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.