All the cats are doing it...

Ear Tips!

Here are all 12 cats showing their trendy new ear tips!

First I would like to introduce you to The Grays.

The Grays are 3 gray tabbies that are always together. 2 small ones, Winch and Hitch, and one larger one, Torque. They are always in the same place and eat together, so we decided to keep them together at the recovery space. I like to think it is a mama and her 2 little girls.

Here is Mama Gray, Torque.

She's a beauty!

Baby Gray, Hitch!

Baby Gray, Winch!

This was the last cat in a trap.

Very skittish, and very cute!

Look at mama, Torque, watching over her in the trap to the right.

Handsome Mr. Turbo
Dapper Mr. Hood
Hexbit
Hemi, the big guy.

Hemi is the cat that has the hematoma on his right ear.

Ear looks better and he is one tough cookie!

Don't let that timid look fool you, he was hissing and striking as soon as we lifted up the cover to clean his trap! He is assumed by the car lot owner to be the grandpa of all the cats.

Grommet

Bolt

This guy has the bite marks/abcesses on his back.

They have been healing very well and he is doing great!

Weetle Beetle!

Beetle is such a cutie.

He is acting tough here! All 4 to 5 pounds of him!

And this is Beetle's little curly bobbed tail!

Axle

Another big guy!

He LOVES to eat!

Handsome devil!

Monday night we released the males and tonight, Wednesday, we released the females.
Here are the males lined up Monday night ready to be released.

Video of the release.
The first 40 seconds is uneventful, but then you can see them dash out one by one.

And here are the empty traps!

All the Greasy Paws cats have been returned!

By the way, tonight when we arrived to release the rest of the cats/the females, guess who was sitting at the fence eating dinner...MUFFLER!

The cat we did not see ONCE during the trapping dates.

Someone decided to take her/him in so we would not get her/him!

And that little stinker sat and watched us from the time we showed up tonight until the time we left!

STINKER!

So, about that other cat from Greenpoint...

This is Kermit

Turns out he was already neutered and had been picked up by someone in the neighborhood but put back in the lot when they found out he was FIV positive.

This cat is absolutely adorable and just begs for love.

He has ringworm now, but is being treated and will be ready for adoption very soon.

Here he charmed Shawn in to holding him!

Shawn said Ringworm, Shringworm and picked him right up for a snuggle!

He was sooo happy!

He is being fostered by the wonderful Alen! They named him Kermit because under a blacklight ringworm shows up bright green!

Here is Kermit getting his first Sulfur-Lime Dip!

He was sooo well behaved! What a great cat!

We wish the best for this little guy!

He is absolutely wonderful and sugar sweet!

He fully deserves to be someone's baby!

A Day at the A

Today was spay/neuter day at the ASPCA.

We brought 12 cats and left with 12 cats now spayed/neutered, ear tipped, vaccinated and already on the road to recovery!

As you know, we had some luck on Wednesday night in the rain trapping 7 of our 12 cats.
Thursday was not so lucky. We trapped ZERO!
I built a drop trap to catch those that would not go in the traps.
Friday we got 2, Hemi and Beetle for a total of 9.
Shawn labeled Beetle's trap
while Lisa, seeing Hemi had a little cold, set him up with a heat lamp.



So then it was Saturday, our last shot.
We started early at 11 am. We caught Bolt, one we have only seen once, and found he has what we think are bite marks turned to abcesses on his back. Lisa is keeping a close eye on him and he seems to be doing ok.
We had not seen any sign of Muffler, the long haired gray cat. We assume this cat belongs to someone and is being kept inside while we trap.

We will go back for Muffler at a later date.
Knowing getting Muffler was not an option, we just had one left.

We stayed until about 3 pm and decided to take a break and try again at 10 pm for that last kitten, Winch. The other night, Winch played in the trap and ate all the bait without triggering the spring door and just walked right out several times. GRRR!
So here is the rainy start to our last chance of getting that last kitten.
After catching (and releasing) a couple of possums (or the same one several times), we heard a trap snap again and thought, damn those possums! Turns out it was Winch! The last one was finally caught!
We had room for one more in the truck so we went to another lot Lisa and Shawn are familiar with and a friendly walked right up to us begging for attention. Our 12th trap was filled! More on him later...
So then it was time to set them up at the recovery space and get home for a couple hours of sleep before transporting them all to the ASPCA.
We were happy to hear they were all healthy enough for surgery and all came through just fine.
Pics of all with their new stylish ear tips to come!

And awaaayyy we go!

A couple of friends of mine are doing a TNR project in LIC and they have been kind enough to let me join them!

Fortunately, there are many feeders in the community, just no-one spaying and neutering.

I would like to introduce you to the colony manager...
This cat is the first one to come out every time we go and the last cat to leave. He/She is amazing! Watching us, following us, present at every turn.

Our first task was to establish a regular daily feeding time.

Same bat time same bat channel.

This way, eventually they all come out together at the same time and we can get a count.

This also helps to prep them for trapping!

If they eat every night at 7pm and you go trap at 7pm,

you have a better chance to get the whole colony.

Although, it is hard to ID all the cats in the dark, so some daytime recon is necessary.

Make a few day time trips (with or without food) to get pics of each cat, front and side pics, note any markings etc that will distinguish them from others.

You may also get a heads up on vet care.

For example, the guy on the left has a hematoma on his right ear.

It was initially thought there were 2 of these gray tabbies,

but with some additional recon, we learned there are 3.

This guy has a white chest (and humongous paws)!

This one was identified earlier as pregnant, but now not...

She is a nursing mom, and we need to find out where he has stashed her kittens.

This guy was noticed limping with what looked like a bad break and an abcess.

He was taken in and is being evaluated by a vet.

This one has a bob-tail.

There are a couple of bob-tails in this colony.

Here are what we assume to be a mom and her 3 to 4 month old kitten.

Other kitten below.

Here is the other baby about 3 to 4 mos old.

These kittens seem to be in pretty good health.

This black kitten has a small white dot on his/her chest and a curly tail.

The other black cat is all black, a little bigger and has a regular tail.

So as you can see, the recon is very important to find the correct number of cats in the colony for planning how many traps and spay neuter slots you need. And having each cat individually identified helps you to know if you have missed anyone.

Another helpful thing to do is fundraising.

Big or small, every little bit helps.

This was a bake sale at the office.

Thank you to Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve their contributions!