Thursday, June 18, 2009

As Promised...

Stranger - King of the Mountain

Pickle - Wood Fairy

Torrini (b&w) and Jehzar (o&w)

Stranger, Tricky, and Jehzar

All five of these guys are regulars. Jojo and Stevie have been seen rarely, if at all, since their castration. We had a couple of mistaken identity cases as well. For a while, we thought there was a Pickle and a Boy George. However, both cats are one. We kept the name Pickle as it was his original name. We also thought there was a Snuggle and a Tricky. These two are one as well. I have kept the name Tricky, but others still call him Snuggle. Not sure yet on which one will be permanent.

Who's Got Pictures?

I do! But, first, a little update, since I haven't posted in months:

Most of our colony seem to have survived the winter, though I'm not sure how. Cats are just resilient creatures, I suppose. I edited the post containing our colony members, as we managed to trap and neuter a couple more. All cats that have been trapped, however, are males. I believe we have neutered eight males total - no females! (There was an "Oreo" whom the hospital neutered a while back - I don't include him in our colony as I have never seen him and was not here when he was TNR'd)

We had a couple of worrying moments: My supervisor sometimes questions what we do for the cats and it can be hard to convince her that though they are feral, they are not wild creatures. Though they know how to hunt, there may not be sufficient prey in our small wooded area. Though they need to live their own lives and fend for themselves, I want them to stay as much as possible in their "safe zone." The first couple of times that she has tried to change things, I believe I kind of freaked out within myself. Like anybody else, I do not like the feeling of loss of control. Unfortunately, as she is my supervisor, I really don't feel I can afford to get into a power struggle with her, so I do my best to be calm, let it go, and bring up what I believe are important points on the particular topic. Fortunately, I have not really "lost" any battles as I have made it a point to suggest new ideas that might serve both our purposes - instead of simply trying to reiterate that I am right and she is wrong. We are feeding the cats a bit less because of this, but fortunately, I believe it is enough, especially as it is summer here, and there are small rodents to hunt as well.

So, on to pictures! They may be a bit far away, but they are better than nothing. = ) Actually, because this is not working as I wanted it to, I am going to post the pictures in a separate post. Sorry!