Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 12/27/09

12/27

There was no Tempe clinic on Sunday due to the Christmas holiday. I had set up a job for Sunday night but it fell through. At the last minute I called a couple in a mobile home park not far from me who I'd trapped for before. There were about 10 new cats. I'd already trapped over 40 cats thee years but there were more. I'd put this off for a while as the woman never stops talking - never. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it is not, believe me. I like to be stealth in my operation and constant chattering disrupts the process - not to mention I have already heard "who beget whom" numerous times. When this happens I tell the caregiver to go inside and only come out only infrequently to shake the dry food and call the cats. I then ask them to go back inside as the cats tend to wait to be fed rather than make an effort to go in the traps. I call this "conservation of energy". Funny how cats spend the least amount of energy possible to get by whereas humans seem to spend the more than they need to to accomplish everything. Still I did catch 10 cats there that evening and overnight despite these obstacles.

12/28

I checked traps in the AM and headed for the vet. Monday was a light day due to the holiday - well, at least the vet where I was. Wayne Begun was off work this week and was trapping every night for the Tempe clinic. He had 15 cats in on Monday - go Wayne!

12/29

I was back at the MHP that evening to set traps. I had picked up a cat that another caregiver had drop-trapped during the day. Suzie was on a drop-trapping extravaganza this week and had caught a last cat for a caregiver. We'd have a total of four cats in and I'd be picking them up for aftercare. Wayne was out on a couple more trapping jobs and had a bunch of cats in. Wayne was beginning to see what it is like to be a full-time trapper. Just keeping track of all the cats and caregivers is often challenging.

We had decided earlier in the week to ring out 2009 with a HUGE trapping job. This would mean releasing cats on New Year's day as one vet was open on New Year's Eve and was looking for business. We jumped at the chance to fill a clinic.

After picking up the four cats at the vet and loading up traps I met Barbara and Suzie at the trapping location, an older neighborhood in central Phoenix. There were a lot of foreclosed vacant homes in the neighborhood and the caregiver was feeding over 30 cats. When I arrived, there were cats everywhere! It was dinner time and tuna was on the menu tonight. They were already trapping cats as fast as they could and still there were cats, cats and more cats - cats everywhere. We caught a total of 30 including some trapped overnight. We also has a nice dinner at Pei Wei, one of our favorite restaurants.

12/30

I checked traps left out overnight before heading to the vet. It is strange that many caregivers (like this one) cannot even wake up in the early AM to check traps to see if there are cats in them. I am so anxious to check them I can hardly sleep waiting to check them in the AM. I headed off to one vet with 10 cats and then met Suzie at the 2nd vet to help check in 20 cats.

All the cats came back to my place for aftercare. Suzie was off to drop-trap that night on the far West side so I set traps at the previous night's location for stranglers. We had seen a few more cats lurking around. After setting about seven traps I headed to S. Phoenix where I had two trapping jobs. Fortunately they were neighbors. This was a pretty unsafe neighborhood. I'd been there a couple of times before and would never be alone there at night. These caregivers had lived there a long time and were just the kind I love to help - grateful and appreciative of getting first class service! They both really cared about the cats. I caught three (all) at the one neighbors and four at the other's.

12/31

I got up early to check the traps I'd set the second night at the big job and I'd caught 5 more! We were now at 35 cats - this job was finished. I headed off to S. Phoenix and she'd caught one cat overnight. Then, she caught the last one after I was half way to the vet and I had to turn back to pick him up. The good news was we had caught them ALL! I then headed off to the vet with the last five cats from second night trapping, and the seven cats from S. Phoenix. Suzie drop-trapped the last cat she was after on the W. side and was also at the vet. This make a total of 13 cats in on 12/31 at one vet. What a way to end 2009. Wayne, of course, was ringing out the year in the E. Valley bringing a load of cats to the Tempe clinic.

From there we headed to my house to load up the 30 cats in my garage for release. Seeing those beautiful eartips and knowing there would be no kittens this Spring was delightful.

