Oh man, oh man, you guys. I am toast. Yesterday was my seventh consecutive 12-hour workday and while it’s nice to know that all that overtime means a healthy paycheck, it also means that I haven’t had time to do anything else but wrangle cats and drool on myself.
Speaking of cat wrangling, Midge is an absolute, pure delight. Hal didn’t necessarily share that opinion and until about 72 hours ago, that cranky old bastard tried to kill her every time we turned our backs. I don’t just mean “used force to teach her lessons about who’s at the top of the food chain.” I mean, “dragged her down the hall by her throat” or “attempted to disembowel her with his fangs.” By the time I could rescue her, she’d be soaked in his angry, angry saliva. Regardless, that little fuzzball went back for more. Every. Single. Time. He’d hiss, smack, claw and bite and she’d hot foot it right back to him. Which, naturally, worried me because I’d seen that movie on Lifetime before. It doesn’t end well.
About three days ago, though, things shifted. Hal voluntarily climbed up on the couch to lay down with her. I glanced at the Dork Lord and we both shrugged and waited for him to realize what he’d done. And then eat her. But he didn’t. He just curled up in a ball and Midge… well, Midge rolled onto her back, whack! popped him in the nose and climbed onto the Boy’s lap to resume sleep. Somewhere in the middle of my amused shock, I swear I heard her say, “pwned!”
Lady friend has doubled in size in three weeks and I guess this is what happens when you weigh two whole pounds. You get to be in charge.
Because I am a glutton for punishment, I have rather unofficially assumed responsibility for Midge’s momma, too. Every day I feed her in under the bench on our front porch and we have conversations about life on the streets (she’s very vocal) and once or twice I’ve even managed to touch her ever-so-briefly. For a feral cat, she’s remarkably interactive.
Kittico, the cat rescue I contacted, said they’d be in touch about doing one of those trap-n-spays, but I’m guessing they’re over-extended because two weeks have gone by and nothing. Baby Mama is very young (8 months, maybe?) and I’d hate to see her get knocked up again before I can break that cycle. Obviously, we can’t take her in and she doesn’t want us to, but I want to do the responsible thing. I just can’t do it by myself. I don’t have the physical means (i.e. a cage) or emotional fortitude (seriously, cannot do it. Can’t. I would fall apart) to trap a cat. I volunteered to pay for the spay and her shots and flea treatments, but nada. Like I said, they’re probably over-extended. I get it. But now what?
If you’re in Dallas and have any experience with this sort of thing, I’d love some help. Like I said, I just want to do the right thing.
Oh hey, there you are!
Although I do not have any experience with cat wrangling, I’d like to say that it’s so sweet of you to make sure that the momma is being cared for. Woooow! Midge looks like a whole new kitten!
Laughing like a hyena at your description of the Hal-Midge interactions. You need to find a Have-a-Heart trap. I live in the semi country and have neighbors who are happy to lend theirs as needed. The cat (badger/raccoon/skunk) sized ones are sort of pricey. In the $60ish range at my local garden center, but maybe you could buy one & then contribute to your rescue group and take deduction? The Have-a-heart will make Mom cat mad as hell, but will not hurt her in any way. It’s v. simple: you place stinky stinky food (sardines are my bait of choice) at one end of trap and follow directions to set trip wire at other end of trap. Cat smells food, enters cage, trips wire and trap closes. You throw blanket over trap, put newspaper or tarp on floor of car (cat may pee in cage…or worse)and drive to vet/rescue group. Rinse & repeat. Good luck.
See, this is the part I can’t do. Upset an animal by putting it in a cage. I KNOW this sounds wimpy and like a “get over it” kind of thing. But I just can’t. Being the cause of an animal’s fear is just not something I can do – even if it’s for their benefit. I don’t know why.
Remind yourself that kitty’s brain is about the size of a walnut and fully occupied with food/sleep/gazing at nothing. No room for grudges
Good luck w/rescuing her however you go about it.
I couldn’t do it either. I understand.
And I disagree. Animals have room for grudges and a much better memory than we give them credit for. Which is why my puppy after being huddled in a bathtub with me during a tornado wouldn’t walk in a bathroom anywhere for 3 weeks and is now scared of any noise that remotely sounds like the tornado did. They aren’t stupid, they have emotions too.
