a pair of horses have also been abandoned in the area of Estrella Mountain Park.
“There were two horses left near the river, and thankfully they got saved,” Armstrong said.
“All the foreclosures are leaving lots of homeless pets.”

Beth Kristin Ott can be reached by e-mail
at bott@westvalleyview.com.

Pit Bull Spay and Neuter is the Solution

Today the Arizona Republic ran a heartbreaking story about local shelters being overrun by pit bull dogs. Check it out and thank the paper for running this story.

Then tell everyone you know about Maricopa County's FREE Spay Neuter Program for pit bulls. Any resident of the County is eligible thanks to Maddie's Project in Maricopa County. Once your dog is spayed, Maddie's will send you $20. Call or visit the Spay Neuter Hotline for more information. 602 265-7729

There is a similar program in Pima County, and a similar problem. Visit the Spay Neuter Hotline website, it has information on both programs.

Arizona Republic Editorial "Real Animal Lovers Spay and Neuter"

In case you missed the Arizona Republic this morning, check out the link below. Please contact the Editorial Board to thank them or post a comment. And ask your friends, family and neighbors to Spay and Neuter Today- before more litters of unwanted animals are born!

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2009/04/02/20090402thur2-02.html

Real animal lovers spay, neuter pets
Apr. 2, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

A lot of people call themselves animal lovers. Evidence suggests that "affair of convenience" would be a better way to describe their depth of commitment.

The evidence?

Every year, about 93,000 healthy dogs and cats are euthanized in Arizona animal shelters because nobody wants to adopt them. Only about 60 percent of animals brought to shelters find a home.

Each spring, shelters see an uptick in the number of unwanted puppies and kittens brought in, says Stephanie Nichols-Young of the Animal Defense League of Arizona.

Everybody knows why. Dogs and cats are prolific breeders.

What's more, the numbers of animals euthanized don't reflect the many animals abandoned on the streets or in the desert by people who delude themselves into thinking the poor, domesticated creature will be able to survive on its own. These animals generally die hungry and afraid.

The answer - for real animal lovers - is to reduce the surplus population by spaying and neutering their pets.

Counties across the state use taxpayer funds to catch, keep and often euthanize unwanted animals.

Meanwhile, there are no-cost and low-cost spay and neuter clinics throughout the state. It's easy to find one. The toll-free number for the Animal Defense League's spay and neuter hotline is 866-952-7729. In Phoenix, call 602-265-7729; in Tucson, call 520-624-7729.

Puppies and kittens are cute. The reality of tens of thousands of unwanted animals being euthanized each year isn't.

That's why real animal lovers spay and neuter their pets.