feral cat rescue | Savannah's Paw Tracks

Archive for the tag “feral cat rescue”

10 Aug 2020

Cat Colony Nipped!

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I know I have mentioned our new foster kitten, Pipsqueak aka Pip (to family and furriends) and how he came to be with us. He was one of the first of seven kittens that we trapped for TNR. As you know from my post, he is no way “feral” and now ready for adoption.

That said, Mom L and Dad P and I have been relentless in helping residents in our city with making sure this “little” colony of eleven cats/kittens doesn’t get any bigger!!

Check out this darling little family, relaxing in the backyard of the resident who had been so diligent and accommodating in helping us TNR as many as we can.

We had our work cut out for us. We originally found four residents who were feeding this cute little GROWING family. All have been on board in helping us trap over the last seven weeks.

And we have success!! So far no pregnant females. We have TNR’d three adult males, and three kitten males and one female kitten. We have socialized one male kitten, our sweet new foster kitten Pipsqueak, now ready for his forever home and adoption!

Here are the kitties we have helped to control this growing cat colony. Our greatest challenge is trapping and spaying the mom cat, we have named Marmee. She is very trap savvy.

First up is Bruiser! No on told us about this big “bad boy” until he became the one and only we trapped in our first night trapping. Totally awesome, handsome mancat; not longer able to produce kittens!!

Bruiser’s release

Next up: Rocky kitten who was very vocal in his protest at being trapped!!

Rocky release

Next up, dear sweet Uncle George, Marmee’s kitten from last year.

George’s release

Then we trapped Kong!! Marmee’s son from last year! What a big guy!!

Kong’s release

We trapped Ringo same night we caught Kong. You can see he has the same trap injury to his sweet nose. Sadly that happens sometimes and our darling foster Pipsqueak is only just able to start regrowing his furrs from a similar injury.

Ringo release

Our last kitten trapped was a girl!! Darling Ellie, named by the family’s son where they all hang out. She was simply too old at this point to socialize. Sadly we had to release her just today.

Ellie’s release

We hope to trap two more this week. Marmee, the mom cat, may be ongoing challenge so wish us good fortune!!

Let us know in comments how you manage your challenges in trapping a very trap savvy kitty!!

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Pee Ess…please share our foster Pipsqueak to help us help him find his forever home. I would appreciate it it you will grab the badge below and SHARE SHARE SHARE all over the world to help bring Pip the pawsitive energy he will need to find his forever home. We have treated his right eye for the infection but it is taking a while to fully recover. He has no loss of sight in that eye, but we know it shows as less bright than his left eye. We fear no one will want this sweetie as he is “less than” purrfect. Please, please help us help him find his forever home. More about Pip later.

Posted in Community Cats, Feral Kitten Rescue, foster kitties, TNR and tagged CC4C, feral cat rescue, paw it forward

27 Jul 2020

19 Comments

Is it ever too late to socialize a feral kitten?

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!

Now isn’t that just the question among all of us interested in humane management of our abandoned community cat overpopulation?? Most expert feline trappers, and those who also try to socialize kittens say that 16 weeks aka 4 months is the cut off for ability to socialize a truly born feral kitten. That means the kitten’s mom has not been an indoor/pet cat and that the kittens have never been touched by a human hand.

Mom L and Dad P and I are not experts by any means. We just wanna share a quick story about the little introoder who is now occupying Mom L’s office; and a very noisy little introoder he is!!

Meet Pipsqueak. You will notice right away that he has a problem in his right eye. He was neutered by our partner at Contra Costa County Animal Services and returned to Mom L and Dad P and me, TKS and KK to recover him from his neuter. Right away we all knew that this kitten was not a feral kitten at all. He purred when Mom L first scritched his cheeks!!

Pip, as he is known to family and close friends, is about 16 to 18 weeks old. He has never known the touch of a human hand. He is part of a small, but growing colony my Paw It Forward effort, Project Delta View Cats, has taken on to try to contain colony growth in our beloved city of Pittsburg, CA.

