Using a Drop Trap for Trap-Savvy Cats

We think Maribella is the mama cat to at least some of the kittens being fostered from the Avondale TNR Project.

In true mama cat-like fashion, she’s been very hard to trap. George, the feeder there, will not stop feeding, so that doesn’t help either. In fact, there’s been a lot of things happening here that have thwarted our efforts and things escalated last week, including involving the police, angry neighbors, and more dead cats, but I’ll be writing about each in separate posts. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it otherwise.

So, since traditional Tru-catch traps weren’t working because the cats are being fed no matter what, Joann spent a few days last week using a drop trap in Ray’s courtyard. We’ve been trapping there behind the gate so that we can stay out of George’s way.

This is what it looks like.

The cats were quite interested in the trap.

This one was even playing with the string.

You can see that those cats are ear-tipped. But finally the tabby mama cat went in after two days of trying. Joann transferred Maribella from the drop trap into the Tru-catch trap.

Maribella is now currently at PAWS Chicago for her TNR treatment. She is the 21st cat we trapped so far at this project, all almost within the same alley.

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Trapping Owner’s Indoor/Outdoor Pet Cats

Cats #19 and #20 trapped from the Avondale TNR Project ended up belonging to a neighbor that lets all of their pet cats outside.

Panther was trapped last week and taken to PAWS where she received their TNR package, including spay surgery, ear tipping, microchip, vaccinations, and parasite treatments.

She was also acting friendly in the trap. We’ve been talking to neighbors all around there and Joann figured out who she belonged to. They said they have four other cats they let outside, and Panther was their only intact cat. They gave descriptions of their other cats, but there are so many cats outside in this neighborhood it is hard to keep track. The ear tip is the only universal sure sign that we know that the cat is already fixed. We’ve trapped several ear tipped cats in this project, and as long as they look healthy, we let them out immediately again in the same place they were trapped.

Joann talked to them about cat behavior, keeping their cats inside, registering the microchip in their name, and continued vet care. They were happy to have Panther returned to them.

Thursday night she trapped another cat, and took him to Anti-Cruelty Society for their TNR package.

Hamlin was already neutered, but he received updated vaccinations, microchip, and an ear tip. Because he was already neutered, we thought maybe he was from the same house as Panther. Joann talked to them, and turned out he was, and they wanted him back. They’re going to register the microchip in their name.

At least now these cats are ear tipped so if they are going to get trapped again, they will be let out immediately long as they are not sick or injured.

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How to Convert a Feeder into a Cat Colony Caregiver

Joann found the Land Colony last summer in Avondale while we were TNR’ing all over the place there during the height of kitten season.

Margie and her husband, Pepe, were feeding the cats in their yard, and there were just too many. Joann saw several two-month old kittens.

Margie was on board with TNR, but Pepe was not at the time. We moved on to do TNR and foster kittens from several other colonies in Avondale.

We don’t know what happened to those kittens in the photos, but Margie called us a month later because she found yet another sick kitten in her yard. Simon had a URI and was infested with parasites. He was starving and underweight. Obviously he was also super cute and friendly. His rescue was a group effort from all of our friends from start to finish. We fully vetted him at Joann’s vet, our friend Elissa at Rockstar Pets fostered him, and he was eventually admitted into PAWS Chicago’s adoption program.

And then, on another twist of amazing fate, my TNR friend, Trudy O., saw Simon’s story and shared it with her neighbor. Her neighbor adopted Simon along with another kitten together there!

So obviously there were a lot of cats that Maria, Pepe and others were feeding, but we weren’t allowed to TNR yet. We were still in contact with them while we had Simon to let them know everything that was happening, but Pepe still did not want us to trap the cats. Fast forward to last week, six months later, when Kim V. and Nellie J. heard about this colony again because neighbors complained to animal control.

This time, Pepe was more on board with TNR although he still is worried. Kim and Nellie talked to him, Maria, their daughter, and tons of neighbors around the area who all feed the cats. Everyone loves the cats, feeds them, and wants them around to control the rats. No one wants the cats killed. But it’s the same old story – there are just too many of them. Maria and Pepe found kittens dead in their yard this winter, frozen from the low temperatures. They were realizing that they had to do something. Kim and Nellie were now allowed to freely TNR.

