Monthly Archive

It has been a year since our last T-N-R campaign.  In 2017 we were able to trap 17 of 21 ferals in our neighborhood, hopefully putting a dent into feral population growth.  In the last year we’ve seen the colony go from 21 regular residents to 14.  A few have been seen in other neighborhoods while others didn’t make it through the winter.  Sadly one of the cats from last year’s births was hit by a car and was found on a lawn.  Apparently Hudson (yeah, he had a name) pulled himself out of the roadway, trying to make it back to the safety of the colony. Over the last year he’d become well acclimated to the house and would have been a great house-cat.

Hudson. May 2017 ~ April 2018

Mid-May is usually when you see the first round of births show up.  We’ve been watching the back fence to see if there were any litters; crossing fingers that we wouldn’t see any this year.

First Kitty of 2018, female, somewhere between 4 and 5 weeks old.

The first kitty made an appearance a few days ago.    Yesterday I was able to qo out back and counted 9 young kitties, probably 4 to 5 weeks old.  It appeared they were not weaned yet so we’ll have to wait a week or 2 before we start on this year’s roundup.  Yes, it’ll be a roundup much like that ad that ran during the Super bowl a few years ago:  EDS Cat herders

So far only 2 litters that we can identify.  One litter is composed of gold tigers, markings like their mother and father (yes, we’ve identified Dad).  Not too sure the 2nd litter belongs to.

Junior – neighborhood tomcat. Identified as father to at least 6 litters over the past few years. We have not been able to trap him.

So look for an update in a few weeks when we break out the cages again and try to capture as many as possible while they are  young.  Shelters will not take in cats over 12 weeks as ferals are ‘imprinted’ by then and chances are they’d never be a good house cat beyond that point.  Sadly shelters are overloaded at this time and, consequently, some of the less desirable ones are put down before they’ve had a chance to be taken into a ‘forever home’.