Later in the day I was out and about running errands got in my car and the key would not turnin the ignition. I solicited several able bodied folks to help be to no avail. I then called Honda Roadside and they sent help. First they mistakenly sent a guy with a battery charger and it was the ignition. Then they sent a tow truck. The car was towed to the Honda dealer and the driver took me home to get my spare key as they suspected it was a bad key. No go. I needed a new ignition. By this time it was after 4:00 PM on New Year's Eve and I had 13 cats to be picked up from the vet by 5:00 PM. Bill was out of town so Suzie came to my rescue. She picked me up at the dealer, we picked up the cats, and she dropped me and the cats off at my place for aftercare. The photo shows the jacked up car being pushed to maintenance. They'd be installing the new ignition on Saturday - thank goodness. We had the biggest job ever set for next week starting Sunday night and I needed my car.

1/1

In the late AM we returned all the cats on New Year's morning - the five to central Phoenix, the seven to S. Phoenix and the one to the far W. Valley. Suzie drove as my car was in the shop. It was indeed a Happy New Year for all! I do think the cats were the happiest of all of us...

I never would have thought 2009 would end this way. Last March I almost gave up and even cried at the vet thinking everything had fallen apart. But it didn't. This year has been a challenge in many ways but many fewer kittens will be born this Spring thanks to all of you who have supported the Spay Neuter Hotline in spirit and financially. For this I will be forever grateful.

Next week - Ringing in the New Year...trapping the biggest colony ever!

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 12/13/09

As the New Year approaches I've been thinking of how lucky we've been to continue a TNR program with the Animal Defense League of Arizona. For those who do not know, I've volunteered with ADLA a long time and with the Spay Neuter Hotline almost since its beginning in 1991. You may not know this but over the past several years the Spay Neuter Hotline has been raising money through grants and donations to help pay for spay and neuter of tame and feral cats for those in need. So it seemed like a good idea to have our own TNR program. With the support of ADLA we are on our way to making this the most successful TNR program ever. I am now confident my vision of solving the free-roaming cat overpopulation problem in Maricopa County will become a reality. I become more committed to this cause each day. And every cat counts. Being on the "front lines", I see progress being made each day as I trap more and more already eartippd cats in neighborhoods I thought had never been trapped. I am now confident most people do want to fix their cats, both tame and feral, and only lack the resources to do it. We are making a difference.


I'd also like to thank the late Harry Bartel for his support and encouragement to go forward even in our darkest hour - when we thought there would no longer be a Valleywide TNR program. Thank you Harry for giving us the confidence to go forward...


12/13

Grant and I were trapping at three locations for the 1/13 clinic in N. Phoenix. We trapped ALL 14 cats at the first location that night. We did not trap aby cats that night at the second location but when Grant checked the traps early Sunday morning, all three cats were trapped! We never actually trapped at the third location as the cats lived in a hostile neighbor's backyard and the gate was locked. I did not like the idea of leaving traps there anyway. The cats were fed in the alley behind the house and when we met the caregiver, there were no cats in sight. This job would have to wait.

There were 60 cats at the clinic that day and lots of females. We had some new volunteers and everyone worked a long day. Tempe came in light that day and we only did about 110 cats. I say ONLY, but fixing 110 cats at two clinics is not too shabby. There would be a LOT fewer kittens this spring. I'd like to thank everyone who helped at these two clinics.

After cleaning up at the clinic it was nearly 4:00 PM before I got home with the 17 cats needing to be overnighted.. I'd had a lot of supplies to haul including spay packs from both clinics needing to be sterilized during the week in preparation for next week's clinic. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes in preparation for the weekend clinics.

12/14

Suzie helped me with the release the next day as we'd be working on stats later in the AM. We spend a lot of time working on stats in order to keep good records of how many cats have been trapped and where. It is important to keep track of this data for a lot of reasons, but mostly to show how successful we have been to grantors, donors and supporters like you. After that, I had to pick up 20 traps from some caregivers who had trapped for the clinic on Sunday. This had been a community effort and their community assocation and neighors were supporting the effort financially. It was exciting to see the commitment and enthusiasm of neighbors in a central Phoenix neighborhood. It is amazing what can happen in a community when neighbors band together to help cats. They even invited us to table at their home tour event in the Spring in order to spread the word. I had no trapping job that night - we had finished both jobs...

