I hesitate to talk about this because stray cats can be so heartbreaking. We adopted one in the past and had a great two years with her before she disappeared without a trace. We had to capture her and her three kittens, take them all in and get them fixed, etc. It was…beyond challenging.

Lately there’s been another mom cat scurrying through our yard. We started the long process of trying to feed her because it was pretty obvious she wasn’t getting enough food. Within a week, her kitten completely disappeared. It’s a dangerous world out there for feral cats trying to survive on the leftover scraps of other pets. At any rate, we continued to feed the mom and have gotten her used to stopping in the yard to look for food. We’ve even gotten the three days worth of dewormer down her…a bit off schedule, but you don’t really get to schedule regular cats, never mind feral strays that may or may not pass through.

Here’s a picture–not a very good one. We’ve gotten closer to her than this picture. She came over near the garden to see what I was doing one morning and she sat and watched me for about an hour. She runs only about 3 yards away now when we come out with food–unless something spooks her. So we’ll see how the process goes. She may disappear without a trace. I know that trapping her is going to be very difficult. Cats are quite smart and they don’t like entering the trap. We never would have caught the other cat except her kittens went in the trap. We then used them to get her. She was mad at us for weeks over that trick…

Time for an update on Project Cat. Scamp is doing quite well. She’s been dewormed via secretly inserting dewormer into a tuna treat. She is now appearing on a regular basis for food and is even taking her meals on the porch.

She scampers off at the least perceived threat which still includes any movement by the humans, a loud noise from the neighbor’s yard, too many things happening at once or just for the hell of it. She will allow the humans to sit quietly on the porch, but does scamper off now and then to test the humans to see if they will give chase. She will pretend to approach the humans, sit just a few feet out of reach and then scamper off even though no threat is posed. She still does not spend significant time in the yard. A very busy cat, she runs off to do errands right after she eats.

On at least two occasions now, she picked my cantaloupe for me and rolled them around the garden. You would think they were too big to be toys to such a small cat, but apparently she finds it great fun. I haven’t seen that she is the actual perpetrator of these crimes, but there are tiny claw marks on the evidence in question and even a rather healthy gouge that could be teeth marks or claws that got stuck while playing.

The goal is to catch her and have her fixed and then release her again. Once she has been fixed and defleaed, the problems are minimized. Of course, we’re quite a long ways from catching her, I think.

Initially, Scamp had a setback this month. She disappeared for a few days. We knew one of the neighbors had spotted her and he told us she was living in his yard. We let him know we were trying to take care of her…but obviously Scamp was disturbed at being spotted.

She did show back up, but her timing was different, making it hard to feed her. We can’t leave food out in the daytime because the birds eat it. At night…there are things in the night like opossums and raccoons.

After over a week, she finally started settling down, but always ate and ran. I knew she had kittens, but my husband said I was guessing. Yeah, well.

Over the last two days, when Scamp was eating, she was easily distracted, running over to the fence or otherwise stopping and running off to check something.

Last night, she showed up at dusk as usual. Lo and behold, there was a tiny shadow. We didn’t get to see what color it was because it was too dark. And small. Very small.

This morning, Scamp brought out her little one in the daylight (well barely, it was pretty early.) We were worried the little one wouldn’t be able to get to the bowl of food, so we disturbed them and put out some soft food. After running off, eventually they both came back. They both ate the soft food and then the went back to the dry food. The little one couldn’t reach into the bowl, but silly us. It just climbed on into the bowl and ate!

King of the trees? The little kitten played very hard all over the yard the other day. He comes and goes under the fence via a bit of dug out area. Mom follows him, pounces on him, directs him in the fine art of lizard catching, scolds him when he runs too far and generally shows him the ropes. We’re pretty sure the kitten is male, but probably won’t know 100 percent until we catch him. If we catch him. Boy he moves around an awful lot. He blends in perfectly with fallen leaves. He scoots back and forth under the fence. His favorite game appears to be “catch mom’s tail.”

It’s pretty amazing to watch the little guy climb a tree. He’s so small, he doesn’t seem strong enough, but he hops right up like he’s sauntering in the park.

