Maxfield was trapped in Englewood this week and brought into PAWS Chicago’s clinic for their TNR package. They found a horrific wound on his neck.

Georgie from Chicago TNR and Cynthia trapped about a dozen cats in this particular alley so far. Maxfield was one of them, and the clinic discovered his injury while under anesthesia for his TNR surgery.

This was most likely caused by an abscess from a bite wound. Per his paperwork, there was crusted hair over the wound, so they cleaned it up.

Then he was given a shot of Convenia antibiotics to offset infection, and they recommended recovery for 7-10 days. PAWS Chicago performed this medical service free of charge. They are the only vet clinic in the Chicago area who offers this to colony cat caregivers and we are all so thankful to have this resource in the city.

I offered to recover Maxfield for George as soon as I saw his injury. Her foster room is currently occupied with a friendly cat from the same alley that she is trying to place into a rescue.

A few years ago my friend, Dave H., gave me a dog crate that attaches to a trap to safely recover feral cats that need to be confined for an extended period of time. Dave invented this set-up and we call it the feral cat recovery lounge. It’s become to be an invaluable resource for several cats I’ve recovered.

Once you attach the trap to the crate, you cover the whole set-up and allow the cat to freely move from one end to another. The food is kept in the trap so that it is easy to get the cat to re-enter the trap for transport later.

Maxfield settled right in. As soon as I attached the trap to the crate, he bolted into the crate. He decided to wedge himself next to the litter box, and hasn’t moved much since.

He hisses, growls, and bolts so far, all signs of feral behavior. He seems a bit congested, so I’ve been adding Lysine to his wet food. His appetite is good – he’s been eating the wet and dry food as soon as I leave. Because the outside temperature is pretty mild, I am keeping him in the garage with plenty of blankets and a heater to keep warm. The crate and trap are elevated off the floor with blocks of wood for circulation and so they are not just sitting on the cold croncrete floor. Nonetheless, we don’t want him too warm because we want him to keep his winter coat.

He’s doing well and I am hoping tonight he will explore the crate more. There is a second level just above his head where there’s a soft bed for him to sleep and recover.

I will keep all of you posted on his road to recovery within the next week. I’d like to thank George and Cynthia for saving his life, for PAWS’ providing his medical care, and for Jim’s help caring for him while I’m out of town for work.

Sometimes feral cats need a little bit of recovery time BEFORE surgery.

Such was the case with Sydney. PAWS Chicago said she was a bit too sick with a URI to get spayed. They gave her a shot of Convenia, an antibiotic, and said she needed some time to get better.

Sydney was initially trapped last week by Cynthia, a woman who does a lot of TNR on the south side. Cynthia currently has a house full of foster cats, and did not have anywhere else to put Sydney. Sydney’s feeder is unable to recover cats. My friend George from Chicago TNR always tries to help Cynthia, and reached out to me.

I was happy to set Sydney up in the ingenious feral cat recovery lounge donated by Dave H. I’ve had multiple cats stay in the lounge and it has made my life, and theirs of course, a lot easier. You can connect a trap to the crate, which gives feral cats a lot more room during an extended stay.

It also gave me the chance to observe Sydney a bit more to see if she was truly feral. She is about eight months old so we wanted to see how she would act. I gave her a bed and some toys.

Sydney acted feral the entire time. She did not play, and tried to hide from me every chance. When I was cleaning the crate, she would go into the trap, and vice versa. Here’s what it looks like inside the lounge, and how she tried to stay away from me. The wood in the middle is an elevated platform with a cat bed for her to sleep on. The litter box goes underneath it. The food goes in the trap so that the cat is trained to go into the trap. At this point she was also hissing and growling. She will be going to PAWS hopefully today for her TNR surgery. Her feeder is actually pretty attached to her, so perhaps she will warm up to him some more once she is spayed and returned to him.

I dropped her back off at George’s house yesterday. George greeted me with vegan chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. I’m always amazed at learning new things about my TNR friends. Today I learned she published a vegan cook book with her husband, David, called Veganopolis. And check out their blog! I need to order this book and try out some of the recipes.

Fingers crossed that Sydney’s surgery goes well, and she will be safely returned to her colony!

Willow N. contacted me a few weeks ago, asking if anyone I knew needed outdoor cat houses.

Willow is amazing. She is part of the CACC Cat Transfer Team, and fosters for CARF: The Critical Animal Relief Foundation.

Joann and I went to her house together to pick up the outdoor cat shelters. We got a tour inside and outside of her apartment.

She was fostering a bunch of calico kittens and cats for CARF. 

She also had a cat solarium for her window. Isn’t that cool? It attaches to your window so that the cats can sit in it outside.

She even showed us the outdoor cat litter box she made for her feral cat colony. This one was pretty fancy, made out of a deck box used for deck supplies.

This is what it looked like on the inside with all of the litter boxes.

There are two entrances so that the cats don’t feel trapped inside. They use them regularly, and Willow said the neighbor’s complaints stopped as soon as she installed them. The Arm & Hammer Baking Soda helps with any smells.

She donated three large used Rubbermaid bin shelters. I cleaned them out along with the other ones that I had and distributed most of them to the Kitchen Colony and Chicago TNR for her south side colonies.

Willow started caring for her cat colony as soon as she moved in a few years ago. The primary colony caregiver already TNR’d the cats. Over the years, the colony got smaller, and she doesn’t need as many outdoor cat houses anymore.

We were excited to see a few of those cats hanging out in her yard and alley. They stayed away from us at a safe distance.

A few weeks later Willow gave me some buttons and magnets she made with the Cats In My Yard logo. She runs this business from her home, and said she loves our logo.

I’m always so touched by people’s generosity and am glad that people are reading and responding to what we’re doing. It means a lot. Especially from people who are doing so much to help the animals as well. Thank you, Willow!