Promises To Keep and Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Monday morning while I was in the bathroom at 6:30 the phone rang and went to voicemail.  I picked up the message a few minutes later and called the caregiver back. She lives in Sunnybrae and has been feeding three cats on her back deck, two of them for several months and one that showed up a few weeks ago.  We tried trapping there and were not successful so we arranged with the caregiver that she would have a snap trap on her deck that was wired open, would feed the cats inside the trap and on certain days would remove the wiring in the hope that one of the cats would be caught.

So far, the caregiver has caught a pretty long-haired black and white cat that she thought was female but it turned out to be a boy. She has also caught two skunks.  I released the first one, a polite little female who hurried under the deck without incident. The caregiver herself released the second one and suffered no ill effects either.

Monday morning she had another cat, her newest diner, black and sleek: probably an owned cat abandoned by the owners. I had not been expecting this; usually I let her know what days we have appointments, but since I had not called her on the weekend, she assumed it was OK to trap Sunday through Thursday.  There was no appointment waiting for this cat.

I dressed quickly, grabbed a transfer cage and fired up the old van. In the overcast dawn, the caregiver and I got the cat into the transfer cage. When I got back home I waited impatiently for 7:30 to come so I could call Marlah and have her call for a vet appointment.   Vet Care was able to fit in one more cat, so I struggled through the morning traffic to deliver my captive.  That evening it was raining and I was working so David picked the cat up from the vet and put it in our shed.  After I got off work we took him back home where the caregiver was pleased see him looking bright and alert. When David opened the cage, the cat came out, strolled past him casually and went into the grass of a nearby field. This behavior reinforced our belief that this beautiful animal, like hundreds of others in Moncton, is not feral but simply had the misfortune to be owned by someone who not longer cares. 

Robert Frost wrote the title line long before Canada went metric, so with all due respect, the kilometers traveled that day totaled 58.  Time spent was abut 2 hours.

Tuesday was trapping night as described in my previous post. Kilometers traveled: 52 Time spent was about 3.5 hours.

Wednesday the cats from trapping night had to be taken to the vet and then returned to their colony. Kilometers traveled: 72 Time spent was about 2 hours.

Thursday morning I was assigned to pick up three kittens that had been rescued after they were abandoned under a deck here in town.  The lady who took them in said there were five originally but she was only able to catch three so we don't know what happened to the others.   We don't know how they got there. Possibly the mother was an abandoned cat who gave birth there, or possibly some irresponsible owner thought it would be a good place to throw away kittens they didn't want. 

The kittens are adorable: one grey striped short haired tabby and two fluffy blacks, one with some grey mixed in the black. I think we have a boy and two girls and this is later confirmed by the vet hospital.

I take the kittens to the vet and then I follow up on a call I've been assigned from a local mini home park.  The caregivers there are feeding a stray cat that someone moved away and abandoned.   They are sure he's not feral, but he is wary and they can't catch him.  They would take him in before winter if he could be neutered and ridded of fleas and worms.  They have a beautiful female cat of their own; they saved her when her owner left her behind and they have spayed and taken great care of her.  That afternoon I take a snap trap to the mini home, meet with the caregivers, a retired couple, and show them how to feed inside the trap, which is wired open. I explain how to remove the wires and set the trap and leave them with instructions to try and get the cat next Tuesday evening or very early Wednesday morning.   I email Marlah to get an appointment on Wednesday.  

Thursday evening I pick up the three kittens from the vet and return them to their rescuer who will be adopting them.  Kilometers traveled 72. Time spent, about 2.5 hours.

Today is Friday. Marlah called this morning because she was ill and could not deliver the cats to Oulton's that were supposed to go. Unfortunately I was out and did not get the message in time to help. I have a few phone calls to make and foster kittens in the basement, but perhaps there will be no other ca-r-ma work today. 

So far this week I've traveled 254 kilometers for ca-r-ma and worked 10 hours, which does not include time spent on phone calls and fostering, which probably adds up to another 6 or 8 hours. 

I don't mind. I'm happy to do it and I love helping the cats.  I just get a little hot under the collar when people think trappers don't do anything because they don't always go to "MEETINGS".

These photos are actually from last week's trapping.  The cats are semi feral and the tortie photographed inside the shed did not want to leave when she was let out after her recovery period.