I’ll try to get some better pictures, but the little guy is still pretty wary. Even talking to him through the open window causes him to scamper off or climb higher in a tree. He’s a bouncing ball of fur, looking a lot like a fuzzy chick.

We know better than to get too attached–it’s a dangerous world out there for kittens this age and this particular kitten seems to know no fear! Mom is keeping a good eye on him, but there are other critters around that could cause him some problems. We’ll keep them fed and try to get them to trust us so that they can get some shots and get fixed. I’m not looking forward to that particular phase of project cat.

Well, we are making a little progress, but it is slow. Scamp would like to spend more time in the yard near the food, but Junior is still very skittish–and energetic. Yesterday, we watched mom nudge him into the yard three times. Junior took one look around and promptly scurried back under the fence. We’re not sure if Junior is afraid or if he finds the game delightful. Given that he spends most of his time running, jumping and cavorting, I suspect the latter.

As for eating, he is showing up at the bowl at least once a day now, usually after dark. He was round this morning though. As you can see, (click on photos for larger image) he has finally figured out that if he puts one or two feet in the bowl, it works. When he climbs in the bowl entirely, he can’t get to the food and ends up knocking either himself over, the bowl or both!

He is also very interested in the birds at the feeder. He has not started jumping at them (trust me, he doesn’t stand a chance) but when he sits still long enough, he notices them and is quite fascinated.

The kitties were here all day yesterday (click on pictures to see full view). Sadly, most of the pictures were through the window, so some of the best shots…didn’t make it. They sat right outside the big window and played “catch mom’s tail” but unfortunately, that window has a dark screen on it. At any rate, Junior has made some good progress. He doesn’t run when he sees us in the window. He doesn’t like it when the windows are open and we talk to him. If we open the door, he’s off like a shot, while mom stays back and gives us the evil eye. She even hisses at us if Junior is too close by when we take the food out. That’s still progress–at least she’s talking to us!

We’re thinking about buying a used cat tree to put outside under the porch to give them a bit more shelter. Mom and Junior are going to need some protection if it ever rains here again. Our porch covering is about 20 inches–not enough for a cat to be protected. If they can climb up under the eaves, they might feel protected. We’ve tried dog igloos before, but cats aren’t partial to dens that have only one exit. The noise of the rain on the plastic might bother them too, who knows. All I know is that they have not used anything similar that we’ve offered in the past. If anyone has any ideas on this, let us know. We have always wished the house had a nice covered back porch, but we aren’t going to start building one now!

The orginal plan was to get a cat tree and put it out under the eaves. Have you seen what cat trees cost??? We are still considering making our own. I’ve seen several plans that I like. The trouble? Well, who is to say that Scamp and Junior will give one whit about a cat tree? They live outdoors. They have a lot of trees to choose from.

The idea is to give them a shelter than they will use so that they stay in the yard longer, get used to us and so on. I’m still looking for a cheap cat tree on craigslist or at a garage sale, but in the meantime, we built them a temporary castle. Junior likes to play around the side of the house in the cinder blocks that are holding up my rain barrels. I decided to put the extra cinder blocks to use.

So far, he seems to like the idea. I’ve seen him shoot in there like a little bullet when I come out with the food. The other night, an opossum showed up to steal his food. I turned on the porch light (hoping to scare the opossum–no such luck. Damn thing didn’t even look up.) Junior was peering out from one of the concrete block tunnels, watching the affair unfold. He was no help at all in chasing off the rat with a tail.

I’ve seen Scamp chase little Junior into the castle when they were playing.  She also sent him there one time when I came out with food (she hisses and distracts me while he makes a break for it.  — Never mind he has to cross right in front of me to get to the castle; cats aren’t very good with minor details.)

We’ll see how it goes. I’d like to figure out a solution before it gets cold. Yes, I realize this is for my own peace of mind. The cats don’t actually care. I’d also like to get the both of them to the vet…yesterday, but they really don’t care for that idea.

