At the Cat House, it's all cats, all the time

August was a good month for the Cat House with a record 37 adoptions. The no-kill facility holds around 100+ felines at any given time and so far this year they've found 257 homes for kitties.

Here's what it's all about. Volunteer and vet tech, Suzie hands a big fluffy kitty to its new person.

Looks like a match made in heaven.

Volunteers Faye and Dennis. Faye assist a family adopting a cat.

Dennis attempts to stage direct a feline. An onlooker appears skeptical.

More cats and more litter boxes than I've ever seen in one place!

The new cats in town

Thanks to everyone, sisters, cousins, friends, coworkers... you know who you are, who have visited this blog and held my hand throughout this long strange mission among the ferals.

I seem to be in between cats at the moment, currently no one shows up for food, so I must assume they've moved on... at least for the moment.

But, when the going gets tough, the tough get blogging.

So I want to let everyone know about a new animal welfare group in town. They are Lincoln Animal Ambassadors and the group includes people from Lincoln and surrounding areas interested in the welfare of all animals... including, of course, cats.

I attended one of their initial meetings a few weeks ago because Dennis from the Cat House was giving a presentation for this group and I needed a crash course in Lincoln's feral cat situation.

I was impressed by this groups common sense approach and the deep commitment shown by all to help animals.

They're going to meet the first Sunday (I think that makes the next one Sept 7) of every month at the Gere Library at 56th & Normal at 2 pm.

You can get more info at their yahoo group if you go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lincolnanimalambassadors/

I intend to keep posting daily if at all possible, so check back when you can.

Thanks again and have a great weekend!

Sorry for the lapse in posts

My Visual Literacy class starts today and I got kind of busy getting things together.

I did set the trap yesterday, but apparently cats don't show up if it rains and thunders.

I've also learned recently that with cats, neutered males will avoid whole ones, so that might be a possible reason Spook and Silver are not around. With Chills remaining at large, they may be steering clear.

I miss Spook, but it's possible he's found some nice people to hang out with. I know there were others feeding him too.

Spook is still AWOL

and I'm becoming concerned.

Chills showed up today, almost walked into the trap, a dad with little kids walked by, Chills ran across the street and was only just inches away from being hit by a car.

That's all for now. I used up all my commas in the preceding sentence.

Did they move to a better neighborhood?

This morning marks day 3 of no cats. Not even Spook.

What gives?

But on the brighter side

Spook is doing great. His coat is velvety. He's made tons of new friends, like backyard neighbor Mary who feeds him too.

Yesterday I saw Silver, but he takes off when he sees me. He looked big and surly as ever. I hope he's getting fed. Once he figures out he can't be castrated twice, I think we'll be fine.

No show Jones

I've decided that Chills has a last name and it's Jones. As in George "No Show" Jones.

A few years ago, at a Loretta Lynn concert, I think at the Fair, she came on the stage really, really sick.

But being a true-country super diety, she soldiered on and put on a really good show. At one point, she apologized for not sounding as good as she'd like to and said "It's better'n no show Jones, ain it?"

So Chills is not around. Every time I think I have this figured out, it turns out not to be so.

And dear god, I'll never forget what from now on will be referred to as the "Night of the Possum."

Like "Night of the Iguana," but without the booze. That's it! I need to go drink shots.

Great. These dam cats have turned me into a Tennessee Williams character

The Cat Trap Game

This morning Chills was out front meowing for food.

So I got the trap and sat there -- this is at 6:30 am, mind you -- trying to get him to follow the food into the trap. He did go in, but not far enough.

Senior cat trapper Dennis made some suggestions that I will try tomorrow morning.

I've realized that with this one, it's pointless to leave the trap over night because that would only result in feeding the obese possum again.

Wish me luck.

It's hard to believe...

...that this is the same cat who tried to cause utter mayhem and bodily damage at the vet yesterday.

But here she is from this morning, doing what she does best.