Good luck with Midge’s mama! Maybe call them back just in case you got lost in the shuffle?
One more thing…mom may be too frightned of trap’s appearance to approach it in spite of food. So put a faded/colorless towel or sheet or some such shapeless thing over the trap’s structure; cats don’t have great depth perception so she’ll only notice the entrance if she can’t see the structure.
I do dog rescue in DFW. I have heard of Kittico and from what I hear, they do good work. I am sure that they, like all rescues, are overwhelmed as always, and that if you contact again whoever you spoke to/e-mailed a couple of weeks ago, they will be in touch.
It’s awesome that Midge and Hal are going to get along. Our kitties all look at each other warily out of the corner of their eyes, but then you come home and all 4 are sunning themselves on the back patio within a tails reach of each other!
And thank you for being responsible and trying to get the Mama kitty fixed. That’s how we have two of our fur friends, a kitty with 4 kittens (and another litter on the way) wandered into our lives… now we have the mom & the most feral kitten and the rest are tamed, fixed, and placed with loving homes!
Hello! I am not in your area but used to work at our local animal control/shelter. Yeah that lasted only 10 months. Anyway, here they will loan out traps to good summaritans such as yourself so you might try that and leave it up to the boy to do the trapping?
Glad to hear that things are working out, cat-wrangling wise. Your Midge looks so much like a cat I had when I was 12 it isn’t funny – I’m so glad that she has a nice new home!!
If I lived closer, I would handle the baby-momma for you, but it sounds like you have a lot of good advice! Good luck!
I thought marriage was suppose to lessen a girl’s need to collect cats? A new dog and a baby and you’ve basically got my life. Rock on.
I really don’t think what Fish is doing could be considered “collecting cats”, like they are little designer pocket dogs to enhance your wardrobe. More like being a caring and responsible person who is trying to prevent these animals from suffering. And getting married doesn’t diminish the empathy one feels for another living creature in need.
Oh, I think Mike had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek on that one. I can think of few people on the internet who are less inclined to nitpick than Mike, so I’m sure he didn’t mean anything but good.
H! Congrats on the wedding & the new addition; I’m so glad to see that Sir Hal is finally accepting Midge. You’re doing the right thing by wanting to spay the momma cat. I was feeding a feral cat last spring and contacted a local cat rescue organization. They brought a humane trap, showed me how to load it with sardines. I took her into a vet that is familiar/willing to deal with feral cats. Some vets even offer a reduced price for TNR. The trap really does not harm the cat at all and it so much better than her being pregnant again & again. When they do the spay surgery, they will also notch her ear (seems cruel, but it really does not hurt the cat & it is a widely accepted method practiced for easily identifying feral cats).
Midge is lookin’ an awful lot like my Lillie (wait…she isn’t MINE, she just came for the summer to visit and ended up staying when my friend left her here). Lillie (who is older than my Brennan (who is mine–I picked him and everything!) and Bren get along pretty well, but BREN is the bully–he pounces on Lillie and tries to show her he’s man in this house… Too bad she’s a hojillion times his size and smacks him down every time
I love that you want to do the right thing by Midge’s momma..
Hey! have you heard the new trend today? wedding with a bunch of cats in the aisle.. Love to see that! :0
Wait, overtime what’s that? I had a 17 hour day yesterday. Good times.
Re: Mama Kitty – A lot of animal control agencies have live traps you can borrow. The trick to getting them in is to not set the trap, just feed in there for couple days, then set it. And it’s not a matter of putting an animal in a cage – they do that all by themselves. I’ve done trap/neuter/release quite a few times and they forgive you as soon as they realize you keep the food bowl full.
My little foundling kitteh, Fia, has come to an agreement with my elderly Leon. He no longer wants to kill her but she does an amazingly fast down at his hiss. I have more trouble with her remarkable athletics – kitten proofing my house has been about as successful as monkey proofing. But she is a sweet little thing who has only used up 6 or 7 of her lives. I think she is about 12 weeks now.
I’m so glad Midge is getting settled in her sweet new home and that Sir Hal is coming around! Congrats on your marriage too. What lovely pics!