Pam's TNR Blog - September 2012

September 2012

It's been a hot summer! Despite the heat, I managed to TNR 800 cats since May. The largest colony exceeded 50 cats and the smallest was just one cat. The coolers ran all summer in the garage often housing up to 30 or more cats overnight. The difficult part about summer as cats have to be housed somewhere cool after they are trapped.

Often, trappers have to run the A/C in the car while trapping as there is no place to put the cats after they are trapped. Steel raps retain heat and the stress of the cat causes them to easily overheat. And, all cats then have to be unloaded in the garage to stay overnight before going to the vet - yet another lifting step. Still, there are clinics to fill and cats needing to be trapped before having kittens in the Spring. Alas it is cooler now and a trappers job becomes so much easier.

Trapping is rewarding but challenging. There is a lot of lifting involved, but often caregivers can be difficult and demanding, making the job even more challenging. It is expensive too. A few expenses include gas, car repairs, bait, tape, paper towels, tarps, cooler expenses, aftercare food and no compensation! Still, those of us that trap are compulsive about this odd obsession. Below is a photo of cats being after cared in my garage this summer.

Aftercare

The good news is the Spay Neuter Hotline now have clinics available nearly seven days a week. Also, the PetSmart Charities grant was expanded until 2013 and recently added two adjacent zip codes. And, the Arizona Humane Society began funding TNR in six zip codes in Phoenix. Now there are far more caregivers needing assistance we can help in a timely manner.
Also, a recent bequest and some donations are allowing us to help those in financial need who we could not help before.

Right now there are caregivers in Buckeye needing help and no one out that way to help them. And, in some cases there simply is not enough time or vet appointments to help everyone. Still, with Suzie's help and that of others such as Carla and Grant, we hope to eventually get to everyone.

If you are interested in becoming a trapper, contact the Spay Neuter Hotline @: 602-265-7729 (SPAY)

Pam's TNR Blog - May 2012

May 2012

It is already July and I found out I had never finished this blog I started in May! Here goes:

We have been very busy this year with the free Humane Society clinics for 100 feral cats once month. To get 100 cats to these clinics, about 130 cats need to be scheduled. Of course every spot must be filled so Suzie and I usually swing into action. The photo below is of us checking in a colony of 28 cats Suzie trapped at a mobile home park in the W. Valley for the AHS clinic on 30 April. These were the result of a second night trapping from Saturday's clinic where we had in 23 cats for a total of 51 cats at this park. I also trapped 23 cats for the 30 April clinic and eight cats for the following day for a total of 31 cats in this colony! A total of 82 cats TNR'd in five days. Most importantly, there will be no more kittens born in these colonies.

Suzie and I checking in cats @ the AHS on 30 April 2012

You may be wondering how we keep going with all this trapping, transporting, lifting etc. Consider that between us we lifted about 10,000 lbs in TNR'ing 82 cats. This includes about six lifting steps with from 13-20 lbs of either traps or traps with cats in them (say an average of 15 lbs). This is five tons of weight being lifted to TNR 82 cats! Multiply this my the number of cats I TNR per year (2,200 cats) and this excludes the extra two to four lifting steps for aftercare and storage in the warm summer and cool winter months and this comes up to about (15 X 6 X 2,200 = 180,000 lbs or 90 tons of cats and traps. None of this includes the trap washing lifting steps that require even more tonnage of equipment

Let's also consider the $400.00 I spent in gas along in April and all the tuna, bleach, detergent, tarps, aftercare food and now in May the swamp cooler running the the garage and its maintenance (thank you Grant). How about the phone calls that start at 5:00 AM and end at about 9:00 PM... 

Well, why do I do this? I do it because there are too many cats and not enough homes for them. Most who love cats already have too many cats (like myself). We are trying to solve a problem that is epidemic in Maricopa County. How much easier it would be if people fixed their cats...I realize many cannot afford to and cats just "find them". Those that know me know I am a champion of personal responsibility yet I work daily with those abdicating their Ms (that's a philisophical argument for another blog). Most want "someone else" to fix their problem like taking the cats away or finding homes for them. Still it is like putting acid on a wound but I continue to punish myself in hopes that someday free-roaming cats being fed will ALL be fixed. Some ask...what are you trying to prove? My answer is nothing. I just someday want to be able to justify purchasing my beloved prurebred Singapura cat - without feeling guilty!