Little Junior is getting brave. We sat outside while they were eating. It’s the first time they’ve let us go out and sit without running away. Junior wandered over our way. He’d sit and watch and watch. Then he’d SNiiiiff as hard as he could trying to smell us. I thought he was going to collapse a rib, he was sniffing so hard. He finally came under the chair next to me and peeked around the leg. I dangled my fingers (good way to get them clawed, I know). He didn’t run, but he didn’t try to get me either.

We played this “bravery” game for a little while before he decided he had risked enough for one day. He went back to mom. She was calm through the whole episode, just lying on a rock, watching. She pretends nonchalance, but we know we are being watched. 

We’re really hoping that once Junior gets used to us, mom will too.  But she’s a Scamp.  It could take a while.

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Well, I know I’ve been waiting. Junior finally engaged with us–he played for a good half hour. We were forced to go buy a new cat toy–the one we had is from a previous stray and was pretty worn out. After BMHusband played with Junior, I played with him a little later. He forgets to be wary. We were both able to grab his tail and shake it a bit. I patted him on the butt–he turned right around to try and figure that out!!!! After a great and successful day as this, the cats disappeared for two days. Mom came by briefly, ate a few quick bites and left immediately during the two days. We wondered if Junior was okay, but we just can’t know those things.

Finally this morning, they showed back up on their more regular schedule. Junior played again, but it was pretty half-heartedly. I grabbed his tail and shook it a few times. We left the back door open. He did come in and out, testing things. He doesn’t roam far, but he did check out a hiding place under a chair (not safe if we were to sit down) and behind the couch.

This means that we’re going to have to nab him and get him some flea drops delivered. Luckily, I think we’re close to that point, at least with the little guy. Mom, well, she took a very half-hearted swing at the toy once or twice. She still keeps her distance and her guard up. We’ve a lot more work to do there.

I’d like to say I’m encouraged, but I fret a LOT about whether they have worms, whether we can get a vet to fix them on the cat’s schedule (meaning, will they take them with a last minute call when we have the cats in hand–most vets want to examine the cat, give them shots AND THEN spay/neuter them on a different visit. With strays, we’ll be lucky to catch them once. ) So I’m working on a lot of angles. I did order some flea stuff that will also deworm them. We thought we had mom dewormed, but it’s been a while now so it would be great make sure that is under control!

Someday I’ll look back on this and laugh…

The cat trap was all ready to go this morning (never mind that there were no actual cats around.) We had it in the garage, tested the electronic gizmo that BMHusband installed on the door. The way it would work, in theory, is that a door is held open with a peg. Someone pushes a button, the peg slides back, the door slams/slides down. It worked great. Right up until the motor in the brand-spankin’ new part fried.

Why did it fry you ask? Well, it sure as hell wasn’t overuse. We’d only gotten to test the door about three times. BMHusband says it’s because it isn’t meant to be left on–it’s supposed to be a short-acting draw of power. Yeah, well, I think it was part quality–lack there-of. It had been “left on” less than a minute while I walked from the living room to the garage.

Grump.

We have a backup part coming in today. We didn’t know we’d need it, but BMHusband and I both tend to overcompensate when inventing and planning. We design things…okay, overdesign things, with at least two options, sometimes more. So. Maybe tomorrow.

My backup plan is to contact the Street Cat Rescue and borrow a different kind of trap from them (one where the whole trap comes down, instead of the doors.) The lady there claims the trap works great–and if this one fails for some reason or another–we’re going to need to change the environment to trick the cats again.

No stress or anything.

Would someone tell the cats to just hop in the cage, shut the door and we’ll just get this show on the road????

Well, we did it! Half of it anyway. We were working on the cat trap all morning–the new parts came, but they didn’t do what we needed either. So…we went low-tech. We made a metal hook, tied a string on it and ran the string through the window. Mom cat was in the yard most of the day without Junior. When she finally popped over to get water about one o’clock, BMHusband said, “She’s going to go eat next. We could pull the string now.”

Would the vet take her? Was it too late in the day? What about Junior? What if we missed and she escaped????

Before we knew it, there she was, eating.