Dr. Shelley said she looks like a Himalayan.

Thanks again to the All Feline Hospital.

Ultra Violent goes "red zone"

If you're a "Dog Whisperer" fan, then you know that's what they call a dog on a killing rampage.

Well, today it was U.V.'s turn.

The very brave Dr. Knudsen gave her shots and checked her while a vet tech in protective leather gloves held on. I'm sorry I didn't get the tech's name. I was too busy cowering in the corner to ask questions as my cat tried to eviscerate everyone in the room . Ay carumba. U.V. lived up to her name today.

The trapping center will be closing in 15 minutes

Chills has disappeared again.

And I don't have the energy for late-night wildlife encounters tonight. So the trap is put away for tonight at least. I'll post tomorrow when I've decided what to do next.

This cat is kicking my ass.

Oh, for cryin' out loud!

I just trapped a possum. At least I think that's what that was peering at me from inside the trap.

3:30 am and I'm out in the yard in my pajamas performing the roll and release technique with a broom.

I know that sounds like some exotic dance, but it's not. You simply roll the trap upside down, the back door opens and Mr. Possum scurries off after a nice fancy feast meal.

I reset the trap and hope possum stays away otherwise I'll have to go buy more fancy feast.

I'm going back to bed.

The trap is set... again

But I have a headache, so I probably won't add anything tonight.

No, that's not true. If Chills walks into the trap and I hear it. I'll be on here.

I put the trap to the side of the house, rather than up on the porch. And I sprinkled some tuna around the fancy feast to make it extra stinky. I fed Spook so he wouldn't be tempted to walk in. He did walk up to it though and rubbed his nose against the door. It didn't spring, so maybe I've done a better job of setting it tonight. I hope.

Oy, my head.

Goodnight

Still no Chills

I went to bed around 11:30 with the trap unsprung. I woke around 2, checked again, still untouched. This morning, same thing.

He was on the porch right before we set it. I thought we might get him. I might talk to my neighbor across the street and see if we can do this over there because Chills hangs out on her porch a lot.

I'm kind of bummed. I hoped to be able to end this.

We'll try again. I'll post updates.

Tonight's the night

We try again with that darn cat. Around 9:30 pm, I'll set the trap for the third time.
Chills has been coming around for food, so hopefully he'll be by tonight.

I'll be posting regular updates here and when I check the trap at around 12 am, we'll see what's in it.

Video student Tim Svoboda will be on site to film the process.

Last night I was chased by a rhinoceros...I blame the cake

My landlord doesn't quite get the idea of the whole TNR thing. I had a conversation with him yesterday and he demanded to know who owns the black cat that scampered off my porch when he came over. He's hard of hearing so had to stand in the yard yelling at him and explaining yet again how the cat's are owned bythe Cat House, they've been neutered and had shots. He walked off mumbling.

Later I went to the wedding of a coworker's son and had wedding cake. Really, really rich sweet wedding cake. It was delicious, but possibly more sugar than I'll eat for the rest of the year.

After that I went to sleep and dreamt I was face to face with an angry rhino, snorting and pawing the ground getting ready to charge.

I turned tail and ran like heck to a tree and hid behind it. The rhino stopped and we did this sort of running back and forth around the tree until I realized I couldn't do that forever.

At that point I sprung enormous clawes and scampered up the tree like a you know what. Then I sat in the tree looking down at the rhino, who then walked away mumbling

As I said. I blame the cake.

Chills is back

But first, here's a photo of Spooky with his eyes closed. But, he's starting to look almost shiny.
And Silver was spotted last night across the street. Silver did not show up for feeding this morning.

Chills, however, did and though he's scabby as ever, seemed none the worse for his absence.

The Spook improves daily and finally let me get a picture.

Spooky looks great

Good news: He hung out with us for a while early this morning and he looks almost sleek and shiny. One week after his encounter with the trap, Spook has settled into a routine of sorts and keeps busy overseeing the work being done on our house when he's not prowling his territory.

