Phantom's a mystery

I'm seeing the Phantom (slightly) more often now that he knows where the regular food supply is (he shows up at the main dish but hangs back in the warehouse with Billie Jean). But I think I'm losing my mind; sometimes I peek under the barricade and I swear he's already eartipped! But then I see him another time and he's not. Well, looking under the door puts me at a weird angle, and looking from outdoor light into a dark interior; who knows? All I can say for sure is that I haven't TNR'd any cat of that color at this colony; he's virtually the same color as Yellow Fellow and probably related, but I'm sure I'm not confusing the two; YF is slightly yellower and he hangs out at the remote dish nowadays. We shall see...
Meanwhile, the Black's foot seems to be getting better; he's definitely touching it down when he walks and he still lets me handle it a bit. Claws are still intact and workable, but the puffiness misaligns the toes just a bit, so he looks like a cheaply made stuffed toy. It's not hot or damaged, just tender, so maybe he can get past this without a vet visit.

Dancing in the dark

Got a surprise today! As I've mentioned, it's dark when I go out to feed the kids. Today I was at the remote dish, pouring out kibble, and reached over to pet Yellow Fellow, who's the only touchable at that dish. I was still pouring, so I only absently noticed that his coat felt a little harsher than normal. Put the bag down and got out my pocket flash, and lo-and-behold, YF had stepped aside and I was petting FLAME! I couldn't believe it; she's normally one of the skitteriest of the lot. Either she's figured out I'm not a threat, or she was just too hungry to care, because she didn't even bother to shrug me off, let alone run. I treasured the moment but won't be doing it again; it's unethical to teach touchability to colony members; they need to "stay wild" for their own safety. But this is an added incentive to change the feeding time; I apparently need to better see what I'm doing, and as winter comes on I want to feed them closer to night time when they'll really need the calories. Won't be easy; cats hate change, especially regarding mealtimes, but they'll make it. I'm forever sweeping up leftover lunch tidbits that some of the employees leave for them; it's nice that they think of the cats but sometimes the food is less than appropriate; mac-n-cheese, potato chips, etc. No doubt the cats eat whatever of it they fancy, but I feel it necessary to dispose of leftovers lest they attract ants or otherwise create a nuisance and blow our cover. I've started keeping a small broom-and-dustpan set in the car; when I find food lying about I make sure everyone's finished with it and pick it up for disposal later. Usually I throw it into the woods not far from my house; I know some critters will make use of it.
Meanwhile, I'm troubled about the Black; he's holding that hind foot up lately and it's pretty puffy. He did let me touch it briefly after he'd eaten; I eased each claw out with a fingernail, so there's no apparent damage to the claws or sheaths. Still no visible trauma to the pads or the fur; I'm still leaning toward an insect sting of some sort. I must face the possibility that I'll have to trap him again and whipsaw the vet into seeing him. In the meantime, I'm somewhat interested in seeing how this impediment affects the sociodynamics of the colony; the Black is the (virtually) undisputed Head Cat in the normal course of events, but naturally he won't be swaggering around picking fights with that bad foot. I'll be interested to see if his position in the hierarchy changes, before it heals or I have to pull him for treatment.

Dramatis Purrsonae: The Phantom

No picture yet; there's a reason I call her the Phantom. She rarely appears, and only fleetingly then. But I can say she looks very much like Yellow Fellow and is probably related to him (truthfully, I don't know if she's a girl or a boy). She's fooled me a couple of times; I would see what I thought was YF peeking out from under the car but acting so shy and spooky I wondered what was the matter with "him". One of the few advantages to having two feeding stations is that now I have seen there are indeed two of the buff-colored cats, not one, and Yellow isn't losing his marbles or going schizo. Nevertheless, time to dust off a trap and grab her so we can keep the colony at zero population growth. I don't know where she came from, but I surmise there's another few cats living in the area behind this place, and they come and go through the fence.
Meanwhile, the Black is favoring a hind foot. He let me touch it briefly last Sunday; there was blood on one toe but no visible trauma and he was just stepping off of it a bit. Now he's carrying it, and it's puffed up pretty good. He still lets me handle it a bit if I wait till he's eaten some; I eased each claw out with a fingernail and they're all working, bones are intact and I see no wounds on the pads. First hypothesis is a puncture between the pads where it isn't visible, or possibly an insect bite/sting, though I don't know of one that could draw blood. The paw is not noticeably warm, nor are his ears, so if it got infected, he's fought it off.

