Today we watched this mama cat move her kittens around from an abandoned garage, to outside of a basement, and back again. 

Joann and I talked to the restaurant owner who feeds the cats, other neighbors, and the grocery store owner where some of the kittens are now. There are estimates of up to 12 kittens within these three buildings. There are more mama cats, who keep moving their kittens around because there’s a lot of activity in this alley. Cats were fighting in the garage where the kittens initially were. Children have found the kittens and tried to play with them. A group of drunk homeless men keep coming by and want to sell them. Things like that.

It was pretty overwhelming, because we spent all day today to check on traps and clean them, transport cats to the spay/neuter clinic, care for cats in traps, and take two cats needing care from a full service vet, costing $661. Just yesterday we managed to get six kittens off the street – they all went to our friend Robin’s home to foster. She is amazing. Kim managed to adopt out two other kittens from here just last week. When we saw there were even more kittens we couldn’t believe it. And there is nothing we could do for them now – they are too little and need to stay with their mamas.

We found part of one litter in this basement. 

We’re going to try to bring some shelters to entice the mama to stay there. Please contact us in the link at the header of this page if you’d like to assist with this project. Thanks!

Gringa, a TNR’d colony cat, was found dead outside Saturday by the Avondale alley we are trapping in.

Gringa was a beautiful cat already TNR’d by Erica from PAWS before we started this project. Gringa was being fed regularly by George, a man who drives from somewhere else to feed in this alley twice a day.

Joann got to know Gringa during last week when she was trying to trap intact cats there with a drop trap.

Gringa had a lot of fun playing with the string.

In true small world fashion, although we didn’t know it at the time, our friend Maribeth B. found Gringa’s body on Saturday, talked to neighbors, and placed her in a dumpster because she didn’t know what else to do. Maribeth lives close to this project and we’ve been in touch throughout.

The following photos may be upsetting to some people.

Before we knew that happened, though, another neighbor called Joann about Gringa. Joann and Kim went to retrieve the body. This is the second dead cat found in this area in the past week. Joann saw the blood left behind where Gringa was on the parkway.

Joann and Kim took Gringa to MedVet Chicago, just like Ivan. The vet determined this time that Gringa was definitely hit and killed by a car. There were tire tread marks on her body.

The vet was pretty shook up himself. He said that in the past three days, he has seen six cats hit by cars, most of them were people’s pets. We don’t know of their outcomes. But he said that in 35 years of practice as a vet, this past week has been the hardest on him. I implore everyone to keep their pet cats inside. This is not just “weird coincidences” happening at this colony. This is happening everywhere. Of course, colony cats need to remain outside because they are feral. Being hit by a car is one of the many dangers they face, but like other wild animals, a lot of them know to fear and avoid cars.

MedVet was able to dispose of her body properly and without charge. We are so grateful for their help.

Later that day we talked to Maribeth, and figured out that Gringa was the cat she found earlier. We are grateful that neighbors are trying to watch out for these cats.

RIP, Gringa.

We brought the kittens from the Avondale TNR Project to PAWS Chicago for their second round of vaccinations. They ended up needing a little more vetting than that.

These kittens are hilarious. Robin has been fostering them and keeping track of their shenanigans. She sent us photos, and I couldn’t tell them apart. I was convinced she was sending me photos of the same two kittens, when in fact there’s six of them. They stayed with me the other night in my bathroom because we had to drive them to PAWS for their vet appointment the next day.

When you see them in person, then it makes more sense. There are some true look-alikes in there. Also, they’re hard to keep track of and rarely stop moving, in true kitten fashion. Robin said that when they run they look and sound like “a herd of stampeding orange elephants.”

My bathroom is tiny so they didn’t have as many places to go to. In the morning I found them all in the sink.

Yes, there’s five kittens in there. The sixth orange one was who knows where at this point.

Some of the kittens are more relaxed than others, and they started posing for close-ups. 

Some are more fearful than others, like this tiny little guy, but it really depends on what situation they’re in. Robin has been working really hard on socializing them.

Basically there are two litters, and the older, larger litter is more social at this point.

In the car and carriers somehow they are even more hard to keep track of. The orange ones were all over the place. It was like an orange kitten convention.

The creamsicle kittens were more photogenic this time.

Joann and I took them to PAWS where they determined that all six kittens are boys! They received their second round of vaccinations, and saw they were starting to get URI, upper respiratory infections. They sent them all home with two weeks worth of doxycycline. They are back with Robin who is busy socializing them more and administering the meds daily for each of them. She is amazing!

Their next appointment at PAWS is this June 30th.

Robin F. has been fostering the six kittens trapped from the Avondale TNR Project ever since they were first brought to PAWS Chicago’s clinic.

We are so grateful to have her as a foster and her expertise in socializing! The kittens have come a long way since being born in an old garage in Avondale. They were pretty scared when they were first trapped.

Now they’re all very playful, although some are still more shy than others.

I still can’t tell them apart, but I’m hoping to remedy that tonight. Joann and I are picking them up now from Robin’s house, and they’re going to spend the night here at my house. Then tomorrow we’re taking them to PAWS for their second round of vaccinations and possible admission. Fingers crossed their appointment goes well!

Check out their head shots. Yes, every single one of these is a different kitten.

Robin F. agreed to foster and socialize all six of the kittens from the Avondale TNR Project that were trapped last week.

Joann spent Memorial Day picking up the kittens from the clinic and dropping them straight off to Robin. The photos are just now starting to trickle in. First up is this adorable orange boy.

Robin is a pro – she already holds the esteemed title of the Fischer School of Feral Felines Socialization for us.

We can’t wait to see more! We are so grateful to Robin! So far 16 cats have been trapped here, and with her help, less than half of them will be returned back outside so far. TNR works!