The colony is one of our larger ones and is somewhat unique in that a lot of the cats are semi feral and are allowed to go into and out of the cargivers' home. Over the past several years all the cats have been altered except for four and we set out on this bitter overcast day determined to catch those four. Unfortunately, three of the four were amongst the true ferals of the colony, not easy to catch.
When we arrived the caregivers had the more-or-less friendly cat inside the house. A pretty young grey tortie, she needed to be spayed before she could have kittens. The other three cats were amongst the cluster of cats in the yard.
Since we knew we had to get three cats out of approximately two dozen, the best thing to do was to use a drop trap. Cathy and I set one up last week and the caregivers, husband and wife, had been feeding inside it ever since. Today, as requested, they had not fed until we arrived so the cats were hungry and darted about our feet or watched from a short distance hoping our arrival meant food.
It certainly did. We put sardines into a dish in the trap and then I backed away, playing out the line until I stood under a big tree with Cathy and the caregivers. The caregivers told us which cats we were looking for. There was the mother cat, grey and fluffy, and her two last year's offspring both short haired, one grey and one black. Unfortunately the same cat had another black kitten that we altered earlier this year and the only way to distinguish it from it's sibling was by the notch in the ear of the altered one.
The cats began to mill around the trap and soon one went inside. It was one of the already altered cats. Several minutes went by, and other cats began to go inside or try to reach the food through the sides of the cage. One big orange guy hung in there having a real feast, and the, suddenly, there was the grey fluffy mother cat. She approached the cage cautiously but with determination and in seconds she was inside.
Down went the door and we hurried to put her into a transfer cage and release the other cats trapped with her, all of which were already altered.
We re-set the trap and soon caught the grey short haired cat. Once he was safely inside a transfer cage in the van, we resumed our vigil. The caregivers went inside and came back out, taking turns standing with us and a few of the friendlier cats came around our feet so that we could actually touch some of them. It was getting later and bitterly cold. The husband said he could almost see his breath, and the black cat still evaded us.
We re-baited the trap with kibble and more sardines and decided to retreat to the van. I turned it around to face the trap from a distance and ran the trip rope through the driver's partly open window. The caregiver went inside and Cathy and I sat quietly watching the cats and talking in whispers.
The whole colony was very interested in that trap. A few cats went inside while others, including both of the black short hairs, examined it from all angles. Time moved slowly, but suddenly we got an unexpected distraction.
A few minutes later, the husband came out of the house with two small cans of cat food. He opened the cans and dropped the food through the top of the trap. When he called, even more cats came running and began trying to figure out how to get at the goodies.
Unfortunately some of the food fell close to the sides of the trap and the cats began to reach through with their paws and pull it out. We watched in frustration as both black cats took bits of food in this manner and we worried because if one went into the trap we knew we could not from this distance tell whether the ear was notched or not.
It was 8 pm and Cathy had to be home at 9 to meet a potential adopter for a kitten she was fostering.
"One last try", I said "If we don't get him, we'll try again later and hope he's male so he doesn't have kittens in the meantime."
I got out of the van, opened up the trap and scraped all the food away from the sides and into the middle of the floor. I shut it again and went back to the van where we agreed to wait until 8:15, not a minute more.
All the cats had scattered when I approached the trap and for several minutes nothing happened. Then a big white cat with black spots, one of the largest in the colony, came out of the porch and sat down near the cage. Two or three others began to approach again and then, there amongst them, was one of the black cats. He sniffed and stood on his hind legs touching the side of the cage. He walked around it, turned away and then turned back. When he got to the door, he started to enter.
I'm sure we both held out breath as the cat sniffed cautiously and moved, oh so slowly, into the cage. Once his whole body was inside I let the trip rope go. The cat leaped but it was too late. Cathy was out of the van in a flash and carrying a transfer cage to get him secured. Miracle of miracles, when we got a good look at the cat inside the transfer cage we saw that it's ear was not notched!
The caregivers put the cat they had taken inside into the fourth transfer cage and helped ups to clean and fold up the trap. On the way back into town we put the heater on but we were also warmed by a sense of triumph at having finally, after all this time, finished trapping at this colony. Dee came and took the mother cat to be spayed at Elmwood next day since I had only three appointments at Maritime. The short haired grey cat and the black one turned out to be male and all the animals did well in surgery and went back to their colony prepared for a healthier and more peaceful life.
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