Spy Tactics

Spying on the cats from my car's rear view mirror...

Last night I went trapping at UM, hoping to catch the "grandmother" of the Music School cats. Shes a very smart, very feral cat who has given birth to too many litters at this point (and may very well be pregnant with the next batch of babies). She is older and a bit sick because she is constantly pregnant, so she's been number one on my hit list for quite some time. 

I set out my traps and within minutes had my first kitten. There are three all black kittens that needed to be sterilized also, but they weren't my priority this time. Regardless, once they're in my trap they're getting their sterilization and vaccinations, so this little one was removed from the area so as not to scare off the others. 

The second cat took a little more persuading... I had to add more food to the trap, and leave a little trail for it to follow far enough inside to set off the door. And while it was another of the kittens, I'll take what I can get. 

As the grandmother was no where to be seen at this point, I decided to just keep trying for the third and fourth cats to fill my reservation quota. Most of the cats in the area had caught on to what I was doing and moved elsewhere on campus for the night, but there was one left that I wanted to try and nab. It took a couple hours but eventually he ventured into my trap and was my third catch of the night... until I saw the ear tip. This is why ear tips are so important... if this little guy didn't have his I would have taken him in for surgery unnecessarily and wasted a valuable appointment on a cat who didn't need my attention. He was quickly released, and I made my way back home to try and catch some of my neighborhood ferals to fill my appointments. 

Of the five kittens recently born across the street, I had already sterilized three (2 girls, 1 boy). I knew I had a least one more girl, and what I suspect is another boy. I was able to catch the *hopeful* boy (I'll get confirmation on that when I go to pick up my cats this afternoon), but the fourth and final cat eluded me all night. In addition to the last lady kitten, I know there are at least 2-3 adult cats who still need to be sterilized, including the litter's mother. 

So 3 out of 4 isn't bad, but I still have a long way to go. I made another appointment for 4 more cats next week, so the trapping will continue. And with that so does the fund raising, since the University has ended their TNR funds for the time being. Anyone out there want to donate $15 to sterilize and vaccinate some feral Florida cats????......