Dramatis Purrsonae: Tarmac

This little girl toddled up to the food dishes Sunday and I couldn't believe my eyes! Lovely little black coat with reddish undercoat, and not as wary as she should have been. I couldn't touch her but when I slipped my net under the barricade and tilted it up over her, she didn't react (too busy eating) so I got it over her and eased her back out from under. She was NOT happy, but didn't put up much of a fight. So there I was with a bagful of kitten and no carrier in the car (took it out last week while shoveling out the back... again), but luckily there was a milk crate I'd found roadside and a relatively heavy basket of laundry, so I popped her into the box, bag and all, parked the basket on top, and rolled for home as fast as I could without tipping the whole thing over. Parked her in a cage with wet food, which she gulped down in great quantities, and got a better look at her. About 8 or 9 weeks, I guess; judging from her color I'll bet she was the Black's last hurrah before I got him. Started phoning around for help and Adopt-A-Cat stepped up again, bless 'em; they have a build-a-litter of several unrelated babies who are being looked after by a mom cat who's feral but is a great mother. We put this little girl with the brood; Momcat sniffed her over, shrugged and started grooming her too! A volunteer who works at Hobby suggested the name Tarmac (for her color) and we got her on the spay roster in a few more weeks when she's got some weight on her. I was kind of worried; she had something of a belly on her and I realized that I had probably fed her too much for a first meal, but she digested it with no problems and is now munching her way determinedly through a bag of Royal Canin Baby-Cat kibble. The litter she was put with was mostly tame kittens, and I hear she's beginning to follow their lead and decide to be adoptable!

clinic day

What a marvelous day at the clinic Sunday! 130 cats fixed, no losses, and six kittens pulled for foster and adoption! Truly epic numbers! and an epic work day; long and hot, but all worth it! The only less than sunny note was that one feral girl gave birth in a trap; I was helping unload and saw one kitty kind of headbumping toward me against the side of the trap. I said, "oh, are you a little friendly guy then?" and pulled the cover back a bit, but that revealed a tiny little face with buttoned-down ears and squinched-up eyes. At first I was nonplussed; why did they bring a nursing mother to the spay clinic? Then it hit me, "Aw, $&%^; y'all got some newborns here!"
Apparently she had 'em on the hour-long drive to the clinic that morning. Although she seems young, she's still being a good mom and taking care of them (thank goodness!!); some youngsters get too scared to do anything for new babies. So she was set aside in a cool dark corner and will come back in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, back at the colony, there's a minor mystery I'll have to wait for the weekend to clear up. This time of year, it's dark by the time I get out there to feed 'em; there are area lights but they're on poles two stories off the ground so they're more show than go. Anyway, I was scritching the Black on his head and felt something crusty, but it was too dark to examine it. He didn't pull away, so at least whatever it is doesn't hurt. I'll have to wait till the weekend to learn more, when I can come during daylight hours.

Thing 1 & Thing 2 update

Good news! Thing 1 and Thing 2 are taming down nicely and are available for adoption from Adopt-A-Cat (www.adoptacattexas.org ) I got to visit them at the adoption center today. Thing 1 is not as ribby as she looks; that's just her stripes and the angle of the shot. They've both got good weight and live in a comfortable foster home.I'm happier about Thing 2; she's calm enough to face me even though I'm "staring" at her with the camera. That's a big improvement.

