Last month there was a lot going on with the Jose and the Pussycats Colony.

Betty died. Noche Nariz disappeared.

And the feeders had bought a pair of Siamese male cats for $1000 from a breeder in Indiana. They keep them indoors, but they weren’t fixed. Luckily I managed to convince them to take them to the vet clinic for free neuter packages. Their names are Ruby 1 and Ruby 2. I called the clinic on their behalf, and showed up to escort the feeders there.

A lot of this was confusing to keep track of because the feeders don’t return my calls – I have to show up in person to talk to them and arrange everything and get updates on the cats. I had no idea they bought those cats a year ago because I never thought to ask about indoor cats, only outdoor ones. There’s also a lot of people involved here – this is a family spread out in three houses.

In the midst of all this, an orange cat had showed up at their feeding station. He was super friendly, and luckily he was already ear tipped. 

Which means he was TNR’d already. I’m pretty sure I’m not the one who did that – I didn’t recognize him. The feeders wanted me to adopt him out, but there was too much going on at the time. I told them to keep feeding, and to keep an eye on him. Maybe I could even find his owner. He was certainly friendly enough.

I went by there again today and one of the family members came out and thanked me for taking the orange cat. I said I didn’t take him. She said that he hasn’t been around anymore. I had to laugh because I only wish it was so easy for me to just “take” cats off the street. So many are friendly and shelters are perpetually full. The shelter has even had multiple staff members at this site for the past few years telling me how friendly all of the cats are. I did manage to foster and adopt out Frostie from there. Fingers crossed that perhaps the orange cat just went home once winter hit, or that another neighbor took it upon themselves to help a cat out. If that’s the case, I’d love to meet them.

Eliya and Mary adopted Frostie Mac Creamsicle when he showed up in the Jose and the Pussycats Colony in 2013.

Frostie was clearly friendly right away. He also had a head wound that was treated.

His trapping was immortalized forever in this TNR video.

Eliya and Mary donated extra cat food they bought to help Frostie with his food allergies: Hill’s Prescription Diet z/d for Skin/Food Sensitivities, wet and dry food. Please let me know if you know of a colony cat that may have allergy issues and could use this food!

I used the opportunity to visit with all of them. Frostie is quite a lover, and I’m forever grateful to Eliya and Mary for providing him a wonderful home!

This cat from the Jose and the Pussycats Colony was officially adopted off the street three months ago.

I ran into one of the feeders today and she told me the good news. She said a woman kept coming by, and because he was so friendly, she wanted to adopt him. The feeder helped wrangle him into her car. She said they run into each other once in awhile and he is now a happy house cat.

Eleven outdoor cats were TNR’d here. The population is now down to about 4-6 cats that feed here regularly. TNR works! I’m always happy to hear about one more cat off the street!

My only hesitation is that I wish they would let me know, as the microchip information should then be transferred to the new adopter. In this case, I am pretty sure I did not TNR this cat – he showed up from another colony – but it is always good to trace the chip and get their paperwork correct so that this cat can always be returned to the correct place. It’s one of the glitches of TNR – there are several cats that I am trying to transfer the chip info to the new adopter.

These two TNR’d cats from the Jose and the Pussycats Colony are constantly together.

Feral or domesticated, cats are social animals that can develop strong bonds to each other, and their caregiver.

I’ve been doing TNR and managing this colony for their feeder since 2011. This feline friendship seems to have developed within the past year or so. It’s become more noticeable to me recently as I was looking through photos, and the fact the colony has gotten smaller. Some cats, including Noche, disappeared. And Betty died.

This grey and black bonded pair eat together.

And they have some mutual territorial agreement with Ferret, the cat on the left. All of these cats are always on the front steps, but Ferret gets a cat bed to herself.

Even with the recent construction of the new steps.

If Ferret leaves, they’ll hang out together in that bed as well.

I think they’re so comfortable now in their territory, that they didn’t even move the other day when I climbed up the stairs to visit the feeders. 

I TNR’d Betty from the Jose and the Pussycats Colony in February 2012. Most of this colony feeds and hangs out on the front porch. Betty lived all by herself on the back porch, and I was told she was a mama cat many times before her TNR. In fact, two of her daughters were living inside with her feeders. We took her daughters to the clinic to be spayed as well.

Betty was very feral, very old, and very deaf. The feeders think she lived in their backyard for the last fifteen years. She would not interact with any of the other cats in the colony.

Because of her deafness, I was able to get up close and see that she was sick. And that she had the most AMAZING amount of fur. 

It took me three days to trap her. I spent hours in her feeder’s kitchen, watching the trap. This is a terrible photo, but this is what she did most of the time while I was waiting. She just hung out on top of the trap. It made me laugh so much, even though I was so desperate to get her, because she was so sick and congested.  And her coat is so crazy looking – it made her look huge, like a raccoon.

When I finally trapped her, she was on antibiotics for over a week before her spay surgery. She looked much better afterwards. Her tongue was always out, so obviously she needed a dental, but she tested negative for FIV/FeLV, and seemed to recover fairly well. I had grand plans of adopting her inside because she was so different looking, and her deafness and age made me think she was too vulnerable to be outside. Plus, frankly, the conditions she was living in the back porch were filthy, no matter how much I talked to the feeders, or offered to clean up. In fact, a lot of things about this colony were a mess, but I want to tell Betty’s story now, and not dwell on things that can’t be changed. When I brought back Betty after being recovered for two weeks, the feeders did not want her back. They had thought I took her away permanently. It was actually kind of a fight, but there was nowhere else for her to go.  It was so strange, though, because they immediately brought her food. They really do care about these cats, and allowed me to vet all of their indoor and outdoor cats without objection, and would even try to help with trapping. They fed wet and dry food multiple times a day, provided shelter for the colony on their front and back porches, and would never accept cat food donations from me. I would periodically bring clean outdoor clean shelters for her. But Betty was very feral, and would even snub the shelters I brought for her preferred old blankets.

This is the time of year where I clean out all of the shelters for the feeders. When I cleaned out Betty’s shelter two weeks ago, I could see she was very matted and congested again. I wasn’t sure if I should start trapping her immediately for treatment, because at this time of year she could not be shaved. She needed her fur for the winter.

I just stopped by the house today and the feeders told me they found Betty dead outside last week in the backyard. They always answer the door when I go there, but I can never get them to call me, even for something like this. I would’ve taken her immediately to the vet had I known, but who knows if she would have wanted that. I hope Betty died peacefully on her own terms, as a truly feral cat. 

It’s glorious outside today so I went for a run. As much as I try to do this, I’m still out of shape because I keep getting sidetracked. I stop to take a look at every cat I see, and talk to neighbors about spaying and neutering their animals.

Today’s run was productive and fun, although I didn’t get very far.

Every colony cat I saw was ear-tipped. That always makes me happy. These two cats from the Jose and the Pussycats Colony were enjoying their daily breakfast buffet.

Then I saw this cat lounging.

I’ve seen him outside before and talked to his owners. They let him in and out. A woman came out to see why I was taking photos and we had a good discussion about neutering him. She opened up more to me once she realized we were neighbors, and was interested in getting low-cost vet care for him. I’m going to leave more information in her mailbox.

And then I found a perfectly good pet carrier being thrown out. These cost around $20 new. It just obviously needs to be cleaned. Today turned out to be a great day for a run!