12/15

This night I'd be headed out on an interesting trapping job. As I do not reveal exactly where I trap for obvious reasons, all I can say is this night's job woud be at a very upscale resort in central Phoenix. A guest from California had seen feral cats while eating at the resort's restaurant and emailed me for help. She had already cleared TNR with management after initially wanting me to find homes for the cats. She offered a large donation if I would help them. There were only four cats. I of course, sprung into action due to the incentive of the large donation.

When I got there it became clear this would be a covert operation. The engineering dept. was in charge of the trapping and they had to set traps late at night as they did not want guests to see traps or cats. Even delivery of supplies to the hotel are accomplished before sunrise so guests cannot see trucks. So I became only the transporter. This would mean being on call each morning to pick up cats before it got light - along with all the delivery trucks. At the same time I'd pick up any newly trapped cats. Trapped cats would be left in a hidden location in the morning near the laundry and someone would meet me to release any trapped cats. They ended up catching two cats, one at a time, that week. They caught another cat the following week. As of this writing there is still one more cat to trap, the mother cat of course. I'll keep you up-to-date on this unusual trapping job. Needless to say I'll need to be "on call" each morning, waiting for their call.

12/16

I took the one trapped cat from the resort to the vet. The good news is it was a young tortie, a female. That night I had a trapping job with Barbara. Suzie was out of commission as she had company all week. This was a 15+ job in central Phoenix. The caregiver had trapped cats a few years ago but "missed one". The result, more cats needing to be fixed. As luck would have it we trapped all 12 cats that night. There were only 12 cats, not 15+ cats. Funny how some caregivers overestimate the number of cats being fed and some grossly underestimate the number of cats. Could it be that all those black cats and brown tabbys all look alike?

12/17

I took cats to the vet in the AM and after running around all day picking up and delivering traps I'd have 12 cats in the garage that night. The neighbor was to set traps at the elderly man's house that night but never bothered to set them. I should have learned by now I should do things myself to make sure they get done. There may be one male left there but he'd be difficult to catch now.

12/18

All I had was to release the 12 cats in the morning. I was done for the week.

Suzie and I would be trapping the next night to help fill the Tempe clinic on 12/20. Again, there were a lot of last minute cancellations for Sunday. I am not complaining - I love trapping!

Next week would be a short one due to the Christmas holiday. The vets would be open for business and we were having a special visit from a photographer from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. Stay tuned for some good photos...

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 10/18/09

10/18

October 18th was our National Feral Cat Day event. We had two clinics that day hoping to fix 150-200 cats in one day. Again, last minute stress over cancellations and not filling the clinics sends us all into a spin. I'd had a cancellation for 10-15 cats from someone getting traps from me. Weird thing about this is that he volunteered for the Humane Society and decided TNR would be "too stressful" for the cats. So, thinking we'd have too few cats for the north Phoenix clinic on Sunday, I called a caregiver and told her to "pick up the food right away" - this was Saturday morning.

Well, it was like "shooting fish in a barrel" at her place, despite food not being withheld for two days. These cats were hungry for tuna! We trapped 14 cats right away and the cats had been fed. Amazing! Well, we ended up fixing 78 cats in north Phoenix and 107 cats in Tempe for a total of 185 cats. We had met our goal. And, Wayne and Bob Janda came through and trapped at the Peppertree Mobile Home Park (31 cats). Thanks go out to all who contributed financially to this effort - especially those from Phoenix Feral Friends. You guys rock!!

10/19 and 10/20

Of course there were stragglers from the previous night's trapping. Two were caught overnight. The caregiver set the traps so we were able to go home and relax after working at the clinic all day. Suzie also brought in two from another caregiver who trapped a second night and could not transport on a Monday due to her work schedule. This is often a problem as people have to go to work early and work late. We do our best to help these caregivers and they appreciate our great volunteer service. Every cat is important and I try, often too hard, to help those in need. Unfortunately, some caregivers take advantage of us but that is the price of what we do. We have to put the cats first despite difficult people.

I had a trapping job that night in a mobile home park (MHP) I'd trapped at for many years. There were two locations (caregivers) that needed help. I ended up with 13 cats between the two places, and transporting to two different vets. The "mother of them all" was still out there resulting in a sleepless night (I promised myself this would never happen again but it did). A superbreeder on the loose that would have yet another litter if I did not do something! I might mention I had to pick up another cat downtown on my way to the vet. Another stop at the QT. A word about the QT: It seems lately I 've been stopping there in the AM for gas then again in the evening for dinner...not a diet I recommend!

