Lora Lee This Easter weekend brought about an impromptu cat family rescue. Thus, bringing with it, an impromptu article topic change for today. I want to give you a little introduction to this precious little family and how it came about that I spent Easter weekend trapping and housing them. Then, I will give you a follow up in a couple of weeks to see how things are progressing with them.
How It All Started…
So, I am a High School English teacher. Last Monday, one of the Assistant Principals noticed some students gathering outside of the cafeteria. She started towards them to see what they were up to. As she got closer, she heard them saying “Someone needs to tell Ms. Medley. Ms. Medley will know what to do.” She instantly knew that there must be some cats around. Sure enough, there was a young, pretty tabby cat and 2 kittens, one solid black and the other solid gray.
And of course, she told me about them. I went out during my planning period to assess the situation. Hanging out in one of the runoff water grates was this sweet little family. I asked around to make sure that it was only the 3 of them. Everyone said yes, only 3. I, then, contacted one of my fellow volunteers, Mendi, from FCAP (Feral Cat Assistance Program) and formulated a plan to trap and rescue them.
The Plan…
Lucky for us, this family was not complete human shy. Students had been feeding them during lunch. I went to check on them each day and they ran to their hidey spot but were very curious about me and if I had food. Tabby cat was very protective of the kittens but did not run away. Not being complete afraid of humans does make trapping easier. Mendi and I decided that we would trap them over Spring Break. It would be quieter on campus and being that students were on break, and not feeding them school lunch, they would be hungry. A hungry cat is easier to trap.
Cat Family Rescue Day…
We chose to trap this family on Saturday being that we did not have school on Friday, so they did not get any school lunch. I arrived first. I went to make sure they were still in their little hidey spot. They were, along with another cat. A black cat. Ok, I had not seen this cat before. No one had mentioned this cat before. However, with this rescue mission, there will not be no cat left behind.
Once Mendi arrived and I caught her up to speed on the bonus cat, we got to work setting and baiting our traps. I knew exactly where they would run to hide, so we made sure to set the traps right near the entrance along with trail of smelly food to tempt them. Then the waiting game begins. Trapping is a game of patience. And silence, noises can spook a cat and scare them away from the trap.
Within 20 minutes, we caught the little black kitten. About 20 minutes later, we caught the tabby cat. Shortly after, we caught the gray kitten. We had the little family, however, we still wanted to trap the black cat that I saw earlier. So, we set the trap and waited. It took a little longer to trap that one, but eventually we heard the trap close and we had all 4 of them cats/kittens. All in under 2 hours. Not to bad. (Now, it does not always go this easy when trapping. Like I said, it helped that they were not human shy and they were hungry.)
Now what…
So, now I have a little cat family plus a bonus cat. What is the next step? Of course, I will have the 2 mature cats fixed. However, our next FCAP spay/neuter clinic is two weeks away. We will have to house them until then. My hope is to be able to tame the tabby cat, who is afraid but does not seem to be super feral. Luckily, the 2 kittens are young enough to be tamed and then adopted out. That left the bonus black cat.
We decided to set up the black kitty at our facility. We have volunteer caregivers who tend to the facility cats daily. We figured that this would be the best plan for this cat. And then, we would release it back at school once it went through our clinic. There is also the chance that we could tame this cat as well. So, I dropped tabby cat and kittens off at my house and headed to the facility to meet Mendi to set up black cat in a crate.
Surprise…
When I arrived at the facility, we went to work setting up the crate that black cat would reside in for the next couple of weeks. Before putting black cat in the crate, we check to see the sex. Black cat is a female and she had been nursing. Surprise! Now, this could mean a few things. The 2 kittens that I have at my house could be hers. Or the kittens could also be nursing on her as well as the tabby cat. Or she could have kittens of her own back at the school. This last one was not what we wanted to think about.
After, we got black cat set up, we grab another crate for tabby cat and headed back to my house to get that little family set up in their home for the next couple of weeks. We worked with tabby cat first. We wanted to check the sex which would help us try to figure out more about the black cat at our facility. Surprise! Tabby cat is not the mommy of the kittens. Tabby cat is not even a female. So, that meant that black cat is definitely the mommy. We believe that tabby cat is from her 1st litter being that he is not quite as old as mom or not as young as the kittens.