I wanted to write about last month's AHS clinic because it required dealing with many more caregivers and driving all over town trying to fill the clinic. However, even though I wrote it all down, when I looked at the list it all was a blur months later. I often feel like "if it is Tuesday it's Belgium". Where have I been? Where were these cats? I can hardly remember. I do know I was @ 24th St. and Indian School in Phoenx than @ 48th Ave and Glendale - all in the same night. I also remember having about 60+ cats in the garage that night. I do remember taking this photo of Suzie with her neice Kristin at last month's (April's) AHS clinic - loading cats into her truck. There were kittens from two litters too and Suzie fostered them...



Enough of rambling from my soapbox. The photo below is a one I took while while recently trapping with Carla at an apartment complex and trailer park. We trapped about 40 cats. This is the quintesential photo of where we spend at lot of time trapping. Not sure if you can see the sign in this photo but it says "please do not throw trash on the ground". Cats love trash and this was the perfect place for them - a magnet for feral cats. I can picture them living in this couch - perhaps even having kittens inside! When I am looking for free-roaming cats, I often look in such places. I remember the last day of 2008 trying to break the yearly goal, I went to the trusty coach down on Indian School Rd. to get more cats - always a sure thing.

I

I've been doing this since 2004. As I drive by areas of town I now see LOTs of places I've been over the last eight years and I see ear-tipped cats. I also get calls from or stop by previous caregivers I've helped and the number of cats has diminished substantially. Many have died which saddens me. Yesterday, I stopped by to visit one elderly gentleman and he was down to about six cats - and we had fixed over 20 cats there. This tells me TNR works!

So what can you do to help me make my job easier? Encourage people to fix their cats. Recommend trap-neuter-return (TNR) for cats they might be feeding outside. If they need help, offer to help them or donate for them if they do not have any money. Spread the word in your "sphere of influence" about the importance of spay and neuter. Facebook is a good place to start.

To help with the Hotline's TNR program in Maricopa County, AZ...please call us @: 602-265-7729 (SPAY)

Thanks for your continued support.



Pam's TNR Blog March 2012

March 2012



In January and February 2012 I trapped 381 cats, It is now March 12th and since March 1st I've already trapped and fixed 50 more cats for a total of 431 cats. With all this trapping I've not been able to sit down and blog about all my adventures and challenges. There have been many...I'll highlight a few below.


The photo below is of the release of a colony of 27 cats Suzie and I trapped for for the AHS monthly clinic last week..."Get the hell out of Dodge"!

We fixed 100 cats at the AHS last Tuesday. There were a total of 118 cats TNR'd with 18 of our cats having to go to another clinic (thank you Dr. Anderson!). Whenever Suzie and I go out together trapping - watch out. Thank you AHS for helping fix feral cats for us.

My biggest colony trapped this year so far was 51 cats. I did this by myself over two nights. It was in our 85019 target area and I had expected about 25 cats. Amazing how caregivers often underestimate the number of cats. This caregiver did not know about our targeted TNR program in her neighborhood. I surely will be back in that area as I am sure there are many more to trap. At least this colony will produce no kittens this Spring. What a joy to see all those ear-tipped cats knowing that no kittens will die on the street. Again, thank you PetSmart Charities for providing the resources to help so many cats in need.

Below are two photos from a Feb. trapping. The first shows a kitten from a litter born in the roof off a caregiver's house. This kitten was looking for Mom who was in a trap waiting to be fixed. The second photo show the mom cat going back to the kittens the next morning after being spayed. Unfortunately I was not able to to rescue the kittens, about 3-weeks old. Guess I'll be back there in a couple of weeks when they are a little older and have come down to eat.





Kitten looking for Mom

Mom looking for her kittens

Last night I trapped seven cats with Andrea from a colony where she had previously trapped 12 cats. We also sat for several hours at a restaurant where we had previously but the cats did not cooperate.