Of course those cats needed to be picked up and aftercared (a given). But I had to get the "superbreeder". I did have to also pick up 12 other cats at yet another vet for a caregiver needing assistance. Suzie, if I recall, picked up the other cats at one vet and I picked the four cats at the other vet at 1:00 PM. We just shuffle them around as needed. If that was not enough I had to pick up 12 cats at yet another vet and return them to 32nd St. and Van Buren. I had visited three vets today.

I was back at the MHP that evening scouting out that elusive superbreeder. I did manage to catch her with the drop-trap after waiting for nearly an hour and caught one cat overnight for a total of two cats. Now I'd done a total of 15 cats at the MHP. There was one white male cat left but I figured he'd move on where the girls were more cooperative and interested in him.

10/21

I took in the last two cats to the vet in the AM. I delivered traps to someone I'd helped numerous times down in central Phoenix at the city disabled housing at 22nd St. and Roosevelt. Fortunately this was near the family homeless shelter where I'd delivered the 12 cats back from the third vet. See a pattern here? We do help a LOT of caregivers needing not only trapping assistance but financial assistance...at homeless shelters, disabled housing projects, and other low-income areas. This is where the greatest number of cats are because people in these areas cannot afford to S/N their cats. The caregiver at the disabled housing uses a motorized wheelchair as do many in the complex. Please consider a donation to help not only cats in need but the caregivers in need as well. Consider a donation to ADLA as part of your holiday giving. It goes a long way to help cats and people too.

10/22

Got up very early to release that last two cats at the MHP. Then, I picked up three cats at the Phoenix housing complex and six from another place I was transporting. I have a friend who often finds caregivers who will trap but cannot transport cats to and from the vet. Today I'd have a total of nine cats at two different vets. I'd also have the usual pickup and aftercare. However, it is now getting cooler so aftercare is much easier.

10/23

I released all the cats at all the locations in the AM. There would be no second night trapping. I did, however go by a location near the Phoenix disabled housing project that had 20+ cats needing help. This photo is of some of the cats before being fixed. This would be next week's trapping job - abandoned house and of course, no donation.

Next week - See what these cats look like after they are fixed!

Now off to the vet with the superbreeder and her cohort.

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

Pam's Feral Cat TNR Blog - Week of 10/4/09

10/4

Sunday was a busy day at the clinic. I transported 13 cats to the clinic for three different caregivers. Once again we had too many cats and 14 had to go to two different vets on Monday. This of course meant holding in my garage and feeding and watering them. I also had to drop off 12 cats to two caregivers I had transported on the way home. We fixed 74 cats in Tempe that day meaning there were a total of 88 cats trapped! There were 28 males and 46 females that will no longer be breeding. What a great feeling!

Many thanks to all the trappers, transporters and volunteers for making our weekend clinics so successful. And most of all thanks to Suzie for all the work she puts in to making the Tempe clinics a success every weekend. All the scheduling, reminder calls, making sure caregivers get traps, and most of all scheduling the right number of cats!

10/5

I delivered one cat back in the morning the morning, a male. This caregiver had not caught the cat she was after, the calico mother cat - why was I not surprised. So I brought my drop-trap along and had her within less than ten minutes. Took her off to the vet along with ten others from the day before - the rest Suzie took to another vet. Suzie also picked the ten up and delivered them to the caregiver for aftercare. Fortunately the caregiver was able to pick up the other four at the other vet. We are always juggling; be it traps or vet slots or transport or aftercare or ... all the things that make TNR successful.

I had a large trapping job that night for 12 cats which turned in to 15 cats. At least it was cool enough to keep the cats in the vehicle overnight.

10/6

I ended up at two vets again with the 15 cats. Since once vet requires pick-up at 1:00 PM and the other at 4:00 PM, one's day is about shot. I spent most of the day sterilizing spay packs, the instruments the vets use for spaying the cats at our high-volume spay days. Each one has to be sterilized between use and we had done a lot of females at the clinic on Sunday. I picked up the cats for aftercare and headed off to set traps again for the straggler I did not catch.