There are seven kittens between ages of twelve weeks to sixteen to eighteen weeks old and a one year old adult male, two adult males of unknown age and one mom cat about two to three years old. But this little colony in the making will make another story.

Let’s get to our latest foster castle guest, Sir Pipsqueak. Here is the quick story of his GREAT CAPTURE!

We were trapping at three residents homes, all close together. That night we trapped Pip, his sibling Rocky and his uncle from last year’s litter, George. More about them later in another post.

Pipsqueak was neutered on a Wednesday, and by Friday of his surgery recovery, Mom L knew we had to foster him until we can learn more about his eye condition. Remember, Pip is at least sixteen weeks old, never touched by a human hand.

Here he is within eight hours of being brought inside into Mom L’s office for treatment and loving on him.

And now for his progress today.

Pip even has a new Pink Buddy, Squish!

Pipsqueak has a long road to becoming a happy indoor kitty, but he is on his way. Now our problem is what to do to get him adopted during COVID 19! Our animal shelter is closed to kitten intake and our Project Delta View Cats is totally about Trap, Neuter, Return aka TNR. So we do not have fosters not any path forward for adoption for this darling little mancat, Pipsqueak. We only fostered to observe and treat his eye. We never expected him to be such a love bug with a large purr motor. TNR is a very bittersweet endeavor.

We also do not know if Pipsqueak my need his eye removed, so there is the cost of that surgery to face as well and recovery from that. Please do sent you very bestest POTP to our sweet castle guest Pipsqueak.

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Posted in Community Cats, Feral Kitten Rescue and tagged cat photo, cat recovery, CC4C, feral cat rescue, paw it forward, special need cat rescue

22 Jun 2020

12 Comments

TNR during Covid19: Another story

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!

I just know my readers are going to be innerested in the work Mom L and Dad P and I have been doing through our Project Delta View Cats (PDVC) group. You know I posted about our efforts to rescue kittens, spay mom cats, while our municipal shelter remains in modified shut down.

We received a distressed request from residents in our city of Pittsburg, CA about a mom cat and her one baby they had just started feeding in their apartment complex. They asked if we could possible help them get mom cat and kitten trapped and spayed/neutered and then coach them about how to try to socialize both mom cat and kitten!! We were on board for sure!!

Mom cat and kitten were living in a tiny crawl space under one of the apartment buildings, right next to the loudest air conditioning units you can imagine. Those units a clear in the video above.

The residents were able to trap the kitten, and then use the kitten’s cries to entice mom cat into a trap. YAY!! Now we are able to help both of them.

She appears to be a lynx point type Siamese kitty. The surgery clinic believed she is only about eight to ten months old herself. She weighed about five pounds.

The residents named mom cat “Conchita” and the kitten “Tomas”. In the photo above Conchita is safe back from her spay surgery and as you can see, she is very scared.

Tomas on the other paw, within two days of being brought inside and after his own surgery, was happy to receive a very gentle ear cleaning and mani pedi—after which he fell asleep in one of his human’s arms.

Tomas settled in quickly and he is warming up to his foster humans. All he needs is time.

He is learning to play and get comfortable with being held.

Tomas still wanted to nurse on Conchita yet he is fully weaned. It is clear that Conchita is a very comforting and caring mom cat. She allowed Tomas to nurse whenever he wanted and she just fell asleep!!

The story of Conchita and Tomas is far from over. We still need to support the new fosters in trying to socialize Conchita. It will be a very sad day if the fosters must release her. She is so young and so precious.

As for Tomas, even if the fosters are not able to adopt him, he will certainly have a forever home just for him.

Please, during this pandemic, remember all those cat rescues who are dedicated to saving as many mom cats and kittens as possible during this trying kitten season, consider fostering or at least donating to your local TNR groups.