Outdoor Cat Colonies Crossover

Today was a beautiful sunny winter day so I decided to go for a run. I ran by the Peacock Colony and saw Checkers lounging in someone’s yard. No matter what else is going on in there, I can always find the cats in other people’s yards. Checkers is actually part of the Eleanor Rigby Colony two blocks away.

Checkers

Checkers

I TNR’ed Checkers four years ago, December 17th, 2008 at PAWS Chicago. You can see him checking out the traps along with the other community cats here.

Hami says:
March 15, 2014 at 9:21 pm

My next neighbors are really mean to animals. They give me a hard time in taking care of stray cats. The stray cats like to go to their yards and they would scream at me for not locking the cats up.

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Vanessa says:
March 29, 2014 at 11:48 am

I am sorry to hear this. Are the cats TNR’d? You may want to look up local resources for help. Alley Cat Allies is a good place to start: http://www.alleycat.org/page.aspx?pid=444

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Chiminea Cat

Honey Bouncy Bear found a new use for our chiminea. She’s a part of our James’ Gang Colony and has been coming to our yard regularly since being TNR’ed in May of 2011 at PAWS Chicago.

You weren’t going to use this for anything else, were you?

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Update on Hoarder Home

The hoarder home owners of the Stealers Wheel Colony have become unpredictable and the indoor TNR part of this project will have to wait until after the holidays. This project is much more than I can handle on my own.

They are not just hoarders. There are many, many other problems in this house. The landlord lives in the building and walked away when I asked her if she wanted to help. None of the doors have locks on them. Different people come and go without introduction while we are there. I have my suspicions on the causes of these problems, but all I can do is try to help the animals.

My animal rescue neighbor who originally found this house took four of the cats to be TNR’ed. When she brought them back, the hoarder owners refused to take back one of the cats, and made her take another one that they randomly chose. These two cats are now in her spare room and need placement in a shelter or foster home as she is fostering other animals and did not expect this.

They are both male tabby cats, fully vetted, tested negative for FIV-/FeLV-, litter-trained, and dog-friendly.

This is Gigio.

Gigio poses with a tail curl.

This is Marble.

Marble relaxes and shows off his marble tabby stripes.

Marble and Gigio are friends.

These two are checking out their new cat toys.

In fact, these two are friends with everyone.

Sugar the Shih Tzu loves the tabbies, and the tabbies love him right back.

Gigio and Marble come from chaos so nothing seems to faze them – they are having a great time in their foster home and want to meet and play with every human and furry friend that visits them. If you know of anyone who is looking to adopt or foster any of the cats or know of any other ways to help, please let me know.

Pam Pietrowsky says:
December 28, 2012 at 4:17 pm

The West Bucktown Hood Assoc. just posted a little story about this awful situation. I’m just wondering why ACS is getting involved? I’m going to guess that someone has complained or reported the situation, but if the cats are all healthy, would ACS really put them down? Hell, contact PAWS. The other day, I saw on the news that some old man left behind $1.3 million to PAWS and 3 other area no-kill shelters. PAWS was the only shelter in Chicago proper. I posted a plea to my friends on FB, in an attempt to help you…but most ppl I know will likely turn a blind eye. Best of luck, you are doing a good thing.

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Vanessa says:
December 30, 2012 at 2:55 pm

Hi Pam, thanks for the kind words! My original plan was to trap-neuter-return all of the cats back into the house and we have done 9 so far, 2 of which are being fostered by another neighbor. I have contacted PAWS and every other foster organization and no-kill shelter that I know about to foster and/or admit these cats into their program as the owners do not want the cats and this is too many cats for me to handle on my own. The owners have also become unpredictable so I am not currently able to continue this indoor TNR project as planned. Anti-Cruelty Society’s humane investigators and Animal Care and Control Officers have been inside this home and they also agree that the cats appear to be healthy and adoptable, so I’m hoping that will happen with their help. If you know of any organizations that can help foster or admit these cats, please feel free to contact them and I can forward you the information about this house.