10/7

I caught the last cat overnight (except for one small kitten that was too young to fix). Suzie and Barbara had a successful night trapping and had ten cats to take to the vet. We split up the cats between two vets again. Then there was pick-up, aftercare and release again. Suzie helped a lot as I had yet another trapping job that night. This one was for six cats and turned in to 11 cats over two nights. It was fairly easy except for the caregiver complaining about not wanting the cats back and of course, having to do anything including donate.

He said, "But these are not my cats"! My response was: "But they are not my cats"!

10/8

This was an interesting morning. It was Thursday and one of our vets only allows us ten cats on Thursdays. A last-minute scheduling conflict left me with no vet! After trapping a few stragglers overnight, I had more than the six I had planned, making matters worse. So I called another vet who told me to call back in half an hour and to see if they could take them. So I went to the clinic and sat in the parking lot, hoping. At 7:45 AM they said OK. I was relieved. It would require driving back there in rush hour traffic to pick them up in the afternoon. On the way home in the afternoon I'd set traps again for the stragglers. Then of course there was aftercare. I think I may have had some of Suzie's she had caught on the second night of trapping, but too much time has gone by now to remember. It all starts to blur after a while.

10/9

Caught one last cat overnight and brought him in. After many years of second night trapping I've concluded that one always catches male cats the second night. My theory is the males come around looking for the females who are not there - so they decide to look for a meal - and in the traps they go. I have no scientific proof of this but it does happen a lot. If not males, then it is the elusive calico mother cats that avoided the traps the night before.

10/10

I released the one last cat in the morning. The caregiver again asked me not to release them at his place and did not thank me for helping him nor did he offer to donate anything towards the surgeries. I did not even ask. I left, feeling rather dejected, but then thought to myself that at least I fixed all 11 of the cats and there would be no more kittens. One has to remind oneself often that despite the frustration with caregivers at times, we are still fixing a LOT of cats that would never have been fixed without our help.

Next week - More drop-trapping adventures!

Note: We are having a blow-out yard sale on 11/6 and 11/7 and are collecting donations of household items, books, clothing (good condition), and other items (no furniture). If you have items to donate please call us. The yard sales last Spring were a HUGE success and we hope this one will be even better - we will have lots of designer clothing and shoes for sale so please stop by. A formal announcement of time and location will be sent out later.

...and remember we need your financial support. To donate see our website. If you want to donate for a specific caregiver of trapping please specify. Thanks!

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 9/6

Note: The photos in this blog were taken a few years ago at one of my most memorable trapping jobs ever. I thought I'd share them with you now.





9/6

There was no Sunday clinic today. As I mentioned before, I hate holidays. This was Labor Day weekend and there were no vets on 9/6 or 9/7. I thought of all the the cats needing help and I could do nothing. So I headed up North to do some volunteer archeology work with Bill. We do rock art documentation for the BLM. As volunteers, we've covered a lot of ground surveying for petroglyphs and documenting them for land mangers like the BLM and the Forest Service. It was hot and I was tired after a lot of hiking and actually was glad to not be trapping on Sunday night.


9/7 and 9/8


I was back at it again on Monday night. A caregiver needed help with a large colony out in far west Phoenix. I knew this would mean a lot of driving but there were an estimated 15-20 cats needing to be fixed. As usual, there were more cats than expected. The 15 -20 cats turned into 32 cats trapped over a two night period. The first night I trapped 23 cats and ended up at two vet clinics once again. I took additional traps to the caregiver in the AM and then more later in the morning - more driving of course. I picked up the 23 cats at two vets for aftercare. The caregiver trapped the next night and caught nine more cats on her own overnight. Of course this was another person in need of financial assistance. The biggest colonies are always in low-income areas fed by caregivers with no means to fix cats.


9/9

I picked up the nine cats in the AM and released the 23 from the day before. I had to leave dirty traps there as I had reached vehicle capacity. Before heading to the vet I stopped at Suzie's to help her transfer a cat into a trap. I had one space left in the Element. This was the mother cat that had been in a rabbit cage with the four kittens born in the trap at the vet's four weeks ago. There were six kittens to begin with but two had died as often happens with larger litters - especially when born under stressful conditions like in a trap. They were being weaned and it was time for mom to get fixed and go back to her colony. It was an easy transfer. Sometimes I think these mother cats are glad to be done with having kittens and want to get in the trap and get fixed! So I took ten cats to the vet today then picked them up later for aftercare. The kittens are doing well and fortunately the mother had been trapped by a rescue group and they are taking them for adoption. These kittens are lucky.


