Trapping often includes kittens

Trapping homeless cats will often include trapping kittens and sometimes moms close to delivery. Wee kittens should remain with the mom cat since she can do the best job keeping them alive - literally. So you need to trap and keep everyone together. 

Once the kittens are weaned at 4-5 weeks, the kittens can be separated. (Alley Cat Allies recommends 8 weeks, but the longer kittens and mom are together, the more fearful the kittens tend to become of humans so I separate when they're weaned.)

The Purrfect Catch socializes the kittens we trap - and adult cats too when possible. We are not an animal shelter so we manage the amount of cats/kittens we're working with. It's a balancing act because there always seems to be more rescue work needed than we have the capacity to do.

Juniper, shown in this photo, was trapped at a location where she couldn't be returned. She was a bag of bones and you wouldn't know she was pregnant. Except she was frantic in the trap. The trap wasn't securely closed, and she was able to escape from it to give birth in the garage where she was being housed.

I secured two traps together with zip ties and used her litter of kittens as 'bait' to trap her. Mother and kittens were then transported to a foster home and placed in a kennel. 

After three weeks, I was able to get a low cost spay appointment for her that included vaccinations, flea and worm treatment, and microchipping. She was returned to her kittens after her surgery to continue to nurse and care for them.

Her kittens didn't all wean at the same time so the separation was a gradual process. I'm happy to report the kittens have been adopted. (We partner with a local pet store and hold an adoption fair every Sunday from noon - 3 p.m. at the San Mateo Pet Club to help find homes for socialized cats/kittens.)

Juniper was adopted as a working cat for someone who had a rat/mouse problem in their home, garage, and yard. She's also been working on their gophers. She still needs daily food and water.

If you end-up with bottle baby kittens, be prepared since they're similar to human infants - and even more work. They also are not able to pee/poo on their own so there's a lot of extra care needed for them. It's super important to have a relationship with a local vet to help with their care. I also recommend a FVRCP/Distemper vaccine at 5 weeks. Everyone worries about rabies. I've had more scares with viruses that FVRCP would have helped deter.

Resources:

San Francisco Community Cats

Alley Cat Allies

So many kittens, so little time...

I have an abundance of kittens and mom cats to trap right now. It's a bit overwhelming. Spay/neuter makes such a significant impact on their health and welfare that I'm unable and unwilling to stop. The work is very rewarding and I'm grateful to have a fantastic group of volunteers to help me with fostering, finding homes for kittens, and caring for managed feral colonies so that cats are fed everyday and also get fresh water.

'Tis the season...

 

This is no April fools joke. We're going into kitten season. I trapped my 1st 2015 homeless kitty over the weekend. Thanks to San Francisco SPCA, she was spayed on Saturday and returned to her home on Sunday. Four less new kittens living on the street as a result.

Humane trapping and spay/neuter really make a difference to both the cats and our communities.

What keeps me up at night?

Kittens living on the streets still needing to be trapped. Have trapped 12 kittens this past week. All time record. And it does take a village. I couldn't do it without the help of other friends and volunteers to help with the trapping as well as shuttling to and from Nine Lives Foundation in Redwood City, CA for spay/neuter and vaccinations.

I know of at least 5 more kittens that need to be trapped at my South San Francisco colony. And we had thought we were almost about done at this location doing TNR. I knew we had trapped mom cats who'd recently had kittens but weren't sure if kittens would have survived after several hours aways from mother cats. They did. And are now old enough to be coming out and being about. In a few months if we don't trap them all, they'll be old enough to have their own kittens.

It's really important doing TNR to not let yourself get burnt out or lose perspective of the big picture. You just need to trap one cat at a time. Do it while you can and when you can. Most of my volunteers and myself have full time jobs or full time jobs as moms. We rescue as many as we can each week and try not to become crazy cat ladies/men.

This work is incredibly rewarding and if we don't do it at these colonies, there is no one else. These little fur balls need us. We've TNRed 31 cats/kittens year to date! Pretty good for a small foundation and group of volunteers. As my friend and fell volunteer says, we're small but mighty!

Almost 2 months later...

I finally trapped her. Four of her kittens from previous litters were taken in by the Nine Lives Foundation in Redwood City, CA. for permanent homes. I've been really concerned about not being able to trap her to be spayed and vaccinated before her next litter of kittens. She's not very old and this is a viscous cycle for her to be on.

Woo-hoo! She was spayed and vaccinated yesterday at Nine Lives and is ready to return to her colony today.

It can be frustrating trapping because it can take months to trap some cats. But the end result is worth it! Fewer homeless kittens and healthier adult cats. Fighting decreases and overall health improves.

Move'n On Up...

...And into a palatial home in the south bay. Otter was dumped in Foster City almost 7 years ago and has been 'camping' outside ever since and living with a colony of homeless cats. 

It took me almost 4 years to trap him and when I finally did, we found he was already neutered. Don't know what happened to his humans and he was very skittish until about a year ago. 

Thanks to the time and love from volunteers and their daily attention, Otter has gotten to the point where he wants to be petted and can be held and picked up. Last Friday, with the help of a volunteer who picked him up and put him into a carrier, I whisked him off to the vet. He's had persistent eye trouble plus was limping.

Dr. Rutiger at Nine Lives Foundation worked her magic not only identifying his eye condition and performing surgery, but has also found a home for Otter. Well, it's a foster home with the option to keep him. Otter is such a total love muffin, it's impossible to think he won't win his new humans over in short time. He won my heart in the weekend he spent with me!

This is just another storey where a homeless cat in a managed colony has found a permanent home. Initially, too freaked out to be adopted, but thanks to the love and consistency of volunteers feeding and being with these fur balls has built and won their trust in other humans.

Go Costco!

It's always refreshing to me when a company I admire - and support - also supports a cause that's important to me. I was impressed that Costco included an article in their October Costco Connection newsletter about homeless cats and the value and importance of TNR.

I spend a lot of time doing TNR and also feed my homeless kitties the Kirkland dried cat food which is excellent and the cats love it!