Kim and I helped Melanie TNR her Avondale colony just over two months ago. We trapped 17 cats in one weekend.

That’s way too many cats, which is why Melanie contacted me. Five of those 17 cats are no longer on the street, including four kittens admitted to PAWS Chicago, and Cowbella, who is being fostered by Kim and currently available for adoption. That’s an immediate almost 30% reduction in the size of this colony, not to mention all of the cats that will no longer be born from the female cats and Katler, the queen mama supreme cat.

Katler was named after her cute little Charlie Chaplin mustache, and then we named the colony after her. Since then, Melanie sent us updates and photos on how the colony is doing now. We LOVE updates! Katler is still the star.

Here she is now in the back, surrounded by her grown litters. Or, as Melanie describes them, looking like a rock band, called:  Katler and the Kittlens.

And then they like to ham it up all over her yard.

Since their TNR Melanie asked us to purchase cat shelters made out of Rubbermaid bins for the colony. Chinny enjoyed his immediately.

Melanie also included an extra donation to not only cover the price, but to use to help other colonies. Thank you, Melanie! We look forward to hearing more adventures from Katler and the Kittlens.

These four kittens from the Charlie Chaplin Colony were scooped up by Melanie T. while while we were trapping the rest of the cats that she feeds back in October.

They’ve been in foster care ever since, first with my friend Jennifer T., another feral cat colony caregiver in my Humboldt Park neighborhood, and then with Kim V., who lives close to Melanie in Avondale. We’ve done A LOT of TNR in Avondale this year.

Last week the kittens were all admitted into PAWS Chicago’s no-kill shelter and were adopted almost immediately, which was no surprise. These photos show why. We’re so happy to get four more kittens off the street and wish them the best in their new lives off the street!

Melanie emailed me mid-October looking for help for the cats on her block in Avondale. When I looked up her address I knew we HAD to help her – she lived just a few blocks from my rescue partner, Kim, and three other colonies we did this summer: the Big Daddy Colony, the Polska Kittens Colony, and the Wild Wild West Colony. Coincidence? Nope. This area has a huge cat overpopulation problem but it can be contained with diligent, consistent TNR and colony management. We’re already well on our way. About 30% of the cats we trapped this summer from here were admitted into no-kill shelters.

Melanie estimated were 7-10 cats coming to her yard, but she knew there could be more. She also knew there was a mama cat and kittens, because they visited at one point recently. That means the kittens were just weaned. When she inquired about the costs, Melanie offered to sponsor any care as needed. She just lost her beloved pet cat, Lumpy, very recently, and wanted to continue the care of the outdoor cats in her honor.

Just look at beautiful Lumpy. As Melanie explained, “Not to brag, but she was the funniest, chattiest, softest, best beast on the entire planet. Sigh. I miss her terribly. And yes, she would always sit like this. The best!” We agree! She was gorgeous!

Melanie told Kim and I that an elderly Polish neighbor left cat food every morning in her front yard, which is why the cats were congregating their in the first place.

We asked her to communicate as best as she could with everyone to stop feeding the cats for a day or two. She didn’t know who the Polish lady was,… yet. When we arrived as planned at 5am on a Friday morning, we saw the food on her front steps.

We threw out the food, and set up the traps regardless. Melanie has a beautiful yard and garden, perfect for the cats to hang out and hide in. And perfect to keep traps hidden in.

We set up traps in her front yard.

And we set up traps in her back yard.

While we were setting up traps in her back yard, we heard the ones in the front yard snapping shut immediately.

TNR was ON.

We trapped five cats that day. Cats started visiting from all around us.

This one came by to hang out under my car. Yup, we got her.

We set up a Cats In My Yard sign on Melanie’s front gate to explain to everyone what we were doing. It’s translated in Spanish and Polish. We saw A LOT of people stopping to read the sign. Everyone was into it and gave us the thumbs up after reading it, or asked us more questions. It’s a great way to spread awareness of your TNR project in the neighborhood.