That evening I had two smaller jobs. Both were for only two cats; however one job turned in to six cats over two nights. They were again in central Phoenix and close together. I only caught one at one location and left a trap overnight. I caught five cats at the other location and left a couple traps overnight. I'd trapped many times over the years at the latter location. The caregiver had called me and the mother cat had yet another litter (these are tame and in the house and still need to be fixed).
She said, "I thought she could not get pregnant so soon after the previous litter". I responded, "Why didn't you call me?" It turned out that she did not want to fix a pregnant cat. Sometimes I feel like I take two steps forward and three steps back. Yet I will not give up.


9/10


I checked traps in the early AM after my usual stop at Starbucks before 5:00 AM. What would I (and Suzie) do without Bucky's? I had caught the second cat at the one location overnight. Before going to the vet I released the mother cat back to her colony. No luck at the other location so the caregiver would try again on her own that night - one less trip to set traps. I dropped off seven cats at the vet and picked them up later in the day for aftercare. I then headed home to load up the nine cats trapped the second night at the west Phoenix job to release them back and pick up the empty traps. There was a stop at the gas station (again) on the way. I felt like I was in a holding pattern back and forth across town. Thank you XM radio for carrying news and talk radio. They keep me sane in my travels ranging from Queen Creek to Aguila and beyond - and Yuma in a couple of weeks (please stay tuned). Before I knew it, it was time to pick up the cats at the vet for aftercare.


9/11


I released the two and five cats respectively back in the early AM. The one caregiver had caught the mother cat overnight so I took her to the vet and rushed home to check out traps. I guess I have not mentioned that most of our caregivers do their own trapping and transport and I am also a trap depot. People come and go from my place picking up traps where I train them how to do their own trapping. The SNH provides detailed written and verbal instructions for trapping. I also check out my drop trap to caregivers going for that one last cat they cannot catch. I only had one cat to pick up and she was ready early for pickup. I released her on Saturday morning, 9/12.


I'd be checking out more traps on Saturday for the big monthly weekend clinic for ferals in north Phoenix that next day, 9/13. I had a trapping job that night for this clinic but I'll save that story for next week's blog. There were the usual calls and questions about the clinic -making sure everyone had their traps and knew where to go and when. We were hoping for 50 cats and 70 in Tempe on 9/13.


We need your help in solving the feral cat overpopulation problem. Please think of how you can make a difference in your own "sphere of influence". If we all take the time to pass the word in our neighborhoods, including where you shop and do business, more people will know about TNR and how the SNH can help. We have fliers and business cards available for distribution. Have you asked you veterinarian if he/she will put some cards in their office? Vet offices are a great way to pass the word. If you need any cards or fliers please contact Sonia, ADLA Outreach Coordinator at: shernandez@adlaz.org

Thank you for caring about the cats...

Pam's TNR Blog - Week of 8/30

8/30

I volunteered at the clinic in Tempe on 8/30. As sometimes happens, there were too many cats to fix that day. Volunteers Wayne Begun and Bob Janda had organized a TNR effort in a trailer park in East Mesa. They were going for 25 -30 cats and ended up trapping 48 cats... Go Wayne and Bob! Turned out that 31 cats could not be fixed that day as we only had one vet. The remainder had to go to another vet the next day. This happens quite often but I always say; "Better too many cats than not enough". After the clinic Suzie and I loaded up our vehicles with cats and headed for my place to hold them until the next day. Cats were fed and watered as they had not eaten for several days. It was about 20 degrees cooler in the garage thanks to the cooler, and they waited comfortably.

8/31

The 31 cats were transported to the vet who was again kind enough to do ALL of them just as another vet had done last Monday. Our vets are so wonderful and are always happy to see more feral cats. The cats had to be picked up later that day and aftercared in the garage. If this was not enough, I had a trapping job that night for 15 cats that turned in to a total of 28 cats! This was another example of an elderly lady whose family moved her out of state. My friend Joyce met the feeder and arranged for this trapping job. Joyce deserves a lot of credit for making this happen and was a lot of help in the process including bringing me dinner! Most of you know I do not often think about food when there are cats to be trapped. Thanks Joyce for your help including paying for some of the surgeries.

