Saving the cats

So if you recall, last month Carol and our supervisor Gail were able to trap the cute baby kittens (one such kitten being in this picture on the left!) we discovered behind our work clinic. Actually, even Dr. Maltz was out there helping Carol and Gail catch them. I wish I could have been there to help and see that, haha, but I was out of town in Boston, MA at the time.

They were taken to a shelter in Evanston and we have no doubts they will be adopted soon, if they haven't been already! We were pretty ecstatic about that, as we have already seen three other kittens perish (in another litter!) from lack of proper care and/or nourishment by the cat mother. We really didn't want to see that happen again. Try as we did several times, however, we frequently felt frustrated by not being able to find helpful shelters to aid us in this "save the cats and kittens" efforts. There was always some red tape involved that somehow prevented our altruistic attempts. FINALLY though, things took a more positive turn since we saved the kitties.

Now, the current priority is on the five grown cats that are still living behind the clinic. Carol feeds them and checks on them like a proud human mother (hehehe) every day, but it hasn't been enough to keep them from procreating. There's at least one male cat (Carol likes to call him "Grampa" or "Papa") who sure does have alot of progeny out there....a virtual cat harem! Carol and Gail have been able to contact an organization (Chicagoland Stray Cats) to come out and trap the cats, which they are in the process of doing as I speak. They will then be taken to PAWS neutering services clinic, which they do at a low cost.

Maybe I'm just weird, but this whole process is a fascinating little thing. A lady by the name of Cathy who volunteers with CSC came in with five trapper cages. The trick is to not feed the cats a day before the trappings so that when they put the trappers out, you put food inside of the cage and the minute the cat steps inside, the cat's paw activates the cage to shut the door behind them. Voila! I asked the lady how long that can take, on average. Though she says she has never timed it before, sometimes it can take anywhere from an hour to a day or more, depending on the size of the "colony" (yes, that's the word she used!). Wow. Hopefully it won't take longer than an hour. If we can't get them all by today or tomorrow, I volunteered to come in on Sunday (my day off) to set up any remaining trappers since Carol won't be able to do it that day. Interestingly, Cathy was telling Carol, Gail, and I that cats can sometimes produce as many as 3-4 litters per year. Damn! No wonder we feel like we're always discovering new kittens!

Even more strange, Cathy added the way a female cat's ovulation system is set up or something like that, each kitten WITHIN the litter can have a different father. Apparently, a female cat only releases eggs when the male mates with her (called induced ovulation), so that male fertilizes those specific eggs. Another male can cause her to release more eggs and fertilize those. Aren't you glad this can't happen to humans?! How bizarre.

So the plan is to trap the cats, then have them taken to PAWS to get spayed and neutered. Gail will then keep them in the trappers in her garage at home for a day to give them time to heal/take it easy. Here's the part that perplexes Carol and I though: PAWS has this stipulation that they will trap, spay and neuter them, but then are required to release them BACK behind the clinic afterwards. What?! We don't understand why they won't put them up for adoption. (Update: Carol says they just trapped two!)

Carol spoke with Cathy, who shared with us that the reason they cannot keep the cats for adoption is because adult feral cats are not accustomed to living indoors with humans. Furthermore, it is impossible to tame adult ferals. That is why adult ferals are returned to their familiar environment (they are most comfortable living outdoors, aka: their "home").

We were originally thinking about calling a shelter after they are neutered to find them a home, but now that we are "cat educated," now we're not so sure. But we will still love and feed the cats, as usual. Such is our worklife anyway. :) Oh, and don't forget....Carol has a "house" for them during those cold winter days. And did I mention they eat better than we do?

For information regarding trap-neuter-return (TNR) visit: http://www.alleycats.org/ or http://www.chicagolandstrays.org/.