Bam! BMHusband pulled the string. She was trapped! And boy was she MAD. She panicked when we went out, clawed her way all around that cage trying to get out. We latched the door and then gave her some breathing room. I called the vet, Premier Animal Hospital. BMHusband readied the vehicle. The vet, the wonderful Dr. Daigle and Dr. Whitehill, said YES. We started to lift the cage and Scamp PANICKED. Hmm. More engineering. Yes, we stopped to engineer. It’s what we DO.

Couple of tie-wraps made for some quick handles. This meant we didn’t need to risk fingers in the cage where mom was likely to chew them off.

We got her in the back of the SUV with minimal hassle. She still wasn’t happy, but she was calming down. Twenty minutes to the vet. Paperwork. We brought her to the back room and handed her over.

Two hours later–TWO–Premier Animal Hospital called. Scamp was ready to come home! Those people at the vet clinic are gifts, pure and simple.  The staff at the front desk, the techs, the doctors–all wonderful.  Every single person we dealt with was kind, helpful and supportive.

We high-tailed it back there and brought her home. She went straight into the back bathroom, still in the cage. We left her there for just over an hour to let her get used to the place. After that, we took the door off the cage, but I don’t think she left the cage until I went back in again an hour later. I tried not to startle her (yeah, right). She hopped up on the windowsill and gave me the big, glassy eyed look.

At last check, that’s where she was, only on the next check, she was relaxed and looked like she had been sleeping. She has to stay indoors until the drugs wear off–probably until about 3 or 4 tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile…Junior showed up to eat at dark. We told him where mom was, but he didn’t look very convinced. As expected, he was quite nervous. We probably could have trapped him, but since he’d just be in the cage all night, we decided to hope he shows up tomorrow. Once in a while he does show up before noon–sometimes he shows up early afternoon. If he doesn’t, we’ll have to nab him at night, but let’s all hope for the best!!!!

Halfway home. What a relief. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Just after I put a brownie dessert in the oven–say ten minutes into the 45 minute cooking time, Junior showed up at the feeding pen (read: trap). Sigh. When raising wild animals you gotta do what you gotta do. The brownies had to be turned off. As you know, brownies and cakes don’t do well with partial cooking and then reattempts. They are rather gummy.

But enough about my dessert.

Junior went right in, we pulled the string and we had him at noon! I called Premier Animal Hosital…but the vet didn’t think they could fit him in today…GROAN. But they did agree to take him even if he had to say in the pen overnight. It was good news/bad news all the way going.

We got him there, and the vet had made a slot for him. Yah! By the time we got home, they called with a complication…Junior hadn’t dropped both testicles so it was going to be more expensive and more invasive surgery than planned…and it might not work…and…and. There were some big question marks, but there was nothing to do but move forward. The Dr. Whitehill suggested we wait and bring him back in next month, but there is just no way to be sure we can get him again. It also wouldn’t make the procedure any less expensive since we’d just be doing it twice.

We told mom Scamp that Junior was on his way soon. She hissed at us. Yah! That’s progress because she’s awake enough to be talking and complaining!

We’ll keep them both inside overnight. Mom Scamp will get an extra day of indoor recovery, but I suspect she will be a LOT happier once we get Junior in there with her, even if Junior is groggy.

The young recover faster anyway. When we trapped Junior, he was rather upset, clawed the cage and gave a pretty good howl. Once he figured out that he couldn’t get out, he decided to go ahead and eat…

He meowed and complained most of the way to the vet’s office. Mom never peeped when we took her. Junior actually finished the food in the bowl and then set about asking to be let out. He doesn’t talk very loud, but he was pretty good at pathetic.

Both Junior and mom Scamp are doing great. The plan is to release them sometime around noon if all goes well. They will be thrilled to be back on their home turf able to come and go as they please. The experts tells us that now that they are fixed, they will roam less. We’ll see. They are both young scamps and full of energy. We’re hopeful they will start spending more time in the yard, but they are cats and none to tame. I’ll update this post when they make their way outside later today!

Update: 4:55 p.m.