New Game Plan…
This discovery threw a little kink into the plan. Trapping the black cat was originally a bonus. However, now I am grateful that she was there, or we would have never known about her. Remember, we all thought that tabby cat was the mom. No one had even mentioned seeing a black cat. I am so happy that she was there and that we were able to trap her.
My new game plan is to bring mommy cat back to my house. I am sure that she is very concerned about her babies. I am hoping that I might be able to tame her, along with tabby cat. That would be awesome. I would love for both of them to be able to get adopted and live a VIP life. However, if I am unable to tame in the next 2 weeks, I will bring them back to school and release them. It is not ideal, but they will be fixed and vaccinated, and I will start feeding them non-school lunch food daily.
The kittens will definitely be adoptable in a few weeks. Yesterday, they were spicy. Not too bad, but a little hissy. Wrapping them in a purritto and giving them some Churu cat treats helped lower their spice level. Today, they were significantly milder in their spice level. I am now able to hold them without a purritto wrap. Generous amounts of kisses were given. We even had a little playtime. They are currently sleeping beside me while I write this blog.
Must Have Names…
Of course, I had to give this sweet little cat family names. Cannot spend the next 2 weeks calling them tabby cat, black cat and kittens. For some reason, tabby cat reminded me of a Toby. He is a very cute tabby cat. He is young, maybe a year old. He has the tiniest mouth and the sweetest eyes. He has been giving me slow blinks. He is definitely scared, which is understandable. He does calm down after I have been in the room for a few minutes.
I decided that I wanted Easter theme names for the mommy and her babies. I settled on calling mommy Easter and the little black kitty is Lily and the gray one is Cactus. Mommy is still at the facility, so I am unsure of her demeanor yet. Lily and Cactus are settling in. Lily is still a little hissy when I first approach the crate. She quickly settles down when I pick her up. Cactus is the more “social”. She was the first to play with me. I am confident that they will be completely social and spoiled in just a few days.
The Next Chapter…
This is only the beginning of Easter, Lily, Cactus and Toby’s story. It is only the 1st chapter in their new adventure. Be on the lookout for updates on my social media. I will do a follow up blog in a couple of weeks and let everyone know how things are progressing with Easter and Toby.
Sadly, this will not be the last cat rescue story. Kitten season has been in full swing for over a month now. Unfortunately, there will be many more cats and kittens that will need to be rescued. Maybe one day we will get a handle on this issue. Until then…
“No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” – Aesop
LOVED this blog. I can’t wait to hear the continuing story and what happens with this little family. It’s always so hard to have to release them, but that’s the best for them if they can’t be, what I call, turned (socialized) 😻. I just know the babies are definitely going to become VIPs and have the chance to live a beautiful life with a family and not on the streets. Yay!!!!!!
I also loved your quote at the end about no act of kindness is too small. Sometimes David and I get so frustrated and depressed because we keep trying to do good, but it never seems to be enough. Yesterday one of the community cats at the YMCA got really sick and he had to be put to sleep. He had been hiding and finally came out of the woods. I think he knew he needed our help to pass. Our friend took him in yesterday. I cry every time we lose one.
You are an angel Lora Lee and just wanted to let you know. You deserve a cape! You are a true super hero!
Aww!! Thank you! It does seem like a never-ending battle. It is always so hard when we see them suffering. Just know that each cat that you reach is a life saved. We have to think about it in a way of a small drop of water in the ocean. We are all doing what we can for these forgotten babies and that means the world to them. You and David keep your heads up.
[…] Both mommy and son will need to stay with me a at least another week until our next clinic. I will then make a decision about their future. The kittens will stay with me until they are old enough to receive their vaccinations and surgeries. Then they will find their forever homes. My time commitment for this group will be a little over a month. You can read about their rescue here. […]
[…] you read my Easter Weekend Cat Family Rescue, you know that I have 2 fosters kittens. These 2 little babies are dependent upon me to provide […]
[…] little cat family that was living at the school that I teach at. You can read about their rescue here. It has been almost a month and I thought I would give you a cat rescue update on where this little […]