All of the neighbors were into what we were doing, and we have plans to trap in their yards. The elderly Polish feeder came by, and agreed to stop feeding for the weekend. She is also going to show us all of the other places that she feeds cats!

The next day we set up traps again at 5am and got another four cats. At this point we had nine cats trapped for TNR.

During that time, a little cat came wobbling up to us. Clearly something was wrong with her because she was walking very funny, and we were lucky to trap her. I’ll write more about her and her injuries later.

Melanie also trapped the mama cat and found her four kittens in a garage down the street from her with the help of neighbors. I’ll also be writing about the kittens more later.

The whole weekend the cats stayed in my garage in their traps in preparation for PAWS Chicago’s low-cost TNR clinic.

The next day we were ready to bring the healthy adult cats to PAWS. That morning Melanie trapped one last cat, so there were now a total of eleven cats going there. Jim helped us out with transport.

All eleven of these cats were TNR’d, then recovered at Kim’s house, and returned to Melanie’s yard.

Katler is the gorgeous mama cat, whose kittens are now in foster care for eventual admission into PAWS.

Big Tux Jackson is the big male eleventh cat who was trapped at the eleventh hour at the last minute.

Tommy Two Ears is a fairly friendly male cat who lost most of his ears from fighting, frost bite, or who knows what from being on the streets. We’ll be keeping an eye on him to see if he’s interested in being in an indoor home – it’s hard to tell for now.

Chinny is another male cat that seems fairly friendly. We tested him for FIV/FeLV, and he was negative. We’ll also be keeping an eye on him to see if he’s interested in being adopted into a new permanent indoor home.

Inky 1 is a black male cat, identical to his brothers, Inky 2 and Inky 3. Fun fact: he loves to shred newspapers into tiny pieces, hiss and lunge whenever he can, and emits bathroom deposits in impressively huge quantities. Cleaning his trap while he was in it was quite a comedic endeavor.

The funny part was Melanie was well aware that there are three black cats. She just named them all of the same.

Here’s Inky 2, also male. 

And Inky 3, also male.

Melanie thought there was one tabby cat, but little did she know there were two.

Here’s Wee Tab, a female brown tabby.

And Alt Tab, her female brown tabby sister or doppelgänger.

Then check out Big Skinny, a male grey tabby.

And Little Skinny, a female torbie. Fun fact: this girl ate more than anyone.

In the meantime, Melanie purchased a few outdoor shelters from Kim for her yard to help the TNReturned colony cats stay warm in the winter, and set up a permanent feeding station in her front yard.

We are excited to continue TNR with Melanie and all of her neighbors on the block. Working with such kind neighbors is a dream come true when you are doing TNR.

I’ll also be updating soon about what is happening with the four kittens and injured cat. We also know there are more cats out there from this colony. Please contact us if you’d like to help, 773-609-CATS (2287) or [email protected]

Or donate through the Paypal button at the top of this page or through [email protected]

We first met Cowbella, wobbling and weaving her way towards us, while trapping the Charlie Chaplin Colony 5am on a cold Saturday morning last fall.

It was still pretty dark out so we weren’t sure what we were seeing. Cowbella walked as if she was drunk. We knew immediately something was wrong.

We trapped her right away, along with 16 other cats and kittens that weekend from same yard. Despite everything else then going on while trapping, Kim took Cowbella straight to Elmhurst Animal Care Center to be looked at, rather than the clinic to be TNR’d.

X-rays confirmed she had a broken pelvis.

The injury was very new, and may have just happened that morning or night. We got her just in time as Cowbella was in no shape to be walking, and would be an easy target outside.

Cowbella is still just an older kitten. She tested FIV-/FeLV-. Dr. Harris explained that she should stay crated and rested to allow her shock and injury to heal. She could not be spayed until then. Even though she was terrified and acted accordingly, she could not be put back outside. We trust Dr. Harris’ expert opinion implicitly and followed his instructions. Cowbella was contained in a large crate in Kim’s house.