I still can't get a close up photo of him.

Now the not so good news: I've not seen Silver since his release. He's a healthy cat, so I'm hoping he turns up at some point.

The worse news: I haven't seen Chills since feeding him on Wednesday morning.

I moved the kittens

My son, John, has a cat named Butter. She's a beautiful white cat with a black mask over her face and a black tail. A few years ago, when John and I were roommates, he was getting ready to go out for Halloween. He'd purchased a devil costume consisting of some red furry horns on a headband, a pointy tail...stuff like that. There was this one small square piece of the red furry included in the package that had no apparent use for the costume, so it was left on the floor.

Suddenly we heard Butter yowling really, really loudly... like the distress cry she used if we accidentally closed the door with her outside.

But she was inside this night and carrying the furry red square thing around in her mouth as if performing some important task. This was quite perplexing to us as we watched her walking around carrying this thing in her mouth and yowling the distress cry as loud as she could, but kind of muffled because her mouth was full.

"Do you suppose she thinks she's moving her kitten?" John asked.

"Maybe, I replied, but why the loud yowling?"

"Because for Butter, this would be a great accomplishment...maybe? I don't know. She's a cat for crying out loud"

It became an inside joke whenever any of us accomplished a great task or solved a nagging problem we'd say, "I moved the kittens!"

The purpose of this rather longish story is to let everyone know I moved the kittens and think I've made it so that you can get Washington Cat Updates on your google home page. All of this is an accomplishment for me because I just haven't done anything like this before. I didn't even know what the RSS thingy I saw everywhere was.

So get your daily Washington Cat Update delivered straight to your homepage.

MEEEEOOOWWWWW!!!!!!

Here I am picking up silver from the All Feline Hospital.

Silver was released today around 10:30 am. He took off down the street and who knows when he'll turn up again.

My former Visual Literacy student, Tim Svoboda, was there to film the action.

All three seconds of it.

I didn't get a picure because Silver is too quick.

Tim's going to post this on YouTube at some point, I'll get you the link as soon as that happens.

Until then, hugs and hisses from cat trap central.

There's been an incident

Actually a skirmish of sorts and an excellent example of why TNR is going to be of great benefit once we get all the characters taken care of.

Across the street lives a beautiful calico cat, I don't know her name. It's where Chills and Spook mainly hang out.

So I'm having a peaceful evening last night, not thinking about cats at all, when suddenly I hear that horrible, but all too familiar sound of shrieking and yowling.

Looking out into the street I saw Chills and the Calico having a stand off in the middle of the street. Now I'm not a great writer of dialog, but here's my translation of the feline yowling.

Chills: C'mon, baby, you know you want me.

Calico: Get away from me you creep. Holy crap, what's wrong with your neck?

Chills: Oh, baby.. really, I just want to talk, you know, get closer...

Calico (louder): How many times do I have to kick your sorry ass...

Chills: Baby, why you wanna do me this way?

Here the conversation ends because a car came down the street and the combatants parted company. The calico to her yard and Chills, to parts unknown.

Sigh. We try again with him next week.

Silver is out of surgery and doing fine

I'm glad he's coming home even thought he hates me.

I pick him up tomorrow, probably around 10. I'll take him home and turn him loose.

I hope to have pictures of the event.

Unfortunately, Chills will have to wait until next week. That's ok. I think he's on to us anyway. Waiting will give him a time to forget about traps.

Thanks again to the Cat House and the All Feline Hospital.

Washington 2

AKA Silver, was delivered to the Feline clinic at 7:00 am.

He was quiet and didn't try to maul me from inside the cage like Spook did.

A very scared kitty.

I have a cat!

No, it's not Chills.

It's the silvery tabby with the white paws.
But this is good because this one is a troublemaker. I've seen him trying to fight with Spook.

Hopefully now he'll be a better citizen.

It's 1:18 am. and raining.