Although I trap a LOT of cats, I am only making a small contribution to stabilizing free-roaming cat populations in Maricopa County. There are an estimated 641,000 free-roaming cats in the valley. This number is based on surveys of stray cats being fed. No one really knows the exact number - it could be ore. There are many more ""truly feral cats living on the streets. Combine this statistic with the 19,955 cats euthanized at local open-intake shelters in 2011 and we have a LOT of work to do. The majority of these cats were defined as "strays".

The Spay Neuter Hotline helped fix almost 10,500 cats in 2011 and nearly 30,000 cats since we began our TNR program in 2009. Right now cats are getting pregnant and giving birth. The 3-week old kittens shown in the photo above were seen on Feb. 28th. I'll soon be having litters born in my car on the way to the vet to be fixed.

Nothing about TNR is easy. It is a lot of work, often backbreaking and even dangerous. It is also expensive. It would be much easier for us (including me) if everyone just spayed and neutered their cats. I am waiting to spend all of my time reading books, drinking coffee, doing volunteer archeology and hiking...out of work!

So spread the word about spay/neuter and TNR. Fixing tame cats is an important part of the solution as all feral cats came originally came from a tame cat allowed to roam free. For low-cost and free resources for spay and neuter visit our website @: http://www.spayneuterhotline.org/

If you are interested in our TNR program please call: 602-265-7729 (SPAY)

Most importantly, help prevent a litter by donating to the Hotline's TNR program. We need your help. Donations can be mailed to:

The Spay Neuter Hotline

P.O. Box 33093

Phoenix 85067

Thanks for your support!











Pam's TNR Blog Christmas 2011

Week before Christmas 2011

This was one of the busiest weeks of the year! Suzie and I trapped 13 cats for the Tempe clinic on 12/18. Three additional cats were caught the next night for a total of 16 cats from this location. I did another job at two locations in one neighborhood on Tuesday night for a total of 23 cats plus three cats the following night for a total of 26 cats on that street in central Phoenix. It was interesting that a neighbor on the next street emailed ADLA about some missing cats he was feeding...turns out they were being fixed that very day! He was grateful we could help. The entire neighborhood contributed donations towards this effort. This was an example of what people can do in their neighborhoods to help stabilize the free-roaming cat population. It works at lot better than simply complaining about the cats and causing ill will among neighbors.

On Wednesday night we had a mass trapping in 85019, our target zip code. Free-roaming cat spays and neuters in this zip code are being funded by PetSmart Charities over a two-year period. This is to show that targeted s/N of cats works to stabilize the cat population and to see if fewer cats end up in open-intake shelters. Suzie was trapping at three locations and helping me trap in an alley where a caregiver we had helped previously was feeding five cats. Grant was trapping in a nearby apartment complex where the gentleman was also feeding 12 cats (or so he said).

Trapping "Alley Cats"

After we finished in the alley, Suzie headed off to check traps at her other jobs and I met up with Grant at the condos. Grant had called me saying "there are LOTs more cats here...can you bring more traps?". I asked "how many" and he said about 25 traps! I only had four more traps in my car having loaned some to Suzie who was short on traps. When I got to the feeding station at the main dumpster, he had 12 traps filled. As it turned out, there were cats living in an abandoned condo where they had access  through a hole in the wall. It was trapping nirvana! Unfortunately, we did not have enough traps. And additionally, we did not have enough vet slots for the next day (Thursday). We'd have to come back next Wednesday night to trap the remaining cats. It was difficult leaving knowing there were cats needing to be fixed. There was a little humor that night despite the desperation...a cat got up in the dumpster and found some crab legs. Grant found him munching on his dinner!  

Early Thursday morning Suzie and I headed back to the alley and trapped one more cat for a total of five cats. We had a total of 30 cats at two vets including my three from the second night trapping at the previous nights location. This was from six locations! There were also six more cats at these two vets, three were also from 85019 making this a total of 30 more 85019 cats in 2011. And I'll be back out there next week to round off the year with not just one (at the dumpsters) but at another location across Camelback Rd. on Monday night to trap 20+ cats.

