In June of 2012 ,on a lazy day I was talking to my niece about some cats that I had seen in a graveyard down town. I told her how I had always seen them hanging around and wondered if anyone else knew about them. We were bored so I suggested "Do you want to go look for kittens?". "Sure." She replied. So we hopped into the car and took off.
We
first went to a few places that were away from down town that I had
heard reports of kittens being there from several sources. No luck in
the first few places though. When we pulled up at the graveyard we saw a
few small black kittens on the hill going into the brush. We quickly
jumped out of the car and followed them into the bushes.
Two
of them ran into the thick brush and climbed up on a fallen tree and
the third ran down into the drainage ditch and headed for a culvert. My
niece was looking around in the brush and I heard her exclaim "There is
one right here!". As I looked over she had reached down and picked up a
small frightened black kitten. We quickly whisked him away to the cat
carrier in the car and went back to find the other two.
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| Andrew, the first kitten my niece caught |
We
made our way back into the brush and could see one of the other kittens
still hiding in the brush surrounding the fallen tree. It was very
reluctant to let us approach it and ran from us when ever we tried to
get closer. I went down into the drainage ditch in an effort to head him
off as my niece flushed him down the hill. I narrowly missed grabbing
him as he slipped into the culvert. I tried reaching in the pipe to see
if I could find him, but I was met with growling and hissing and I
decided it best to back off.
When we got there it was obvious that the kittens were still in the pipe so we set the trap at the mouth of it loaded it with fishy bait and waited. The kittens knew we were there and were not going to come out with us watching so we tool a drive around the block to give them some time to think about the yummy smelling sardines in the can at the back of the trap.
After our little drive around we made our way back to the graveyard to find that there was a kitten in the trap. Just one. well, it was a start and the very first feral kitten I ever trapped. At least I thought it was a kitten. When we got closer we realized that this was a pretty big kitten and not a kitten at all. It was momma! and she was not happy to see us.
My niece asked what we should do. I told her the most responsible thing to do would be to have her fixed before putting her back so she wouldn't have anymore babies. She asked why we should put her back now that we had her, and I had to explain that feral cats that are adults rarely ever adjust to indoor life well. She would probably never become friendly and always be mistrusting of people, so it would be better for her if she just went back to the environment that she was familiar with.
I called the local Neuter scooter and set up an appointment for her, but they wouldn't be able to do it for a week or so. I decided that I would set up an extra large dog kennel in my garage and keep her there until then because I knew we probably would never be able to trap her twice. We came out of the bushes to go back to the car and saw a man putting out cat food at a feeding station by the tree. I introduced myself and asked if the trapped cat was one of his. He said that it was, so I explained that I wanted to take her to have her spayed and that I would bring her back afterwards if that was alright with him. He agreed and I left my phone number with him.
Once we got the momma cat home and settled into her over sized dog kennel out in the garage we set back to put the trap back out for the remaining kitten. He was still in the drainage pipe and was not coming out for anyone or anything. We set the trap in from of it and barricaded the sides so he would have to exit through the trap (he had already jumped over it several times that day). Then we covered the trap with brush and leaves to conceal it so when he was trapped he wouldn't be out in the open. At this point it was getting late and dark, so we decided to wake up super early in the morning and check the trap.
The next day 4am came early and found me and my niece back at the graveyard. Success! There was a small black kitten in the trap. We had gotten him! I got him back to the car and transferred him to the cat carrier and set off for home. He was happy to see his little brother when we got there. Both kittens were covered in fleas and even had some ticks on them. I had ticks on me too from tromping around in the brush so it was no wonder that they had some. After all they had been living there for at least 6-7 weeks as that is how old they seemed.
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| Alexander and Andrew |
They were too small for any of the flea preventatives that I had at the house, and to small for most brands anyway, so manual removal was my only option. I got a small bowl of alcohol and my trusty flea comb and started picking all the fleas and ticks off their tiny bodies. The bottom of the alcohol bowl was soon full of dead fleas and ticks and the kittens were feeling better. I gave them some dewormer and a bath to remove the rest of the dead fleas.
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| Skeptical kittens |
The Kittens were very timid and scared as they had never been around people much before. My niece and my nephews played with them everyday helping them to adjust to people. It was working out quite well, but they were still hard to catch when the were outside of their kennel. I devised a plan to make them easier to catch while they were out playing. I made them some tiny kitten harnesses and attached a leash to each kitten. This way when they tried to run away they could be easily caught by grabbing the leash. Which came in handy when they shoved themselves into hard to reach spaces.
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| Andrew takes a nap on the couch wearing his harness |
After a week or so I was able to take the leash off the harness for short periods of time without having to reach into tiny spaces to retrieve a frightened kitten. They were getting friendlier and were actually enjoying interaction with us. Andrew was the first to warm up to us. Alexander still seemed skeptical. He liked his chin scratched and his belly rubbed, but then quickly grew suspicious and would run away.
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| Alexander earned some off leash time I made an adoption flyer for them and put it in the lobby at work to see if anyone might want to take these two little cuties home with them. A few days later one of the clients wanted to talk to me about them, but it wasn't about adopting them. She knew the lady that was in charge of taking care of the feral colony that they came from. The man that I had run into at the graveyard had told them that I took the cat and her kittens, but that was as much as he had told them. They had no idea where she went and they had been worried about her and her babies. |
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| Look at that sweet little face! |
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| Andrew |
I told her that I had the mother set up in a big kennel in my garage waiting for her spay appointment and then I intended to put her back where I found her after she had healed. She asked how the babies were doing and I let her know that they were adjusting to inside life quite well and seemed to be happy now. I gave her my contact information so that the lady in charge of the colony could contact me. She was happy to hear that the kitties were safe and being cared for. I told her that I would let her know when I put the mother back outside.
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| The boys resting after some play time |
In the meantime the kittens were still in search of their new home. I was hopeful that someone would see their picture at work and fall in love with them. It happened sooner than I expected too. A few days later a woman came in and said that her friend had told her about two kittens in need of a home. She had a lonely kitty at home that needed friends again.
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| Sleepy Andrew |
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| The boys playing |
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| Are you still taking pictures of me? |
She sounded like the perfect home for them! I was so happy that they had been able to find their forever home so quickly. They really seemed to like her and they purred when she held them. She feel in love with them instantly and it was like they had always been meant to find one another. It was bittersweet to see them go, but I knew that they were going to a great home. She came back the next day with her kitty carrier and took her boys home.
Later that week their mom went to be spayed. After she recovered she was returned to her colony and has been doing well. I now foster kittens that are trapped from that colony in an effort to keep colony numbers down and to give the kittens a chance to be part of a family. The colony is well maintained and all the members are spayed or neutered. Only the occasional newcomer brings in new kittens now.
The End
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