Last Friday night they showed up, and trapped 11 cats in just a few hours. They could have trapped at least a dozen more, but they ran out of traps and only had a set number of appointments..

They brought all of the cats to Anti-Cruelty Society for their TNR surgery. A LOT of cats were brought in that day for spay/neuter surgery.

THANK YOU, Nellie and Kim!

They think one of the cats miscarried in the trap before her surgery. Kim saw this when she picked up the trap off of the floor.

Out of the eleven cats, eight cats were female, three cats were male. Two of the female cats were pregnant with ELEVEN kittens total.

Can you imagine if ALL eight females were pregnant? With those rates, 40-48 kittens would be born there this spring from just this bunch. Not to mention the other females still not trapped. You can see in the photos below Kim and Nellie trapped three tortie cats that night, but they saw at least five more. We all know tortie cats are female.

All eleven cats are currently recovering and doing well in Kim’s recovery space.

TNR and colony care and management doesn’t stop there. Kim and Nellie took it upon themselves to show everyone how to properly care for the cats afterwards. Currently the only shelters the cats have are cardboard boxes with plastic tarps and towels. Kim and Nellie are going to help them provide better shelters.

There are also outdoor electrical outlets so we’re hoping Maria may be able to provide electric outdoor warming bowls for food and water, and perhaps even heating mats for them to lay on. In the meantime Maria has also asked about costs for everything, and is even interested in possibly throwing a fundraiser for the cats. We’ll keep you posted if they do!

Maria has also agreed to register now as a feral cat colony caregiver in compliance with Cook County’s Managed Care of Feral Cats Ordinance. Kim will be returning the cats there this week, and trapping again. We think once the cats are returned, then EVERYONE there will see how much the cats thrive and are better off with TNR. Kittens won’t be born and dying. The TNR’d cats won’t roam to mate and fight – they will remain to eat in their own territory. Kim is also talking to Maria about establishing set feeding times and a feeding station for the cats so they will all see how many cats they have and how much to feed.

Persistence, patience and follow-through is crucial to not only trapping cats, but also in working with the feeders. Sometimes it can take months and YEARS to get a feeder on board. Communication is key, and sometimes you have to walk away for a bit. There’s always more to be done with people who want your help. And then later you can come back and ask again. We are very excited about this change of heart and hope the momentum continues.

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Introducing the Charlie Chaplin Colony: In Honor of Melanie and Her Cat, Lumpy

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]

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Saving Simon, the Sick Kitten, Off the Street

Say that five times fast! A woman named Margie called from another location in Avondale about a very sick kitten she found in front of her house, by himself right in her front yard.

It was supposed to start raining with tornado warnings really soon so Joann went straight to her house to pick up the kitten and took him to her vet at Animal Medical Center. He enjoyed a meal while they examined him. He was really hungry.

Simon is about seven weeks old. He is very sick and was treated for URI, ear mites, fleas and possible other parasites. He’s totally snotty and sneezy. Despite all of that and his crazy day, he is friendly love bug and wants to be held.

Our friend Elissa, owner of Rockstar Pets, is now fostering him. Thank you, Elissa, you are a true rock star! She’s fostered for us before.

She already sent us an update. He’s busy gorging himself on wet food and kitten milk.

Within just a few hours today, we were able to change Simon’s life around. Joann got the call at 9am, he was vetted by noon, and in Elissa’s home a few hours later. His outcome could have been very different had he stayed alone outside, too sick and too friendly to be safe. Now he’s cared for and dry in a foster home and will hopefully be ready for adoption in a few weeks.

Simon’s vet costs so far are $278.13 If you’d like to make a donation towards his care and all of the other cats we’ve vetted this month, you can do so through the PayPal donation button at the top of this page, or through PayPal to [email protected]

Our total vet bills this month for Big Daddy, Puffy, Reese, Ziggy, and now Simon, is $1,984.13, and the month isn’t over yet.

Along with Simon, we have six other creamsicle kittens – Bert, Ernie, Bosco, Rascal, Oscar and Phoenix – and Reese, an FIV+ adult male cat, in foster homes.

If you are interested in fostering Simon or fostering other friendly cats and kittens from our TNR projects, please call 773-609-2287 or email [email protected]