After picking up the 31 cats I loaded up traps to go trap in yet another older Phoenix neighborhood. It seems like the 85008 zip code has more feral cats than any other place in Maricopa County. I fed the now fixed cats upon returning home that night. Fortunately I was able to leave the newly trapped cats in the car overnight as it had cooled down. There were now 55 cats at my place - 31 in the garage and 24 in my car. I did trap two more overnight for a total of 26 cats then two more the following night for a grand total of 28 cats TNR'd in this colony.

This colony is 100% fixed - at least we saw no other un-eartipped cats. For the first time ever I actually trapped four kittens in one trap. The vet was able to fix about 11 six-week old kittens. If this were not the case I'd have been at a loss on what to do. One cannot release unsterilized cats but they had no place to go. It used to sadden me to TNR such young kittens but there are just too many cats and kittens and not enough homes for them. I always try to look at "the big picture" but it still hurts.

9/1

After taking 26 cats to two different vets I met Suzie at my house to load up the 31 cats in our two vehicles to drive them back to Mesa for release at two locations in the trailer park. From my place this drive is nearly as far East as Aguila is West - so it was back on the 202 eastbound as we had been on the Queen Creek job a couple of weeks ago. When people ask me how I know how to navigate around town without a GPS I say; "from trapping cats all over town". After a while one knows the best way to navigate around the Valley (I should probably apply for a UPS job or maybe solicit them to transport cats for me).

After releasing the cats I got a call from one vet saying someone had not signed their paperwork so back to the vet I headed. Between 4:00 and 5:00 PM I was back picking up the 26 cats at the other vet to bring them home for aftercare. I was now up to four trips to the vets today. Then I was off to set more traps for the stragglers.

9/2

I loaded up the 26 cats for release and headed back again to check traps. We caught two more cats overnight for a total of 28 cats. I took these two cats to the vet and picked them up later along with five cats at another vet that Suzie had trapped. So I had seven cats for aftercare that night. But after unloading these cats it was off to trap two cats at another location and drop off my drop-trap to a caregiver trying to catch one last cat.

9/3

I met Suzie for release of her five cats, picked up a straggler from that location and headed down to 85008 to release the last two cats from the large colony. Then I took the three cats to the vet and picked them up later for aftercare.

9/4

I released the one cat for Suzie and she released the two I had trapped Wed. night as the caregiver was closer to her place. There were lots of traps and covers to wash to get ready for next week's adventures. With the holiday on Monday, several vets were closed Friday and Monday there would be no vets. And, there would be no weekend clinics making this an uneventful weekend. I do hate holidays! I do, however, always trap on Christmas night and New Years night if the holidays fall during the week. By the way the person drop-trapping did catch the last cat and got it fixed on 9/4. Thank you Joe Wisdom for helping perfect the drop-trap design.

The Spay Neuter Hotline TNR program has sterilized nearly 5,000 cats since launching our program in March 2009. We need your help. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help us fix more cats. Our goal is to eventually TNR 20,000 cats/year and we cannot do it without your support. Remember to spread the word about spay and neuter of tame cats - the major source of feral cats. TNR alone will not solve the problem. There are low-cost and even free spay and neuter options for tame cats. For more information visit our website.

And, there will be Fundraiser on 9/18 at Tom's Tavern in downtown Phoenix. Check it out! I'll be speaking about our new TNR program and my ideas on solving the free-roaming cat overpopulation problem in Maricopa County and beyond. And there will be some good whiskey tasting too!

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).

Pam's TNR Blog - week of 8/16/09

8/16

The monthy clinic in N. Phoenix was on 8/16 this month. We usually do about 50 cats at these clinics, giving caregivers a weekend option in the N. Valley. I was contacted by a caregiver who wanted "me" to trap for her. She had seen the article in the paper and called around to various places and everyone said get "Pam" to trap for you. She was also willing to make a nice donation so this "sweetened the pie". There are so many caregivers wanting help it is difficult to get to them all, but this one sounded sincere and, of course, the nice compliment helped. Of course there were the usual suspects in the neighbood wanting the cats removed and who were threatening to do bad things to them...she definitely needed help.