And she did pretty well. Kim even put the Charlie Chaplin kitten litter in the same room with her after awhile to keep her company. She seemed to enjoy watching their antics.

And why not? She probably knew them from outside, and we think she was part of an older litter born to the same mother earlier that year before we TNR’d.

In mid-December Kim took Cowbella for a check-up to Elmhurst again, where x-rays revealed her pelvis had healed and did not require surgery.

She would not be able to jump or run very well, but was ready to be spayed. Because of her mobility issues and the danger it puts her in, she should never be put back outside. Cowbella needs to be an indoor only cat.

I consulted with Jenny Nahrwald, assistant director at PAWS Chicago’s Spay Lurie Clinic, and her opinion on Cowbella. She then consulted with Dr. Von Waldau, their chief vet, who agreed to do her spay surgery for free with a careful examination. Cowbella was spayed just the other week and Jenny transported her afterwards to Kim’s home. Once again, we are so grateful for the care and help PAWS Chicago has provided for us for more than a decade with many of the cats we rescue off of the street.

Cowbella is now recovered from her spay surgery and up to date on all vaccinations. She is a shy, sweet girl that loves to be scratched under the chin, and seeks out pets once she’s comfortable. She definitely likes other cats. She has a lot of energy because she is still very young, but knows how to move carefully because of her past ordeal. She will make a wonderful pet with the right person who will give her time to learn about her new indoor home.

If you’re interested in adopting Cowbella or would like to meet her, please call us at 773-609-2287, or email me at [email protected]

Cowbella’s total vet bills with Elmhurst were $165. We are so grateful to them for such expert care and reasonable costs with everything they’ve done. If you’d like to make a donation to help us help more cats like Cowbella, please click on the PayPal link at the top of this page, or through [email protected]

Thank you all you have donated so far! We could not do this without you.

On the second early morning of trapping the Charlie Chaplin Colony, Cowbella came wobbling and stumbling up to Melanie’s yard. Kim and I knew immediately something was wrong with her because of the way she was moving.

Luckily, Cowbella pretty much went into a trap immediately because she was hungry. Kim took her straight to our friend, Dr. James Harris, at Elmhurst Animal Care Center.

According to Dr. Harris, Cowbella has “a nasty pelvic fracture, that doesn’t seem super painful, and not much can be done surgically. She’ll likely be functional in the long run but will never walk right.” Here’s her x-ray.

He recommended she rest for about two and a half months, giving a chance for her bones to mend on their own. She should not be spayed until then either. Kim set her up in a dog crate in her house to rest. This presents a conundrum as so far Cowbella is acting feral. Even if she stays inside for a few months until she can be spayed, she will have to definitely stay inside until spring because she won’t have her winter fur coat anymore to keep her warm. Even then, putting her back out after being inside for that long isn’t really an option. Cowbella is only about 5-6 months old – she’s not old enough to have her environment imprinted on her and remember it months later. Most likely she’ll just get used to the dog crate, which isn’t much of a life either, except for short term.

Also, we’re not sure how fast she can run to defend herself. Even worse, there’s a chance that she may not be using her back legs at all any more and is paralyzed. We think we may have trapped very soon after getting hit by a car, perhaps, and her body was still working. It is hard to tell as she does not move in front of us. But when we leave, she is eating, sometimes using the litter box, and sometimes just defecating on the papers. We can’t really get her to move so we’re looking to borrow a camera for the room.

We are grateful to Melanie for covering Cowbella’s care so far. Dr. Harris and the Elmhurst Animal Care Center are excellent and affordable. Along with the x-ray, we tested Cowbella for FIV/FeLV and she is negative. The total bill for her so far is $105.

If you’d like to donate to help us help more cats like Cowbella, you can do so at the Paypal donation button at the top of this page, or through [email protected]

Thank you!