Below is a photo of a kitten sitting in a mess of "stuff" left on the patio at the abandoned condo. We'll try to catch her next week. The photo was taking through the broken locked gate that provided access to the hole in the condo wall where the cats live...

Kitten on the Condo Patio

Suzie did catch the last calico mother cat at one of her trapping locations. It turns oout I had been after this cat last summer. We started comparing addresses andI'd trapped for a neighbor there previously. This cat went to the vet on Friday. I'd like to thank Suzie and Grant for their tireless efforts in trapping, transporting, and aftercaring cats. We need twenty more of you!

We can all make a difference in the lives of homeless cats. We are fortunate to have PetSmart Charities helping us fix cats in 85019. But we also need help fixing homeless cats in other parts of the valley. It is the end of 2011 and we all want to pay less in taxes. Consider a tax-deductible donation to the ADLA Spay Neuter Hotline. Specify "TNR" when you send in your donations. % of donations go pay our veterinarians for spay and neuter. And please patronize our wonderful vet clinics. Without them our TNR program could not exist. We are on track to fix over 10,000 cats in 2011. Please help us make 2012 an even more successful year...Thank you.

Donations can be mailed to:

The Spay Neuter Hotline

P.O. Box 33093

Phoenix, AZ 85067

Thank you for your support and have a Happy 2012!



Pam's TNR Blog - December 2011

December 2011

We started off December by trapping 83 cats in the first week. And, ALL 83 cats were trapped in our target zip code, 85019.

The first job was for 37 cats; 33 cats the first night and four cats the second night. Grant, Barbara, Suzie and I trapped this first night and even filled all but one trap left out over night incuding a couple extra Suzie trapping in the morning in the alley when checking traps. The second night yielded only one cat but thanks again to Suzie's perserverence, three more were trapped in the alley once again. I do have to thank Suzie as I had a broken knee cap and could not do much lifting. Still, I was able to lift empty traps and bait traps.

The caregiver was so greatful for our help. He had called several years ago and never followed through. One of our schedulers called him as he was on the list of caregivers in the 85019 area. Because he did not do TNR previously his colony had multiplied exponentially. He was also grateful for the cat food I brought him as feeding 37 cats on a fixed income can be challenging. He was truly in need and these the the caregivers we want to help through our PetSmart Charities grant for 85019.

Alley across the street

where many cats were trapped

Suzie gettin ready to release cats in the cold morning

One ear-tipped cat happy to be home!

As if 37 cats was not enough, we needed cats for our Saturday clinic in N. Phoenix. We needed about 20 cats so I picked a 15-20 cat job in the 85019 zip code. Well, 15-20 turned in to 41 cats total! We trapped Friday night having to make an emergency run to Suzie's for more traps and having to double some cats up as well. We had 30 cats in on Saturday and trapped again Saturday night ending up with 16 more cats for Monday's clinic. Of 38 total traps only one trap was empty and we fear it tripped on its own. We did see more cats there so another round may be necessary. This job involved three caregivers in a neighborhood.

Still, we were happy with 83 cats in one week although this was certainly not a record. I had intended to enumerate the # of lifting and hauling steps but somewhere along the line I lost track!     

I am now at 2046 cats trapped in 2011. I am hoping to break my previous record of 2084 in 2010 and I think I will. This broken knee is a problem but I've never let broken bones stop me before. The immobilizer works great...I just have to move more slowly.

My usual plea for $$$...Please consider a Holiday gift to the many homeless cats on the street in our community. We can spay or neuter one cat for a $25 donation. This will prevent a litter of kittens in the Spring. Thank you for your support!

            



Pam's TNR Blog - November 2011

November 2011

November 2011 was a busy month for trapping. I trapped and fixed 171 cats in November despite the yard sale and Thanksiving! Those darn holidays always curtail trapping. The yard sale, however, was a huge success. We raised over $2,300 for spaying and neutering feral cats! So far in 2011 I've TNR'd 1,902 cats and hope to break my record of 2,084 cats TNR'd in 2010.