The rest of the colony is doing all right; today was kind of a "whew" day because yesterday I put some Revolution on the Black for his ear problems and maybe-mange, and it's always a tense time using it for the first time on a feral because you never know if they're one of the vanishingly rare ones who react badly to it. But he was headbumping and demanding food as usual, so all's well with that. He has an amazingly squeaky voice for such a large tom, and boy does he use it; it's nonstop squeak, squeak, squeak till the food is dispensed. He still tries to chase the others off; I guess I need to find him a barn to himself. We'll see.

changes

There seems to be a new sociodynamic deveoping among the colony. Formerly, everyone except Flame and Fancy Dan ate at the usual dish behind the barricade. Flame and Dan have a smaller dish across the parking lot; they can stand behind a chainlink fence (where they know I can't reach them), and I fill the dish and push it under the fence to them. Dan will even reach under and pull it if I'm not quick enough to suit him!
Well, over the past week, more of the other crew have been joining them at this remote dish. Yellow Fellow and Little Joe (and sometimes Bonita, though she still frequents both) now wait at the remote dish and eat there. I substituted a larger dish and push it halfway under the fence so they can surround it.
Meanwhile, back at the barricade, it's Big John, the Black, and Billie Jean. I suspect the Black; although he purrs and headbumps me, he also headbumps Big John kind of hard, pushing him aside (do cats do "passive aggressive"? I wouldn't think so) and he flat chases Bonita away (I've heard sounds of conflict from behind the barricade; he'll chase her under and there'll be banging and screeching for a few seconds). Only Billie Jean seems immune; she still bogarts the dish and pokes everyone away, even the Black. She doesn't come out from under the barricade until she's through eating, and then she does it several feet down from me. So I surmise he's either chasing everyone else away or they just don't want to be around when he starts up with Bonita. I'm not real fond of the arrangement; the remote dish is out in the open; it's not readily visible but four or five cats gathered around it ARE. I wish they'd stay behind the barricade but evidently that's not going to happen. I'm going to look into moving the Black if I can find a barn. Or even a home; he's tame enough to try bulldozing me off balance with that big ol' broad head of his, maybe he can re-learn to live with people again.

The Black is vindicated!

Remember when I said the Black was just doing what cats do? and he was probably grouchy because his ears were abcessed? Well, QED! Today I went out to feed 'em and he was standing right next to Big John, shoulder to shoulder. I petted Big John and let my hand slide over onto the Black's back, and he leaned right into it and purred! I worked my way up to his ears and there's a bit of crust behind 'em but he let me fool with 'em, so they've obviouslyburst and aren't sore any more. He headbumped me like we were old pals, so I gave him a good scritching and told him I'd bring some Revolution for him Sunday; I want to keep those ears clear till they're all healed up. I'll see if I can sneak a finger into those ears and see if they're dirty; thank goodness they're not crumpled like Big John's. Got some better pictures of him too:

Hah! Told 'em so. "Mean cat" indeed; I got your mean cat right here, lady!

Dramatis Purrsonae: Thing 1 and Thing 2

Thing one is the tabby and Thing two is the tortie. These little dolls are the ones I assumed were Billie Jean's kids, but I always saw them hanging around with Flame on her side of the property. In fact, Flame did her level best to keep me from trapping them! When Thing One approached a tastily-baited trap, Flame called out to her to get her attention. One looked back and saw Flame slowly turn her back and walk away, so she backed out of the trap and trotted after her. Can't fault her for doing a mom's job, but it frustrated me a bit. A few minutes later, One sneaked back and went for the bait again, and this time I got her (take a lesson here, rebellious teens; listen to your Mom!). Thing Two waited till the following day, and thought she was waiting me out; I had to start the car and drive farther down the road before she'd come out, but having done so she walked right into the trap. They were about 7 weeks when I caught 'em in late June 09; too small to spay but definitely small enough to tame and adopt out! They were taken in by Adopt-A-Cat (see http://www.adoptacattexas.org/) and Thing One is already available for adoption! Two is still a bit too skittery for public appearances, but they're working with her.

