Stranger Gets Bitten

Friday, Stranger was fine. Saturday, Stranger was limping. Dr. R had some time, so he said if we could trap him, we could bring him in. We put the regular trap out, but the cats are too smart and stepped over the trip plate to eat the food. So, no trapped cats on Saturday. (I need to figure out how to lengthen that thing...)

Sunday was Sunday, so no doctors. Monday, I brought my new drop trap in to attempt to trap Mr. Stranger. It would have been a bit easier if we had the right traps, but I didn't want to see him suffering. I set the drop trap up and waited, hoping I wouldn't hurt any of the cats.

Torrini was the most adventurous, being the first to enter and eat most of the food. I realized I had brought too little food out, but after he left, Pickle went in to inspect. I immediately dropped it on him, as he has been limping for months. However, I had forgotten the anchor, and Pickle was able to lift the trap up enough to escape. *sigh* Good job, huh?

I went back into the hospital for more food and to find something to use as an anchor. T had an old car battery sitting outside, so I grabbed that to use.

After putting more food under the trap, I sat back down on my blanket and waited. Torrini went right back in, and Jehzar followed. Stranger finally, slowly, made his way over, being ever so cautious. The three of them spent some time eating. I didn't drop the trap because I really didn't want to have to deal with all three in the trap at once. Also, Stranger's tail was sticking out, and though the trap has a slightly curved side to allow tails, I didn't want to risk it.

Torrini left first, Jehzar following close behind. As soon as they left, Stranger seemed to move a little closer to the food bowl, and his tail assumed a new position, so I dropped the trap immediately. I ran over with my blanket to cover the top, which calmed him down greatly. I grabbed the regular trap and had to spend a couple minutes figuring out how I was going to get Stranger in it without him escaping through the sides. (I don't know why I didn't figure this out previously)

I ended up grabbing a nearby cinder block to place on one side, and putting my foot on the trap to weigh it down, I grabbed the car battery to block the other side. The trap I used has a door that, propped open, sticks out a few inches. Placing it in front of the drop trap's door allows the cat to escape on the sides, because you cannot place the doors flush with each other. Hence the need to block the sides. (We're supposed to be getting a trap with a sliding door to be used with my trap, but it hasn't been ordered yet)

With both blocks in place and my foot still holding the trap down, I held the standard trap's door open, but ready to release as soon as he ran in. I slowly opened the drop trap's door and in he ran. I immediately let the box trap's door shut and covered it with the blanket. Then we went in to see the doctor.

Turns out he has a couple bite marks on his leg and paw. They tried to drain it, but there's no abscess, just severe inflammation of the tissues. They gave him an antibiotic shot that lasts for two weeks (forget the name of it) and soaked his paw in (forgive my spelling, it's probably incorrect) chlorahexadine. Blue stuff to clean everything, I believe? We updated his rabies and gave him a dose of revolution. He looked very healthy, though, no fleas or earmites (I think they gave the revolution in case of worms) and weighed 10.5 lbs. Nice coat, too.

I wonder who bit him? And in the paw???

After a few hours, I returned him. I hope the shot works and his paw is feeling better soon. Now we just need to get Pickle again! And use a stupid anchor! = )

Stranger

Stranger-cat

I wanted a picture of Stranger on the header, but none of the ones I have seemed to fit right. That is actually Pickle at the top of the blog. When I get a good picture of Stranger, I'll switch it over, since he is the reason I started getting into stray and feral cats.

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A couple of weeks ago, a woman who works at Quiznos brought over a dead cat in a plastic bag. She said she had found it in the road and wanted to know if we could cremate it under the "Good Samaritan" label. Didn't even know we had one, but we do. She was also wondering if it was one of our cats - it was a grey/brown tabby with some white on its paws. It was too difficult to tell, though. So I told everyone to be on the lookout for Tricky and Pickle, our two tabby and white cats.

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Turns out, both Tricky and Pickle are still alive and well. I still regret that the cat had to die in such a way.

Stranger

He was my first feral cat. I noticed an all-black cat with bright green eyes making his way around the wooded area behind the fenced-in backyard and over to the dumpster at Quiznos. I found out that he had been in the area for at least a year - they had been feeding him at one point and had even trapped and neutered him. As he had no name, I stewed over it for a while and then dubbed him "Stranger." A mix between Strider and Ranger: man-o-the-woods. I took a picture of him, labeled it with his name, and stuck it on the cork board in the kennel kitchen. And started feeding him daily.
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I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, to be quite honest. Feeding one feral cat is quite easy, especially when he's already been neutered and ear-tipped. Though I knew that more cats would arrive at the food source, I simply didn't realize HOW MANY. As soon as I began taking care of Stranger, I sought to educate myself on the topic of feral and stray cats. The Best Friends website has been invaluable. The left column has two links that prove to be extremely helpful: the Online Forum (forum archives) and Resource Library. So much information is provided here, from fundraising to adoption to feral cats. I haven't been able to stop reading anything and everything I possibly can on feral cats, shelter animals, and how to find homes for the homeless.
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I hope to be able to document some of what we have gone through in order to help these cats as well as our present progress. I would like to keep track of who we have TNR'd, which cats I see on a daily basis, and offer helpful information and suggestions on how to provide for your own stray and feral cats. There is a lot of ground to cover - and I am excited about learning new things through this process as well!