We opened up the doors at 11:30. The cats were very busy sleeping and could not be bothered to show even a sliver of interest. We left the bathroom door open most of the afternoon and checked on them periodically. Out cold most of the time, barely lifting their heads to make sure we weren’t getting too close. Yes, they were greatly in fear of us, only waiting until we left to sleep some more.

Finally about 4:30, Scamp crept out and appeared in the living room. She went to the front door (screened) and peered out. She turned to look at me as though to say, “You mean, I’ve been here this entire time???”

I told her I’d get up and open the back door so she could go out, but the minute I stood up, she scampered back to the relative safety of the bathroom. I heard Junior ask her what happened. About ten minutes later, she re-appeared, this time with Junior in tow. He took one look at me and back to the bathroom he went. Mom Scamp, on the other hand, had already seen me so she did some sniffing around. She stared mighty hard at the now open back door. Junior reappeared, recognized the couch and dodged behind it (he’s been there before when we let them explore inside to try and adjust to us).

Mom didn’t take long to go out the back way. First thing she did with her freedom was eat from the food bowl, placed strategically in its usual place. Yes, she had a perfectly full bowl in the bathroom.

As of this writing, Junior is still behind the couch. Mom is no longer crunching food, but I can’t see where she has gone at the moment.

All is just about perfect in their world at this moment.

So as I mentioned in comments on the last post, mom made it safely out of captivity and into the wild. Junior however, parked himself under the couch and determined that the bathroom was safer and warmer. He fled back there after about 10 minutes of couch sitting. He settled down and began napping. *shrug* What can you do?

After another night, he did wander back out to the couch pretty early in the morning. We left the door open to the outside, but he wasn’t interested. SIGH. Mom showed up at 10 and ate. She was pretty wary of us (who us???) but she ate, rolled in the dirt and looked around. Junior huddled under the couch, despite the fact that we TOLD him she was out there! I think he might have guessed because he actually meowed once–but mom was too far from the porch at that point to hear him. It really makes you want to smack them sometimes.

We waited and waited. He finally started meowing more–he stuck his head out one end of the couch and then the other. But he WOULD NOT COME OUT. He sat at the edge of the couch and watched. Looked. Went back behind the couch. Came out. Meowed. Sat. Looked out the open door. FINALLY moved to the doorway.

Now. He needs to go find MOM!!!!!

Well, things got different around here! For now, it appears that Junior has moved into the castle. Scamp, who was probably *very* near going into heat has spent her time pushing Junior into independence, mainly by roaming elsewhere and refusing to let him follow. She shows up for food…

It was rather painful to see Junior abandoned (he looked pretty sad, but it could have just been that his butt still hurt!)  We had no say in it either way. We did notice when the cats were installed in the bathroom that mom wasn’t grooming him or getting particularly upset with us when we were near him. Of course, we had noticed her spending less time with Junior the week before we caught her too–and were getting desperate to get her, knowing she had to be close to her next cycle!

Looks like we caught her just in time–last night, a big ole orange tomcat showed up at the food bowl!  We saw him one other time about a month ago.  We have no idea where he belongs (or to whom he belongs!) but we figure he was bar-hopping, looking for action.  HAH!  None here furry feline!  I banished him from the yard.  (There was a lot going on at the food bowl on a Saturday night.  Not only did Scamp stop by, so did the tom and so did a very ugly opossum.  And that was all before eight o’clock!)

I’ve been reading up on cats (of course) and it’s quite possible that as Scamp’s hormones return to lower levels, she will settle down more and possibly spend more time in our yard.  I have no idea how Scamp and Junior will interact at that point.  She isn’t actively mean to him (although she hissed at him when he tried to eat out of her foodbowl.)  In the old days (of a week ago) she used to tolerate that.

So we’ll see.  The good news is that both cats appear to be healthy and working towards a new, improved routine.  Their appetites appear good and they are both moving around.  It may rain here over the next few days, but don’t worry!  Junior’s castle has a roof!  I’m sure he’ll prefer the warmer nights that rainy weather brings.