Saw something great today

I came out to feed the crew this morning. Flame still stays off in her usual corner, so I filled her dish and turned the car toward the colony's meeting place. Much to my surprise, I saw Big John AND the Black lying on the driveway waiting for me. Not especially close to each other, but only a few feet apart. Just lying there enjoying the last of the morning coolth* and waiting for breakfast, relaxed and unimpressed with each other. It's always so nice to watch as the hormones subside and the cats start calming down and being friendly. Maybe we can have a "mostly peaceable kingdom" after all (as Cleveland Amory described).

The Black skittered away as I got out of the car; he, Billie Jean, and Little Joe remain the spookiest members of the colony. But I got a laugh after all; from behind the barricade that hides the food and water dishes, I heard an insistent "hurry up with the grub" meowing and thought it was Billie Jean (she usually stays back there) but when I got down and peeked under it, it was the Black making that noise; Billie Jean hadn't arrived yet! Marvelous; if he's comfortable enough to vocalize at me, he's definitely feeling better.

*- what else do you call the opposite of "warmth"?

Dramatis Purrsonae - The Black

The Black is not one that I see often, so the only clear photo I have of him to date shows him zonked out on the vet's scale preparatory for neutering. He's a big handsome solid black tom about three years old, about the size of Big John. The Black lives a bit farther down the road from the rest; I only saw him when I had occasion to stay awhile after putting out the food and saw him coming in after the others had dispersed. He became a trapping priority after an employee told me that he kept spraying the A/C units, which promptly vented the scent of "L'air du Tom" into the offices! So next trapping day I waited for him and he was nice enough to walk right into the big trap. Even calmed down enough to eat the bait after awhile. I got to help at the clinic this time, so I took the opportunity to snap a few shots. He has a few facial scars and ear nicks, but not as much as Big John, which hints that he may be the better (or at least the more aggressive) fighter. Thankfully that'll be a thing of the past now. I told the employees that I'd caught him and their spraying problems would soon be over too; they were glad to hear it. I think they like him; they were asking if I was going to bring him back.

trapping

Got Bonita at last, with the drop trap. She wouldn't walk into a regular trap, though she'd chin-rub and headbump a trap till it tripped. She was not at all happy; lunged sideways and dragged the trap a bit before I could get a foot on it and cover her up. Then she crept into the trap; I attached my biggest coon-size trap to give her enough room, and she finally worked her way in. Spayed on 10 Jun and came through in fine style, now back with the colony and seems to have forgiven me; she let me tweak her tail as usual when I arrived with breakfast.
I thought she was the last adult, but yesterday I spotted one more. He looks like Yellow Fellow (for whom I mistook him at first) and may be his sibling, so I guess it's back to trapping again this weekend. I hope he's a boy.

post-trapping day

It was an excellent day at the clinic; 76 cats speutered (two of which were mine). Unfortunately, Billie Jean was lactating, so I'll have to start hunting for kittens soon. Found out why the Black was acting "mean", as they said; he had a big abcess behind each ear! No wonder he was grumpy; I would be too. Grubby ears as well, so we dug 'em out and evacuated the abcesses. They may puff up again briefly, but at least we took the pressure off so he can be aware of something besides his head hurtin', and pretty soon they'll burst and heal up anyway. It may have worked; two days later the Black was hiding under a nearby vehicle while I fed the "first wave" crew and he watched us interact for a bit. Didn't come up himself but I saw him start heading that way as I drove off. Just as well, I'd rather he and Big John give each other a wide berth till the hormones wear off. But I'm glad he's hanging about rather than hiding; hopefully he'll learn from the others and be a little more casual.
The 'first wave' crew is the first batch of cats to hit the food bowl; usually Bonita, YellowFellow, Big John and Little Joe. The second wave I discovered by accident, when I lingered on a Sunday morning (no one was around to see us) and the second wave consisted of the Black, Flame, Fancy's brother, and Billie Jean (though BJ is elbowing her way onto the first wave; too hungry to wait, I guess, what with kittens to feed).
The vet tech mentioned that BJ and the Black were dehydrated too; I'll hunt up a bigger water bowl for the usual hiding place and see about placing some others if I can find good hiding spots.

