People ask me how I find all of these cats. Sometimes, the cats find me, but once you know where to look, it is unfortunately very easy to find them yourself. Step one is when you see a cat, just follow him, and chances are he will take you straight to his colony.

I travel for work. This week I ended up in downtown Billings, MT. I decided to go for a run, and ended up in a quiet residential area. My run was not going very well because I am not used to the dry heat or the elevation there. So I slowed down and soon enough saw a black cat cross my path. I followed him, and saw him dart into some bushes.

Then he ran across the street and led me straight to a “cat house.”

The Cat House was next to an abandoned house, so I just walked into their yard and immediately saw some more cats. This one led me down a path. He had a collar on and seemed pretty curious about me.

Orange you going to follow me?

Another cat did not want anything to do with me.

This cat was checking me out from the next yard.

The orange cat was clearly the owner of the Cat House and blended right in.

Gnomes!

No one was home to talk to about TNR, but these cats were clearly cared for and I can only hope they were spayed and neutered as well.

Callie the kitten was found two blocks away from me. She was actually on the same block as the Rockstar Colony so I’ll have to find out if there are more cats that need to be TNR’ed there. She is underweight with sore paws, so it looks like she was wandering around for awhile. She followed one of my neighbors home, and is available for adoption. Tonight she is resting at Tree House Humane Society’s clinic for vaccinations, spay surgery if needed, and a thorough check-up. As you can see, Callie is very comfortable here and wants to stay inside.

I can get used to this.

I’ve actually kept up with my new running regime this year. This Chicago winter was probably the best winter ever to start. We have had nothing but great weather, and it is amazing to enjoy the spring now in full bloom. Even the sidewalks look pretty.

Thank you! You look pretty good yourself.

The hardest thing about running in my area is, um, staying on track, so to speak, because I keep getting sidetracked by cat sightings, and meeting other neighbors who are also trying to help the cats. A few weeks ago I actually saw a homemade feral villa on a neighbor’s front porch.

It’s perfect! Does this person TNR, or have feral cats in their yard? I found out yesterday when I ran by and she was sitting on her stoop reading to her kids. It turns out this neighbor used to have a feral kitten living on their block, but the kitten didn’t make it through the winter. Since then she has not seen many more cats but they kept the villa just in case. I’m so happy to have found one more neighbor that wants to help the cats in their yard.