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Adopters and Fosterers Needed for Animal Hoarder Home

This week I was alerted to a hoarder home less than five blocks away from me. I counted up to 16 cats (the owners claim there are up to 19 cats), 2 birds and a chihuahua. The entire house looks like the photos below.

Renegade is checking out the birds.


Gidget is looking for food in the kitchen.

This is not just a hoarder home – there seems to be other problems as well. For now the couple that lives here are cooperative with me and want most of the cats adopted out. The best immediate help I can offer is to take the cats to a clinic for spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations to stop the breeding, and return the cats back to them inside. I need help finding foster or forever homes for 16+ cats.

So far we have fixed eight of the cats and returned them to the house. The majority of these cats are completely socialized. They seek attention and are quite playful.

This tabby cat wants belly rubs!

Renegade grooms himself on a cage.

The cat tower is still in use.

The cats are big, appear to be healthy, and get along with each other, even during feeding time.

They are litter trained. They still try to use the litter boxes that were originally there, even though they are dirty and filled with sand, not litter.

We brought new litter boxes and clay litter. The cats used them immediately.

We used traps to bring the cats to the clinic. The cats were calm and curious once inside the traps. Here are just a few of the cats and they are all available for adoption.

Mattie

Toby

Tiger

This is what would be considered an “indoor TNR” project. I am naming this group the Stealers Wheel Colony because I found a sign in the backyard with the lyrics from their song “Stuck in the Middle With You.”

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you.

These cats are stuck in the middle through no fault of their own. If anyone has any leads for adopters or fosterers, or any ideas on how to help, I am all ears.

Careful! It’s a Tru-Catch Trap!

I have amazing, generous, wildly creative friends. Last month one of my bands, noise&light, played a Halloween show at Klas restuarant. My friend from my other band, The Columbines, is the mastermind behind this annual event. This year she organized performances from a dozen bands, delicious Czech food courtesy of Klas, a raffle for some amazing eclectic prizes, and a costume contest. Then she donated half of the proceeds to her charity of choice, Women for Women International, and the other half to help out the cats for TNR!

So far I used this donation to purchase four Tru-Catch traps. These small animal traps are preferred among feral cat trappers for Trap-Neuter-Return TNR projects. This humane trap seems to work best for me when trapping an outdoor feral cat colony, and I can fit four of these in my catty wagon when I take them to spay/neuter clinics.

Mooha approves.

If I can’t get in the box, at least I can sit on top of it.

Mooha is one of my senior indoor cats from La Casa de Vansassa. She is the first to get into everything.

Here’s a Tru-Catch trap in action with the Iron Works Colony.

Hey! He pushed me!

Here’s another look at the traps exposed and baited with food. This is the Eleanor Rigby Colony that I first TNR’ed in 2008. When the colony is hungry, the cats will go in safely without getting hurt.

Project TNR: One day they’re in, and the next day they’re out.

I already have some TNR projects scheduled next month to start using these traps and help get more community cats spayed and neutered.

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Happy TNR Anniversary, Dash!

I found Dash, one of our colony cats, sunning himself in my yard this morning despite the cold. I call this little sitting area the Catio. He definitely has beefed up and grown a winter coat in preparation for the weather.

The catio is still open.

This is the closest Dash has ever allowed me near him. He is tolerant of the rest of our James Gang Colony, but does not hang out with them unless he has to. I just looked up his TNR surgery record from PAWS Chicago and saw that his surgery was done on November 18, 2007, and he’s been coming to our yard somewhat regularly for five years ever since. He was already an adult when I TNR’ed him, so that means he may be a senior cat by now.

Dash is proof that feral cats know how to live outdoors and survive. I do not know where he goes all day, but he feeds in our yard, and I have seen him sporadically throughout the neighborhood. He does not use our outdoor cat shelters – he goes elsewhere. He is pretty solitary as far as I can tell. Sometimes I do not see him for weeks at a time.

