Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Today is National Feral Cat Day!

 
About fifteen years ago, I came across a large group of cats living outside of a house in the Columbia City area of Seattle. I noticed that most of the cats all looked alike - tuxedos and B&Ws. This was to be the first site on which I would practice TNR. Some of the cats were ear tipped already, so no need to catch them but it was overall a difficult site because the people feeding didn't want to cooperate. Gigi (above right) was one of the kitties I caught to be spayed and returned to the site. Her seven month old sons were hissing and spitting in their traps; they would be neutered and returned as well. But Gigi had a different plan in mind. She escaped in my garage and it was three months before I could get her in to the vet. I couldn't touch her but she was a sweet girl and I felt sad about returning her to a place where the "owners" provided no care other than dumping dry food in the driveway once a week yet had literally told me that, "Those aren't my cats." It's also not advisable to return a cat after three months of imprinting on a new location. So Gigi stayed on as my yard kitty. After seven years I could pick her up and after 12 years and one particularly cold winter, she came to live inside. Gigi is now around 20 years old, deaf, and a genuine "Velcro kitty." She has a heated bed but spends her time glued to me when I am home. 
 
Alfie, trapped at seven weeks old, is pictured above at about one year of age (on the left). He and Gigi are in no way buddies so when they both happened to be on the couch at the same time I snapped this picture!
 
Learn more about feral cats via the Alley Cat Allies video below and help educate others who don't believe feral cats can have quality lives or enrich the lives of their guardians.  
 
http://www.tailsinc.com/2012/10/what-is-a-feral-cat-video/

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