Monday, December 3, 2012

64 cats & kittens TNRed YTD + 20% in perm homes


It's official. I received my 501(c)(3) letter today from the IRS for The Purrfect Catch. Thank you! I couldn't this much TNR work without donations - and the help of so many fantastic volunteers. Cheers!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Luna is #60 TNspay for 2012

I trapped kitty #60 for 2012! Woo-hoo! Luna is approx. 3 years old. Now I need to trap her sister or brother. I'm back at it this afternoon. May the force of St. Francis be with me.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Ghost

Ghost is a beautiful light grey, blue eyed boy. He's at Nine Lives Foundation now getting vaccinated and neutered. He'll dine tonight at my house and be released tomorrow at a managed colony where I trapped him. Boe/Boo and Sebastian were adopted so I'm looking for their litter mates plus mom. I trapped from 9 p.m. to midnight. Just me and the homeless cats - and saw lots of police out.

Monday, August 27, 2012

I didn't get relocated

It turns out that Sebastian didn't want to be relocated and have a future life outdoors. He's definitely a Maine Coon mix - and a total lover. He's a lap kitty and loves being held. He's learning to converse with me and play with cat toys. He'll go to Nine Lives Foundation in the next couple of weeks for adoption and a permanent home.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Mexican Food?


This little guy was trapped last night in Foster City adjacent to El Torrito. Instead of beans and rice, he dined on Fancy Feast. We've named him Sebastian and I'll relocate him to a colony were he can dine daily and be farther away from the freeway.

He weighed in at 2 pounds, 7 oz so he's a little guy and more fluff than fat. It always breaks my heart to see cats living in high traffic areas dashing to find food and trying to avoid cars. I hate that I have job security doing TNR, but I'm glad I can help. And it does take a village - wonderful volunteers who help me.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Rock-on Nine Lives Foundation!

Thanks to Nine Lives Foundation in Redwood City, 4 of the 7 kittens I fostered are now in permanent homes. It's good to be able to now focus on trapping and when I'm here at home, on my 4 fur balls.


Thelma's really happy to once again help my at my desk. Her editing and copy writing skills aren't great, but she's fantastic for comic relief.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

7 Kittens Seek New Homes

Gertrude acted as a wet nurse and while she's very feral, she was a superb mama. She's been returned to a neighborhood colony after being spayed and vaccinated. These kittens - all 7 - are now at Nine Lives Foundation in Redwood City seeking new homes.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Friday, June 8, 2012


11 cats and kittens trapped last night in Hayward. All time record. Still need to get mama cat and 1-2 more cats/kittens. Everyone will be relocated or fostered/adopted. The area isn't safe for cats - or people. A neighbor has been feeding these guys and contacted me earlier this week for help. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes offering help. I was glad to have him with Ildiko and me last night when we were trapping!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

It's raining kittens. Thank goodness no dogs.



5 kittens in the past 2 weeks literally plucked from the bay trail in South SF. Moms are being spayed, vaccinated and returned. Thanks to Nine Lives, kittens are being wet nursed by domesticated, lactating moms and will eventually be adopted once old enough. 

I feel really gratefully that I haven't had to bottle feed so far. Since I start trapping around 5:30 a.m., it would be even tougher feeding kittens every 2 hours. Cheers to all the humans bottle feeding feral fur balls! It takes a village...


Friday, April 20, 2012

Hi, I'm Tom. I was loaded with testosterone and looking for love - and found Trudi. I'm 8 years old and am much better now that SF SPCA fixed me up - literally. I'm neutered, got some Revolution for my lice and fleas, vaccinated, my abscess on my ear  and my right eye cleaned-up. Look-out ladies, I'm back; although not in quite the same capacity.

Note from Trudi - this Casanova was returned to the bay trail this a.m. Unfortunately, no new cats trapped today at this location.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012


10+ years trapping and I'm still learning and reminded that each cat and trapping location is unique. I have lined traps with newspaper, old place mats and towels for years to encourage cats to walk their sweet little paws into a trap.

