Ya I stole that picture. The cat I captured is a lot smaller and more of a medium haired one. I can't take a picture yet as I took cat, cage and all directly to the vet's office this morning already and have not heard any particulars yet.
I last saw the new cat Sunday and she appeared to be adapting to life around here. She raced me to where I had been feeding her and then lounged on the porch most of the afternoon so I figured she was just a new dumping. Trouble is I cannot have a new cat that close without having them checked out and I am still not sure where around the place she has been living. We recently lost a few of our homed strays to old age over last Fall and Winter so if we cannot re-home her we have room but we still need to know what kind of shape she is in all that other stuff. Trouble is she ran off Sunday afternoon again and I did not see her until last night.
I wasn't even sure she was still around or had not already met an unfortunate end. The food I put out was disappearing but without seeing her actually eating it I wasn't sure there wasn't another cat or critter getting it. Also a cat like that suddenly disappearing for a few days makes me wonder if she is not taking care of smaller cats somewhere.
So I started baiting my cage trap with canned cat food and this requires herding the normally outside neutered males, who rarely come inside by choice, up. Wednesday night I managed to capture one of those males that I always forget we have because he is so easy to take care of and so friendly he has no enemies. I then tried capturing her Wednesday night as I thought I saw her while feeding the sheep with no luck. Yesterday we went out for an early dinner and I had noticed this little cat always shows up when we return to the place after being gone so I set the trap before we left.
Sure enough she was in there when we got home. I kept her in the cage covered up all night and took her in for a full check up this morning, She had already settled down and stopped panicking when I got close by this morning. The trouble is I know for a fact at least one local Tom cat came by last night so I still don't know what her condition is or if there are kittens hiding somewhere near by I need to find so the final story isn't in yet and probably won't be for a few more hours. It doesn't look like she has been nursing any so I imagine who ever dropped her probably did so when she went into heat the first time, which is how she ended up here.
I am pretty happy with how things have worked out around here dealing with strays and drop offs since the tragic period of 08 thru 2012 when I was overwhelmed with drop off cats. I don't think I can go through that again. We have found homes for countless cats and even managed to reduce the numbers of barn cats we take care of directly many fold over the years without resorting to final solutions at all. Because of that period I do not allow a strange cat to have unfettered freedom around here until they are checked out, vaccinated and fixed. Period. So as soon as the vet calls with his report we will know what our next move is. My co-workers already told me NO when I went in for a bit to work. A couple of the older ones reminded me they still have the cat I talked em into to taking 12 years ago too. In fact one em asked me if I wanted the cat they kept back...
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
Ugghh! Drop-off cats!!! We're in that kind of locality as well, and get at least a few of those a year. Trouble is, we can't keep them, and the local shelter charges $250.00 to drop them off! We can't keep them because we have an outside house cat and a barn cat. The new arrivals show up and two things happen; they start fighting with the "citizens," and the male ones start spraying all over the place; in the bar, in the garage, EVERYWHERE. It's illegal to abandon animals here, but charging $250.00 to drop them at the shelter is highway robbery as well, and is most likely the reason we end up with the strays. I end up "giving them a chance at life" ...somewhere else, well away from human habitation. It's the best I can do. The only other option is the pellet gun, and they didn't do anything to deserve that...
ReplyDeletePata - I pray we don't go into another drop off period here. It used to be bad but I have noticed that might be the one bright side to all the new houses and people coming in drop offs seem to on the decline for us probably too busy for people to do it now I guess.
DeleteDon’t use a pellet gun Pete. Critters that big rate a .22. .22 magnum would be better - if you have to go that route.
ReplyDeleteBack on the farm we just shot them. Or Dad did…I couldn’t do it myself. We had two and I wasn’t allowed to keep anymore. God bless both of you, though. They are a tough problem to deal with.
Filthie - Well the wife won't talk to me for a week or more if I was to kill a cat plus I find I am getting more softhearted with age too but lucky for me the problem is decreasing too or maybe it is just my awareness.
DeleteFortunately, we don't have many problems with drop-offs. The most interesting one, though, was two adult potbelly pigs. We had an idea of where they came from, however. We kept American Guinea Hogs for several years but eventually sold them all off. Shortly after that, a neighbor asked if we would like two free potbellys. We said no (being done with pigs at the moment) and then a few days later, two potbellys mysteriously showed up in our yard. Dan called animal control and ended up throwing his back out trying to help the officer get them into his truck. Several days later, the same neighbor (who pretended he didn't know we no longer had pigs) came by to ask how our pigs were doing. Dan pretended he didn't know how the pigs got there and gave said neighbor a third person rant about it. Nothing more was ever said.
ReplyDeleteLeigh - Wow worst I have had is people dropping off a dog once complete with his toys and sleeping mat plus bowl chained in the yard and a drop off goat once before I had a place to keep goats.
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