No Chills in sight.

Silver goes to the All Feline Hospital at Sun up.

Thanks to everyone who left comments.

Cue sound of crickets chirpping

And now I think it's raining.

11:57 cst and I have no cat, see no cat, but the trap has all night.

I'm sure the Croc Hunter had nights like this.

Live blogging from cat trap central!

Hi and welcome

I'm setting a trap tonight and I hope Chills walks into it.

If you've been reading the Washington 1 update in your email, then you know that the last time the trap was set, Chills was within inches of being caught, but at the last moment he raised his nose to rub the top of the door and sprang it shut.

I'll keep you posted on all the action and you will be the first to know if a cat has been caught.

So dial in for frequent updates when you're ready to take a break from the watching the Olympics.

Wait!!!

I forgot the link. I said I was new at this.

washingtoncat.blogspot.com

A close call with Autumn

My sister, Anne, suggested I create a blog to recount the feral cat adventures on Washington Street. I'm still learning how this all works, so your patience will be appreciated.

I hope you'll share your own stories, advice, encouragement (that really keeps me going, thanks to everyone who has responded so far) and maybe send my link to whomever you think might be interested in this true, live, and ongoing cat tale.

The entry below brings us up to date.

A Close Call with Autumn
When I picked Spook up yesterday from the All Feline clinic, they sentwith me some worm medicine that I was to put on some canned food and have him eat it.

Well, that didn't happen because he didn't hang around long enough after he was sprung from jail. Consequently he didn't get fed yesterday at all. So I was surprised he wasn't in his usual place atthe front of the line when I went out to feed them early this morning.I walked up and down the street to see if I could find him and finally did see him under a car out front. He seemed disinclined to come up towhere the dry food is, so I ran in and got the canned food, added the medicine and scurried out to deliver it to his door step (near theback of the car).

I sat on the steps by the sidewalk and watched him attack the food, atone point picking up the metal bowl in his mouth and throwing it atleast two feet into the air. I guess he needed to make sure the FancyFeast was really truly dead.

And then my landlord pulled up to the building next door.

I haven't exactly informed him of our feline goings on because he's a busy man with a lot of work to do and a lot of territory to cover. He doesn't stay in one place for very long and he was here early on aSunday to get some work started on that property.

As he was leaving, he let his gorgeous chocolate lab, Autumn out ofthe truck to come and shake hands with me. She came bounding up as labs do and I was certain her next move would be to go after the cat,the cat food, or both. Then I would have some 'splaining to do.

But he was in a hurry to get going, so he called her and being a very good girl, she obeyed even though she knew something fishy was going on.

Whew. That was close.

Spook finished the food and now full and fully medicated, he ambled down the street... a busy man with a lot of territory to cover.

Before I close I want to say thanks to the wonderful people and cats at the All Feline Hospital who took care of the Spook and working with the Cat House, contribute greatly to the trap, neuter, return effort.

Until next time,
peace.

And then....

The Spook is back home. His release went off without incident. Ever the personification of cool, he calmly walked out of the carrier and across the street and down the sidewalk to the house by the alley where they have a birdbath and hopped up for a drink.

Then he sat on the sidewalk for a while, had a bath, then headed down the alley, I think looking for Chills.

Chills did come by this morning for food. I didn't tell him he's next (we hope).

A few words about Chills.
He's a buttery orange cat with white paws, but an emaciated cat isnever a pretty sight. I said in the last email he's injured. Well,that's not quite right. It's more like seriously afflicted with fleas,or ear mites, or something that has made him scratch all the fur off his neck to the point that it's raw and scabby. Plus, I think he thinks he's a fighter.

He and Spook are buddies. I know this because I witnessed Spook bringing him onto the porch, showing him where the food was and sitting close by as he ate. He's way more timid and wary of us than Spook isand I get the feeling that even by cat standards, Chills is no rocket scientist. But it's amazing. A little food makes a huge difference. He looks alot better now.