When I TNR’ed Dash in 2007 I did not know to get him microchipped because the 2007 Cook County Managed Care of Feral Cats Ordinance [07-O-72] had just passed and microchipping feral cats was still a new practice here in Chicago. I tried to re-trap him without success throughout the years until this past spring, for some reason, he went into one of my traps. I took him to Tree House’s clinic for their Feral Cat Maintenance Package, where he was updated on his vaccinations for distemper and rabies. Out of curiosity, I tested him for FeLV/FIV and he was negative, and he finally got his microchip. Having the microchip means he will always be traced back to me as his caretaker. I hope that will continue for many more years to come.

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How to Find Cats in Other People’s Yards

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.

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Networking for Feral Cats

I was talking to a co-worker who mentioned a friend of hers has “tons” of cats outside on her block. We started talking about TNR, and it turns out her friend lives in one of the zip codes that Tree House Humane Society is helping with their targeted TNR grant.

This friend does not feed the cats because she has a dog that likes to chase them. But everyone else on her block feeds, including the neighbors on both sides of her. I went over there to take a look, and yes, saw at least six cats outside during the late afternoon.

These cats lounge in a beautifully kept garden, are well-fed, and have shelter in the iron works business next door.

Feral cats playing follow the leader.

I am calling these cats the Iron Works Colony.

This is an ideal situation for the cats to breed, and the neighbors estimated there were anywhere from six to fifteen cats in this colony. The cats are fed twice a day, by multiple houses, and look quite smug about it, as they should.

Who is hunting who?

Some of the cats are very friendly.

I bet this cat would stay inside once he's fixed.

And they all seem really comfortable.

When are they going to stop talking about us and just give us food?

I hope we can get this colony TNR’ed in time for the winter.

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TLC with TNR

Latte is one of those cats outside that could use a little help. We trapped him last week in the midst of a thunderstorm at the Frontier Colony location. He was neutered and vaccinated immediately, but he also had a visible wound on his back and conjunctivitis.

Latte could use a little TLC.

Tree House’s clinic cleaned his wound and gave him Clavamox antibiotics for a week. He was easy to treat because he ate everything they gave him, and slept a lot. By the end of the week he was getting bored and hissy, which means he was feeling much better. I was happy to see how good he looked when I picked him up to be returned outside – his eyes looked clear, he definitely gained some weight, and his fur looked fluffy.

Can I go back outside now or what?

Latte was hesitant to leave the trap when I returned him, but then he bolted and went straight for an abandoned garage. My next task is to see if I can get access to that garage because it was clear this was part of his home territory, and I bet there are other cats using that space as well. He went in through one entrance, and then poked his head out another to spy on me.

You're STILL here? Um, got any noms?

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If You Feed Them, They Will Come

I met another cat-caring neighbor named Joe this week because he contacted Tree House Humane Society looking for TNR assistance. Tree House introduced us through their Feral Friends network. I was happy to meet Joe because he lives next door to the Frontier Colony, which I TNR’ed in 2009. Tree House admitted two of these cats into their shelter this year. The Frontier Colony is also just one block over from the Peacock Colony. At this point I thought I knew most of the cats in this area, but Joe has been seeing even more.

So far Joe has adopted two other cats from his street, and can not keep taking more in, so we decided to trap in his yard this week. One of the cats we trapped needs to be TNR’ed, but he has an upper respiratory infection and is on antibiotics first. He also has wounds on his back so we’re glad we could give him this much needed medical attention.

We trapped another cat who was already eartipped. We named him Tang and decided to bring him into the clinic for booster shots and to trace the microchip.

It turns out this cat was TNR’ed by me a year ago, six blocks away, for another colony caretaker who free feeds in her garage. I love microchips because they always reveal more pieces to the puzzle. The only thing better would be kitty cameras to really track these cats.

Somehow a year after being TNR’ed Tang made it to Joe’s house, which requires crossing a fairly busy street. Tang has turned out to be incredibly friendly. He head-butts everything, rolls over for belly rubs, and meows for attention. He also eats anything you put in front of him immediately. One can of food after another. Tang is hungry, and probably not used to eating regularly. He has lost weight since he was first TNR’ed. It’s no wonder he traveled across a busy street from one feeder to another.

Tang is available for adoption. Here he is showing his skills in the litterbox and laser vision.

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