Trapping day

Clinic day tomorrow, so today I went out with traps and allgedly irresistable bait in the form of warm KFC. And first crack out of the box, I got the Black! Big honkin' black tom; same size as Big John and probably a constant rival and combatant. I really wanted him, because I'm told he has a bad habit of spraying on A/C units, which carries the smell into the buildings! NOT the way to keep our little colony unobtrusive and unnoticed. So I'm glad to get him; now I can really stave off those silly employees who say he's "mean" (I keep insisting, "he's not 'mean', he's a dadgum feral and a TOM to boot; he's doing what feral toms do!" but most people don't get it.) Next one I caught was Billy Jack, who promptly got renamed Billie Jean when I got a good look at the undercarriage. Dammit, it looks like she's had a litter fairly recently, which may explain her excessive food aggression; she stands over the food dish and screams at anyone who approaches. Most of the rest of 'em can share a dish pretty peaceably, but since BJ showed up, I generally have to give the others a little palmful apiece to tide 'em over while she's bogarting the communal dish. With any luck a spay will take care of that too.
After that it got complicated; Yellow Fellow and Little Joe kept sneaking into the traps and eating the bait trail, even after I shooed 'em off several times. What do I need to do, bring extra traps and trap up those idiots just to keep 'em out of the way?? Arrrggg...

Dramatis Purrsonae - Yellow Fellow

Yellow-Fellow is about a year old (as of Apr 09) and noticeably friendlier on first acquaintance than the other colony members. He was bumping my leg and letting me tweak his tail after only a couple of visits, long before the others got that comfortable. He seems to be best friends with Big John; they often walk together and he'll head-bump the big guy as they go. They share the food dish with no problems either.

Dramatis Purrsonae - Little Joe

Little Joe appears to be Bonita's age and may be her brother. He's one of the more mistrustful members of the colony; at any unexpected noise he's the first to flee and the last to return. But return he does; I think he's decided that being TNR'd in Apr 09 was just a bad dream and I'm really just a nice person who dispenses kibble and tail tugs every day.

Dramatis Purrsonae - Flame

Flame is a lovely flame-point Siamese girl, looks a little over a year old. She doesn't eat with the main colony, but has her own feeding station elsewhere on the premises. Sometimes she's joined by Fancy's brother and (lately) a big black tom I haven't been able to get a good look at yet. I've tried trapping her once, but she looked it over and trotted off to cadge handouts from the employees instead!I'll try a box trap next time. I am the superior intelligence and I will prevail! (yeah, keep telling yourself that).

Dramatis Purrsonae - Bonita

Bonita is one of the few girls in this colony, and one of my main trapping targets. Probably 7-ish months old based on her apparent size. I haven't caught her yet because she chin-rubs all over the trap till she trips it and drops the door. So far she's shown little interest in any bait, even nice smelly sardines, so it may be time to bring in a drop trap.

Dramatis Purrsonae - Big John

Big John is the largest and, I believe, the oldest of this colony. He's about two (as of summer 2009) and weighs about 9 pounds. He has some facial scarring and both ears are cauliflowered from much fighting. The ears don't stand up, they kind of slump sideways like he's trying to pass for a Scottish Fold. His coat has lovely classic-tabby markings (the bullseye kind as opposed to the tiger-stripe kind); I'm told the classic type are more common in the UK and the tiger-stripe coat is more common in the US).

Got a better picture of his markings a few days later:

"I haz a handsom!"

The world of the shadow cats

This video pretty much says it all.

Feral cats live among us, in the shadow world between "wildlife" and "pets". Properly managed, a feral cat colony is an asset to any location, in terms of pest control (and therefore disease control) , public education, and the sheer elegance of a fed and vetted feline gracing a sunny spot on the lawn.

Herewith the tale of one such managed colony, located in Houston TX... perhaps, not so very far from you...