Actually, I nearly had him Thursday night. He approached the trap andwas almost in it. But then he lifted his head to rub the raised trapdoor and it closed with him still outside. All I could do was watch helplessly as possibly the the most dimwitted creature in the universe outsmarted our technologically advanced trap.

Still, I'm glad we got the Spook and he's back now, large and in charge.

We try again sometime next week.

Until then this is trapper Story signing off

In the beginning...

...there was Washington 1

Below is the text of an email I sent out after the capture of Spook. It marks the beginning of the Washingtom Street Cat Project.

Hi Everyone,

I've never sent out one of these mass emailings to absolutely everyoneon my contact list before, but recent events in my neighborhood compel me to share share this tale.

First some background, please stay with me:

I recently became aware that we had three, or so feral cats in our neighborhood on Washington Street. They were starving, sick and looking really bad. Being a life-long lover of cats, I found this profoundly disturbing and sad, so I started feeding them. Two of them improved immediately, but one remained in pretty bad shape as a resultof all the fighting we had to listen to night after night. These guys are very wild and wary and you can't get to within a few feet of themever, so I stood little chance of ever being able to help the injured one.

Animal control doesn't pick up cats and if they do, they take them straight to capitol humane society, where they are euthanized. I really did not want to do this.

After a couple of agonizing weeks wondering what to do I finally contacted the Cat House in Lincoln. A wonderful man named Dennis Mathias told me about TNR, a program where they come to your location and, as the acronym indicates: Trap, Neuter, Return.

Statistically there could be as many as 75,000 feral cats in Lincoln. It's kind of out of control. TNR is the cheapest and most effectiveway of dealing with this problem because after being trapped, they goto a vet to get neutered, shots, and any other care they need. When they return, they are minimally maintained by a caretaker (in thiscase, yours truly). Once treated, they're healthy, they still keep the rodent population down, they don't have kittens and, most importantly,they don't fight with each other. Since they're are territorial, other cats stay away.
Last night Mr. Mathias came by with a humane trap and showed me what to do. I hoped we would get the injured one

Animal Planet on my porch:

Well, we caught a cat, but It wasn't the one I wanted. Instead we got the Spook, a black cat who won't get close enough for petting, but seems to like hanging out with us on the porch. Our goal is to eventually get all of them, so I guess it's ok that he was the one that walked into the cage last night at around 9 pm.

Wow, what a ruckus he raised when the trap door closed. I swear that cage jumped a foot in the air. Once he figured out he wasn't going to get killed or maimed, he settled down. My neighbor, whose bedroom window is right on the porch said she heard a hiss every now and then after that, but that was all.

All night I kept having a dream that I didn't get the back door of the trap latched and he got loose and we'd have to do it all over again. I'm glad all dreams aren't prophetic.

Early this morning he was still contained, so I took him to the vet. I picked up the cage, he started raising hell, I dropped it. Eventually I did get cat and trap into the car.

I just heard from Dennis and he says our Spook is doing well and complaining loudly to anyone who will listen. I'll pick him up after 9am tomorrow and bring him back and turn him loose. He technically belongs to the Cat House, and they registered him as "Washington 1." That's his official name, but Spook will continue to be his street name. Dennis kept saying "he's one tough hombre." Spook is probably going to be pretty steamed at me.

I think the others are mad at me too. Nobody showed up for food today.
We're going to try again to get the other one next week. The injured one I mentioned above, he's a yellow cat we started calling "Chills," because looking at him will send shivers down your spine. Wish me luck.

But back to the Cat House. They are a great organization that truly helps people and felines. I know, I'm one of them. I don't know what Iwould have done without their help.
If you happen to be looking for a charity to donate to, please consider this wonderful organization.
If you're up for it, there are many other ways you can help too. Please check them out at: thecathouse.org

This brings us up to date on the Washington Street Cat Chronicles.Thanks for listening to my story.

Stay tuned...