This was another older central Phoenix neighborhood with a LOT of free-roaming cats. The neighbors had already TNR'd about 10 cats down the street. She estimated there were about 20 cats to TNR. Well, we ended up trapping 22 cats on 8/23 and three the next night for a total of 25.

As often happens 82 cats (not 50) showed up for the clinic on 8/16 so we had to call in a second vet. Fortunately we were able to find one to step in on a moment's notice. There always seems to be not enough or too many cats - well, one thing for sure - I'll never complain about too many cats at a clinic!

8/17 , 8/18 and 8/19

I was set to trap five cats on 8/18 for a lady I'd helped in the past. There was a mother and four kittens. The mother, now an adult, was the one kitten I did not catch last year. This shows that one has to catch ALL the cats in the colony. This does require perservence but it pays off in the end. I caught all five. I had also dropped off 10 traps that same night to someone else who could trap on their own. Well, the 10 cat job turned in to 27 cats over a two day period. Turned out the neighbor had lots of cats and kittens in the back yard.

On 8/19 I ran out of vet slots and ended on back on the Healing Hearts mobile with seven cats. This was truly a "drive by spay and neuter". I backed up to the van, unloaded, and was out of there in two hours. I was able to help out on the mobile. Thanks to Jan and Dr. Kit for helping out in a pinch!

I picked up everyone for aftercare on both 8/18 and 8/19 - It's a blur now just what happened since it is a week later. All I know is I'd helped TNR a total of 57 cats so far that week and had lots of cats in the garage to feed and water each night. The cooler lowers the temperature anywhere between 15 and 20 degrees F.

That evening I was set to trap again at yet another place I'd previously trapped. The caregiver was now in assisted living back east and the neighbor wanted me to help with about 6-7 cats. Another example of where there was one kitten left and the caregiver would not cooperate to allow me back to get it. Now the kitten was an adult and had 5 kittens of her own. This was a bad situation as the home was for sale and the cats were living under the house. I caught all 6 cats including several of the ones I'd previously TNR'd. The eartips were nearly impossible to see. I had to use binoculars to make sure there were only eartipped cats left - even a flashlight does not reveal those small eartips. This is why we now do 3/8" eartips - making subsequent trappings much easier. Wayne Begun (I hope) is also happy about this new protocol...

I tried again the next night but caught nothing but eartipped cats. I thought the week was over except for pickup, aftercare and release of the six cats in on 8/19, but no, there was more...

8/20

I had organized a trapping in a large trailer park for the clinic on Sunday, 8/23 (part of next week's blog). The manager was on board and had contacted the feeders about not feeding. Well, somehow there was a communication problem, probably due to the Spanish/English translation. I got a call mid-morning from the manager of the park and one of the feeders had nine cats in two cat carriers and had brought them up to her office! Now what?

I called in the troops - well that being Suzie of course. We headed to 40th St. and McDowell to transfer the cats into traps. Thankfully I took extra traps as it turned out there were 10 cats - five in each small cat carrier. We transferred them into traps in a sweltering hot bathroom using a squirt bottle, a stick, and lots of patience. The last cat nearly escaped as we did not even know it was in the carrier. One carrier was upside down so the holes were not available for a 'stick' (sedative injections). Turning it upside down was not an option as a cat had deficated in the trap. What a smelly mess. Anyway, I kept the cats all day and night in the traps with the cooler running in the garage. The vet was kind enough to take 10 extra cats the next day, 8/21. That cat hidden in the back of the carrier turned out to be 8 sweeks pregnant. This made all the hassle worthwhile! Seems every day there is a new, never happened before, TNR adventure...

8/22

I released the 10 cats at the trailer park in the early AM. We'd be back down there that night to trap for the Sunday clinic on 8/23. But that trapping episode will be part of next week's blog...stay tuned.

The Spay Neuter Hotline TNR program is now nearly six months old and we have helped about 5,000 cats. We need your help. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help us help more cats. Or, consider becoming a member of ADLA. Click here to join or donate.

Thank you for your support.