As always there are too many special and rewarding experiences to cover in this blog. The most memorable job was a colonly of 41 cats trapping in one night. This one was exciting because the caregivers indicated she had 20 cats and it turned out she had 41 cats! The photos included here are of "before" and "after" the cats were fixed. These were some of the most healthy and well cared for cats I'd ever seen. what was truly amazing is the spottlessly clean environment the caregivers maintained. I was impressed. This was "cat management" at its finest...

Before Trapping

After Trapping



Earlier in the month I helped Grant trap another large colony. We trapped a total of 26 cats. Thank you Grant for helping this caregiver in need. It took several nights of trapping and trips to three vets but ALL the cats are now fixed. It is so important to fix ALL the cats in a colony. One producing female can ruin the entire effort - those males roam great distances to get romance. Then follow-up is required for newcomers. Nothing about TNR is easy. I always say "they could not pay anyone enough to do this job". It can only be done by dedicated and committed volunteers...those who care enough to go the extra distance to make a difference.

Feeding feral cats comes with a tremendous responsibililty. If you decide to feed free-roaming cats, be prepared for a long-term committment. Cats must be fixed, fed, provided with shelter and veterinary care if necessary. And do not forget that you will have to be there for them meaning vacations may be few and far between. 

To help more caregivers in need we need donations. Many non-profits are asking for donations this time of year but a donation to ADLA for TNR goes a long way. 100% of donations are used to pay our wonderful veterinarians for surgeries. What better way to end the year then to prevent kittens in 2012. Make this your New Year's resoution - I am making it mine.

Donations can be mailed to:

The Spay Neuter Hotline

P.O. Box 33093

Phoenix, AZ 85067

Specify "TNR Program" in the memo.

Thank you for caring about the cats!

Pam's TNR Blog - October 2011

October 2011

It has been a busy October so far! The most exciting event was the first Arizona Humane Society (AHS) clinic on October 11th. There were 75 cats in the door including cats from several large colonies trapped by me and Suzie. I brought in 27 cats from three colonies and Suzie brought in 29 cats from three other colonies. It is exciting that ADLA is now partnering with the AHS to reduce the number of unwanted cats and kittens being turned in. Many are euthanized due to lack of space, are not adoptable because they are too young, un-socialized or unhealthy. Trap-Neuter Return (TNR) continues to be the most humane and effective methods of stabilizing free-roaming cat populations and of reducing cat euthanasia at open intake shelters such as the AHS.


The photo above was taken at the colony at a motel on Van Buren. These cats would never have been fixed had not Sharon, a neighborhood activist, had not taking action. I've worked with Sharon for years helping to sterilize tame and feral cats in her neighborhood. Very few caregivers in this neighborhood can afford to fix their pets...least of all the free-roaming cats they are feeding. TNR would be "world away" from them if not for Sharon's involvement and persistence. We are truly making a difference. Sharon makes sure all cats and dogs are spayed and neutered in her neighborhood and is relentless in her efforts. I am happy to have been a part of this effort over the years. Thank you Sharon. The photo above was taken after 21 cats were released at the motel on Van Buren near I-17...where they were eating a welcome breakfast!
October has always been our busiest month and this year should be no exception.


I'd like to thank the Spay Neuter Hotline (SNH) for starting a TNR program in 2009 so we could continue to sterilize over 10,000 cats/year. Personally, I have been doing TNR since 2003. My involvement with the SNH goes back to 1992 when it was started to help bring low-cost a first attempt to those in need. The SNH is celebrating its 20th anniversary this coming year. We've come a long way since then but not far enough...especially where free-roaming cats are concerned. However, things are changing and thanks to visionaries like Jan Raven, TNR in Maricopa County is approaching a level not seen by any other community in the country and perhaps the world. Thank you Jan for your efforts to get TNR going in the valley. In 2011 we hope to sterilize more than 10,000 feral cats thanks to all our caregivers, volunteers, donors and grantors and everyone who has helped make ADLA's Spay Neuter Hotline's TNR a tremendous success!

To sign up for the TNR program please call the Hotline at: 602-265-7729 (SPAY) or email: feralcats@adlaz.org.