  • For the 1st time, I had a cat escape a trap because of a towel in a trap that she was able to yank hard enough to open the trap door and escape.
  • The cats where I'm trapping now prefer nothing on the trap floor. Since I've gone 'down to the wire' mesh, I'm trapping cats faster. Go figure?!
Four cats traps so far this week. Woohoo!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

I love cat food!


These guys come when I call "Here kitty, kitty." They're total cat food chow 'hounds' - I mean ducks ;-) (Trapping can be pretty serious so I appreciate comic relief where I can find it!)

I trapped another young cat this a.m. in SSF along the Bay Trail. So far no small kittens, but I still have quite a few 4-6 month old cats left to TNR. With all the rain we've been having, I can no longer hold-off trapping until it's clear. Oh well, the cats don't seem to mind! I'm using an old bath rug to put on top of the trap to keep the kitties dry after they've been trapped.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

It was a 'twofer' in the trap on Monday. Bert, shown here, was in the trap with his brother Bernie. Bernie had been previously TNRed last week so I'm not sure who led who into the trap but Fancy Feast Seafood canned food once again worked it's magic. Also trapped a very large male tom cat. Obviously a female in the area bringing all these boys around.

It looks like I still have 10-15 more cats at this location to TNR. 13 done so far! Thank you San Mateo County feral cat voucher program. There's no way I could pay for all these spay/neuters. (I just paid my license fees for my cats; animal license fees help fund the voucher program.)


Monday, March 5, 2012

Hurray! Two more cats trapped at SSF location. Now just 20 or so more to go :-) Seriously.

When I dropped them off at 9Lives this morning for spay/neuter, I got a new photo of Bean and Jeremy. They're enjoying their new home. Dr. Thomas thinks they are siblings and I did trap them both at the same location. Happy to see them reunited and in a home together. They like to snuggle cheek-to-cheek :-)

Tuesday, February 28, 2012


Thanks to teamwork by The Purrfect Catch and Nine Lives Foundation, Bean (pictured here) and Jeremy (previously shown) were adopted 2/24. Cheers to their new family and home!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Dakota is 8 months old and was born in a backyard in downtown San Mateo. I trapped her and her 6 litter mates plus mom. Dakota, 1 of her sisters and mom are still waiting a permanent home. Thanks to their foster mom, they're no longer living on the street.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I lead a wild life with the wildlife. I trapped a lovely adolescent skunk last night. I talked to him/her and there was no spraying, but then he/she didn't want to leave the trap. Very comfy to remain on the towel in the trap continuing to eat the canned cat food. I left the door off for an easy exit later.

I'm happy to report that when I went back this a.m. the skunk was gone and the trap smelled fine.

Saturday, January 28, 2012


Jeremy was living on the streets of Foster City until 1/23. He's looking for a new home and is now off the streets and living at Nine Lives in Redwood City. He's about 4-5 months old and I think he's the brother of Sadie who I trapped in the same location about 2 months ago. To be so little and living on the street scrounging for food. So unfair. He's very sweet and has a lot to offer anyone who will open their home to him.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Hello! Another late night trapping kittens. No success, but I think someone working in the area is feeding them during the week. At least that's my theory since I was successful trapping at this industrial location over the weekend, but have been unsuccessful so far this week.

BTW, if you're trapping an need some tricks and tips to help you, please visit my Purrfect Catch foundation website for Trapping 101

Monday, January 16, 2012

I trapped a beautiful 3 month old Maine Coon kitten last night in an industrial area. I have no idea where he came from, but am happy to have him off the streets and safely in foster care. He's not feral. Just shy.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Welcome to my blog on how to trap homeless cats so both you and the cats are safe. Trapping is more art than science and just like with people, cats have their own personalities. You need to trap based on this environment and the cats. I have found the Fancy Feast sea food flavors canned cat food or Trader Joe's tuna is effective in luring the cats in to the traps.