So the ten (1o) cats are eating us out of house and home. Cat food is bought in large packets and (I believe) negotiations have been done with the retailer to get them at cheaper rates. One of the cats is vastly pregnant and there is another female of kitten-bearing age. We needed to do something. So my father arranged an appointment with the vet through the Cat Welfare Society for the sterilisation of two of the cats. On Monday night, we tried to trap the vastly pregnant female, Blackie. She was clearly unhappy inside her cage, making piteous mews. Her sibling, Sootie, and two half-grown kittens from her previous litter paced in front of the cage trying to make physical contact with her (awww.....). The next morning, before taking her to the vet, we gave a call. The receptionist hmmed and hawed when she heard that Blackie was vastly pregnant. Apparently cats in an advanced stage of pregnancy get very moody when they lose their kittens. She said that the risks of the operation were increased in such a case. So obviously we did not bring Blackie in. We made another appointment for Friday (today) to bring in the other female, Mollie.
Mollie must be psychic because last night she was nowhere in sight. So we trapped poor Sootie (see photo) in the cage. He was actually number 3 on our list after the two females. We don't want him growing up and getting into fights with Paddy or other tomcats. This morning, we found that the newspaper lining the floor of the cage had been delicately shredded. Either he was bored, or stressed. Maybe both. Paddy was also unhappy - the cage was his so what was this interloper doing in it. We transferred Sootie to a basket to take him to the vet and he started whimpering. This continued until we got to the vet where he was probably too terrified by the dogs barking to make a sound. Feeling slightly uneasy and guilty, we left him to his fate.Sootie is now back here and his cage has been shifted to our back yard. Hope he has a quiet and comfortable night. He is sitting somewhat tenderly.
One down and many more to go.
I used to help sterlise cats for CWS. I volunteered to drive the poor cats to the vet and back. Count me in if there is more sterilisation work to be done.
ReplyDeletewell done! Trapping cats sure isn't an easy task.
ReplyDeleteThanks for kind offer - our problem is not so much getting the cat to the vet but monitoring it afterwards. Casey feels very threatened when there are intruders in her territory. Not sure how your cat would view a stranger?
ReplyDeleteJust an update on Sootie: we had decided to keep him under observation for another day so brought him into the back yard which has these high surrounding walls. However, this evening he escaped and we were worried that he might have somehow scaled the walls. The house next door has two dogs, one of which has already killed a little kitten which strayed in its driveway. Fortunately he reappeared later in the evening for his dinner. We've since let him wander freely.